Biology:Urocitellus
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][2] 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.[3]
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".[3] The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda.[4] Oura (οὐρά) is the ancient Greek word for "tail".[5]
Species
Fourteen species are currently identified:
Genus Urocitellus
- Uinta ground squirrel, Urocitellus armatus
- Belding's ground squirrel, Urocitellus beldingi
- Northern Idaho ground squirrel, Urocitellus brunneus
- Merriam's ground squirrel, Urocitellus canus
- Columbian ground squirrel, Urocitellus columbianus
- Wyoming ground squirrel, Urocitellus elegans
- Southern Idaho ground squirrel, Urocitellus endemicus
- Piute ground squirrel, Urocitellus mollis
- Arctic ground squirrel, Urocitellus parryii
- Richardson's ground squirrel, Urocitellus richardsonii
- Snake River Plains ground squirrel, Urocitellus idahoensis[6]
- Townsend's ground squirrel, Urocitellus townsendii
- Long-tailed ground squirrel, Urocitellus undulatus
- Washington ground squirrel, Urocitellus washingtoni
References
- ↑ Harrison, Richard G.; Bogdanowicz, Steven M.; Hoffmann, Robert S.; Yensen, Eric; Sherman, Paul W. (September 2003). "Phylogeny and evolutionary history of the ground squirrels (Rodentia: Marmotinae)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution 10 (3): 249–276. doi:10.1023/B:JOMM.0000015105.96065.f0.
- ↑ Herron, Matthew D.; Castoe, Todd A.; Parkinson, Christopher L. (June 2004). "Sciurid phylogeny and the paraphyly of Holarctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (3): 1015–1030. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.09.015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 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.
- ↑ Lewis, C.T. & Short, C. (1879). A Latin dictionary founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ McLean, Bryan S; Rickart, Eric A; Cook, Joseph A; Guralnick, Robert P; Burgin, Connor J; Lohr, Kristin (2025-03-25). "Integrative species delimitation reveals an Idaho-endemic ground squirrel, Urocitellus idahoensis (Merriam 1913)". Journal of Mammalogy 106 (2): 405–429. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyae135. ISSN 0022-2372. PMID 40144356.
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