Otospermophilus

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Otospermophilus
OtospermophilusVariegatusGrandCanyon.jpg
Rock squirrel at the Grand Canyon
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Tribe: Marmotini
Genus: Otospermophilus
Brandt, 1844
Type species
Sciurus grammurus [1]
Say, 1823
(= Sciurus variegatus Erxleben, 1777)
Species

O. atricapillus
O. beecheyi
O. variegetus

Otospermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae, containing three species from Mexico and the United States. Otospermophilus was formerly placed in the large ground squirrel genus Spermophilus , as a subgenus or species group. Since DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene has shown Spermophilus to be paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, [2] it is now separated, along with six other genera. [3]

Contents

Species

The three species in Otospermophilus are listed below. These are the same species that were previously grouped in the subgenus Otospermophilus. [3]

References

  1. ↑ Howell, Arthur H. (April 1938). "Revision of the North American Ground Squirrels With a Classification of the North American Sciuridae". North American Fauna. 56: 43. doi:10.3996/nafa.56.0001.
  2. ↑ Herron, Matthew D.; Castoe, Todd A.; Parkinson, Christopher L. (2004). "Sciurid phylogeny and the paraphyly of Holarctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (3): 1015–30. Bibcode:2004MolPE..31.1015H. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.09.015. PMID   15120398.
  3. 1 2 Helgen, Kristofer M.; Cole, F. Russel; Helgen, Lauren E. & Wilson, Don E (2009). "Generic Revision in the Holarctic Ground Squirrel Genus Spermophilus". Journal of Mammalogy. 90 (2): 270–305. doi: 10.1644/07-MAMM-A-309.1 .


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