View source for Sciurus

{{Short description|Genus of rodents}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Middle Miocene|Recent}}
| image = Red squirrel (21808).jpg
| image_caption = [[Red squirrel]] (''Sciurus vulgaris'')
| taxon = Sciurus
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''[[Sciurus vulgaris]]''
| type_species_authority =
[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| subdivision_ranks = Subgenera
| subdivision = 
''Tenes''<br />
''Sciurus''<br />
''Hesperosciurus''<br />
''Otosciurus''<br />
''Guerlinguetus''<br />
''Hadrosciurus''<br />
''Urosciurus''
}}

The [[genus]] '''''Sciurus''''' ({{IPAc-en|s|aɪ|ˈ|jʊər|ə|s}} or {{IPAc-en|s|I|'|j|u:|r|@|s}}) contains most of the common, bushy-tailed [[squirrel]]s in [[North America]], [[Europe]], [[Temperate zone|temperate]] [[Asia]], [[Central America]] and [[South America]].<ref name="Thorington">{{MSW3 Sciuridae | id = 12400066 | pages = 758–765 | heading = Genus ''Sciurus''}}</ref>

==Species==
The number of species in the genus is subject to change.
In 2005, Thorington & Hoffman- whose taxonomic interpretation is followed by the IUCN website- accepted 28 species in the genus:{{Efn|Most squirrel assessments were written in 2008, despite most being dated 2016/2017}}

Genus '''''Sciurus''''' 
[[File:Sciurus granatensis Humboldt 1811.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Red-tailed squirrel|''Sciurus granatensis'']]]]
*Subgenus '''''Sciurus'''''
**[[Allen's squirrel]], ''Sciurus alleni''
**[[Arizona gray squirrel]], ''Sciurus arizonensis''
**[[Mexican gray squirrel]], ''Sciurus aureogaster''
**[[Eastern gray squirrel]], ''Sciurus carolinensis''
**[[Collie's squirrel]], ''Sciurus colliaei''
**[[Deppe's squirrel]], ''Sciurus deppei''
**[[Japanese squirrel]], ''Sciurus lis''
**[[Calabrian black squirrel]], ''Sciurus meridionalis''<ref name=Wauters17>{{cite journal | author1=Wauters, Lucas A. | author2=Giovanni Amori | author3=Gaetano Aloise | author4=Spartaco Gippoliti | author5=Paolo Agnelli | author6=Andrea Galimberti | author7=Maurizio Casiraghi | author8=Damiano Preatoni | author9=Adriano Martinoli | year=2017 | title=New endemic mammal species for Europe: Sciurus meridionalis (Rodentia, Sciuridae) | url=http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/New-endemic-mammal-species-for-Europe-Sciurus-meridionalis-Rodentia-Sciuridae-,77104,0,2.html | journal=Hystrix | volume=28 | number=1 | pages=1–28 | doi=10.4404/hystrix-28.1-12015}}</ref>
**[[Mexican fox squirrel]], ''Sciurus nayaritensis''
**[[Fox squirrel]], ''Sciurus niger''
**[[Peters's squirrel]], ''Sciurus oculatus''
**[[Variegated squirrel]], ''Sciurus variegatoides''
**[[Red squirrel|Eurasian red squirrel]], ''Sciurus vulgaris''
**[[Yucatan squirrel]], ''Sciurus yucatanensis''
*Subgenus '''''Otosciurus'''''
**[[Abert's squirrel]], ''Sciurus aberti''
*Subgenus '''''Guerlinguetus'''''
**[[Brazilian squirrel|Brazilian squirrel (Guianan squirrel)]], ''Sciurus aestuans''
**[[Yellow-throated squirrel]], ''Sciurus gilvigularis''
**[[Red-tailed squirrel]], ''Sciurus granatensis''
**[[Bolivian squirrel]], ''Sciurus ignitus''
**[[Ingram's squirrel]], ''Sciurus ingrami''
**[[Andean squirrel]], ''Sciurus pucheranii''
**[[Richmond's squirrel]], ''Sciurus richmondi''
**[[Sanborn's squirrel]], ''Sciurus sanborni''
**[[Guayaquil squirrel]], ''Sciurus stramineus''
*Subgenus '''''Tenes'''''
**[[Persian squirrel]], ''Sciurus anomalus''
*Subgenus '''''Hadrosciurus'''''
**[[Fiery squirrel]], ''Sciurus flammifer''
**[[Junín red squirrel]], ''Sciurus pyrrhinus''
*Subgenus '''''Hesperosciurus'''''
**[[Western gray squirrel]], ''Sciurus griseus''
*Subgenus '''''Urosciurus'''''
**[[Northern Amazon red squirrel]], ''Sciurus igniventris''
**[[Southern Amazon red squirrel]], ''Sciurus spadiceus''

