Heliosciurus (Genus)

Overview

Sun squirrels ( Heliosciurus), form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae and the tribe Protoxerini. They are only found in sub-Saharan Africa.

The habit of basking in the sun on tree branches probably gave this group its common name.

Sun squirrels have been implicated in the spread of human monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are 5 species in the genus:

Heliosciurus ruwenzorii
Heliosciurus gambianus
Heliosciurus rufobrachium
Heliosciurus mutabilis
Heliosciurus undulatus

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
  - Subkingdom: Bilateria (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
    - Branch: Deuterostomia Grobben, 1908 - Deuterostomes
      - Infrakingdom: Chordonia (Haeckel, 1874) Cavalier-Smith, 1998
        Phylum: Chordata Bateson, 1885 - Chordates
        Subphylum: Vertebrata Cuvier, 1812 - Vertebrates
        Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Auct. - Jawed Vertebrates
        Superclass: Tetrapoda Goodrich, 1930 - Tetrapods
        Class: Mammalia C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Mammals
        Subclass: Theriiformes (Rowe, 1988) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Infraclass: Holotheria (Wible Et Al., 1995) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Superlegion: Trechnotheria Mckenna, 1975
        Legion: Cladotheria Mckenna, 1975
        Sublegion: Zatheria Mckenna, 1975
        Infralegion: Tribosphenida (Mckenna, 1975) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Supercohort: Theria (Parker & Haswell, 1897) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997 - Therians
        Cohort: Placentalia (Owen, 1837) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997 - Placentals
        Magnorder: Epitheria (Mckenna, 1975) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Superorder: Preptotheria (Mckenna, 1975) Mckenna, in Stucky & Mckenna, in Benton, Ed., 1993
        Grandorder: Anagalida (Szalay & Mckenna, 1971) Mckenna, 1975
        Mirorder: Simplicidentata (Weber, 1904) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Order: Rodentia Bowdich, 1821 - Rodents
        Suborder: Sciuromorpha Brandt, 1855 - Squirrels
        Infraorder: Sciurida (Carus, 1868) M.c. Mckenna & S.k. Bell, 1997
        Family: Sciuridae (Fischer De Waldheim, 1817) Gray, 1821:304
        Subfamily: Sciurinae
        Tribe: Protoxerini
        Genus: Heliosciurus Trouessart, 1880

The Genus Heliosciurus is further organized into finer groupings including:

Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 11 species and subspecies in the Genus Heliosciurus: H. bongensis · H. gambianus (Gambian Sun Squirrel) · H. gambianus gambianus · H. gambianus lateris · H. gambianus undulatus · H. mutabilis (Mutable Sun Squirrel) · H. punctatus (Small Sun Squirrel) · H. rufobrachium (Red-Legged Sun Squirrel) · H. rufobrachium undulatus · H. ruwenzorii (Ruwenzori Sun Squirrel) · H. undulatus (Eastern Sun Squirrel)

References

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Nowak, Ronald M. (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp 1281-1282.
http://www.squirrels.org/names.html

Sources

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