Sun squirrel
Sun squirrels (genus Heliosciurus), form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae and the tribe Protoxerini. They are only found in sub-Saharan Africa.
| Sun squirrels Temporal range: Late Pleistocene to Recent | |
|---|---|
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| H. rufobrachium, Uganda | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Tribe: | Protoxerini |
| Genus: | Heliosciurus Trouessart, 1880 |
| Species[1] | |
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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 6 species in the genus:
- Gambian sun squirrel, Heliosciurus gambianus
- Mutable sun squirrel, Heliosciurus mutabilis
- Small sun squirrel, Heliosciurus punctatus
- Red-legged sun squirrel, Heliosciurus rufobrachium
- Ruwenzori sun squirrel, Heliosciurus ruwenzorii
- Zanj sun squirrel, Heliosciurus undulatus
References
- Thorington, R.W., Jr.; Hoffmann, R.S. (2005). "Family Sciuridae". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed.). The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 754–818. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4. OCLC 26158608.
- Nowak, Ronald M. (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp 1281–1282.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070329003419/http://www.squirrels.org/names.html
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