In 2015, 15–17 species were left in the genus ''Sciurus'' after de Vivo & Carmignotto comprehensively reviewed South American Sciuridae for the first time in many decades and proposed numerous changes; synonymising some species and many subspecies, splitting another species, and naming new species. They followed [[Joel Asaph Allen]]'s unsatisfying 1914 attempt in splitting the genus ''Sciurus'' by raising the South American subgenera to the rank of genus, adding ''Urosciurus'' to ''Hadrosciurus'', and splitting the genus ''Guerlinguetus'' in three. Their taxonomic treatment might also require ''Sciurus deppei'' to be moved to ''Notosciurus''.<ref name=Vivo>{{cite book |last1=de Vivo |first1=Mario |last2=Carmignotto |first2=Ana Paula |date=January 2015 |chapter=Family Sciuridae G. Fischer, 1817 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273129157 |editor1-last=Patton |editor1-first=James L. |editor2-last=Pardiñas |editor2-first=Ulyses F.J. |editor3-last=D'Elía |editor3-first=Guillermo |title=Mammals of South America Volume 2, Rodents |url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo18553844.html |edition=1 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=1–48 |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226169606.001.0001 |isbn=978-0226169576 |access-date=11 August 2018}}</ref>

A 2020 paper published on the taxonomy of '''[[Sciurinae]]''' split '''''Sciurus''''' into multiple new genera and elevated several subgenera. The paper included genetic sampling from almost all recognized species and recommends the following species assignments:<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1186/s12862-020-01639-y|title = Museomics of tree squirrels: A dense taxon sampling of mitogenomes reveals hidden diversity, phenotypic convergence, and the need of a taxonomic overhaul|year = 2020|last1 = De Abreu-Jr|first1 = Edson Fiedler|last2 = Pavan|first2 = Silvia E.|last3 = Tsuchiya|first3 = Mirian T. N.|last4 = Wilson|first4 = Don E.|last5 = Percequillo|first5 = Alexandre R.|last6 = Maldonado|first6 = Jesús E.|journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology|volume = 20|issue = 1|page = 77|pmid = 32590930|pmc = 7320592|s2cid = 220071854 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2020BMCEE..20...77D }}</ref>
*'''''Sciurus'''''
**[[Persian squirrel]], ''S. anomalus''
**[[Eurasian red squirrel]], ''S. vulgaris''
**[[Japanese squirrel]], ''S. lis''
*'''''Hesperosciurus'''''
**[[Abert's squirrel]], ''H. aberti''
**[[Western gray squirrel]], ''H. griseus''
*'''''Parasciurus'''''
**[[Allen's squirrel]], ''P. alleni''
**[[Arizona gray squirrel]], ''P. arizonensis''
**[[Mexican fox squirrel]], ''P. nayaritensis''
**[[Fox squirrel]], ''P. niger''
**[[Peters's squirrel]], ''P. oculatus''
*'''''Neosciurus'''''
**[[Eastern gray squirrel]], ''N. carolinensis''
*'''''Echinosciurus'''''
**[[Mexican gray squirrel]], ''E. aureogaster''
**[[Collie's squirrel]], ''E. colliaei''
**[[Deppe's squirrel]], ''E. deppei''
**[[Variegated squirrel]], ''E. variegatoides''
**[[Yucatan squirrel]], ''E. yucatanensis''
*'''''Simosciurus'''''
**''[[S. nebouxii]]''
**[[Guayaquil squirrel]], ''S. stramineus''
*'''''Guerlinguetus'''''
**[[Brazilian squirrel]], ''G. aestuans''
**''[[G. brasiliensis]]''
*'''''Hadrosciurus'''''
**[[Bolivian squirrel]], ''H. ignitus''
**[[Northern Amazon red squirrel]], ''H. igniventris''
**[[Junín red squirrel]], ''H. pyrrhinus''
**[[Southern Amazon red squirrel]], ''H. spadiceus''

Additionally, the paper suggests moving [[Andean squirrel]] back to subtribe '''Microsciurina''', the [[Microsciurus|dwarf squirrels]], and assigns it to the newly described genus '''''Leptosciurus'''''. The paper's findings agree with prior assessments to synonymize [[Richmond's squirrel]] into [[Red-tailed squirrel]] and reassigns the Red-tailed squirrel into the previously [[Monotypic taxon|monotypic]] Asian genus ''[[Syntheosciurus]]'', also in '''Microsciurina'''. The paper did not include genetic sampling or taxonomic suggestions for ''gilvigularis'', ''meridionalis'', ''sanborni'', or ''flammifer''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

*{{BookReferenceDuffLawsonMammals}}
*Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. ''Walker's Mammals of the World'', 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp.&nbsp;{{ISBN|0-8018-5789-9}}
*Eisenberg, J.F. 1989. "[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=3629180 Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 1: The Northern Neotropics: Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}". [[University of Chicago Press]].
*Redford, K.H. and Eisenberg, J.F. 1992. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=HGYaHxXVmegC Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 2: The Southern Cone: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay]". University of Chicago Press.
*Eisenberg, J.F. and Redford, K.H. 1999. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=p2MDAzCeQQoC Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 3: The Central Neotropics: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil]". University of Chicago Press.

==Footnotes==
{{Commons|Sciurus}}
{{Wikispecies|Sciurus}}
{{Notelist}}

{{S. Sciurinae1 nav}}
{{Sciuromorpha|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q281124}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sciurus| ]]
[[Category:Rodent genera]]
[[Category:Extant Miocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]


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