Biology:Urocitellus

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Short description: Genus of rodents


Urocitellus
Co-szies-09-08.jpg
Richardson's ground squirrel in Manitoba
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Tribe: Marmotini
Genus: Urocitellus
Obolenskij, 1927
Species

See text.

Urocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels. They were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus, but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots,[1] and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus. As a result, Urocitellus is now considered as a genus in its own right.[2]

All but two species are native to the northern and western parts of North America, from California and Minnesota through the north-western United States and western Canada ; the Arctic ground squirrel inhabits Arctic terrain on both sides of the Bering Strait, while the long-tailed ground squirrel is exclusively found in Asia. The name of the genus is said to be derived from the Latin uro, meaning "tail" and citellus for "ground squirrel".[2] The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda.[3] Oura (οὐρά) is the ancient Greek word for "tail".[4]

Species

Thirteen species are currently identified:

Genus Urocitellus

References

  1. 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.09.015. PMID 15120398. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 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. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120415053531/http://www.mammalsociety.org/uploads/Helgen%20et%20al%202009.pdf. Retrieved 25 February 2016. 
  3. Lewis, C.T. & Short, C. (1879). A Latin dictionary founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  4. Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Wikidata ☰ Q3766334 entry