The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Rodents: part one

underwoodi is on some range maps for Costa Rica, but other sources don't include it within Costa Rican subspecies at all. I think that tail-end of its range is one of those debatable situations where different authors consider it to be from different subspecies. In the case of it not being included in Costa Rica I think that bit of the country is probably covered as thomasi, or maybe a merging of that and dorsalis.

 

This is where the Red Squirrel is tricky (to put it mildly) because there is little agreement on subspecies limits. I've listed the 23 subspecies recognised by Wilson and Reeder, but there is a huge range of opinion on it. If going with the 17-subspecies model, which is also quite common, neither fedjushini or formosovi would be recognised. Then the St. Petersburg animals would probably be S. v. vulgaris, although some would argue that they would be S. v. fuscoater instead because it's right around where the two subspecies meet. And, of course, there are actually no barriers between most of the subspecies, they are just parts of a continuous range with divisions somewhat arbitrarily marked on a map.

 

I'll see what I can do with regards to an ID. I'll probably end up just using them as an illustration of the genus, rather than an exact species.

 

I'm not sure of where alpinus (Pyrenean) meets fuscoater (Central European) because it would vary with author (and which subspecies that author recognises), but in general yes.

 

To complicate matters further, incidentally, the 17-subspecies model synonymises cinerea and fuscoater, but retains the latter name despite the fact that if they are deemed identical this is a junior synonym of the former name

So all the mentions of fuscoater in this thread should theoretically say cinerea.

 

That's a good point which I overlooked. What I've done is (re)labelled them as "cinerea [fuscoater]". Red Squirrels really are complicated beasts.

 

No, any subspecies. Melanism is very common in squirrels.

 

No, one melanistic squirrel looks exactly like any other melanistic squirrel of the same species.

 

The subfamily Callosciurinae contains about 70 species in fourteen genera: Callosciurus, Dremomys, Exilisciurus, Funambulus, Glyphotes, Hyosciurus, Lariscus, Menetes, Nannosciurus, Prosciurillus, Rhinosciurus, Rubrisciurus, Sundasciurus, Tamiops.


This subfamily is exclusively Asian in distribution, with the majority of the species coming from southeast Asia. The species total is pretty well established, but even so there are occasional additions due to genetics-based splitting.


There are 31 species depicted here, from nine genera: Callosciurus, Dremomys, Exilisciurus, Funambulus, Lariscus, Menetes, Prosciurillus, Sundasciurus, Tamiops.

 

Callosciurus
Sixteen species, eight of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.



Grey-bellied Squirrel Callosciurus caniceps
Six subspecies: adangensis, bimaculatus, caniceps, casensis, concolor, domelicus


Photo by @LaughingDove in the wild, Thailand (subspecies caniceps)


Grey-bellied Squirrel - Baan Maka Chalets | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia (subspecies concolor)


Grey-bellied Squirrel (Callosciurus caniceps) | ZooChat


Red-bellied or Pallas' Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus
About twenty-six subspecies (but extremely complicated and disputable - it is likely to actually be a species-complex): atrodorsalis, bartoni, bhutanensis, bonhotei, castaneoventris, erythraeus, erythrogaster, flavimanus, gloveri, gordoni, griseimanus, harringtoni, hendeei, hyperythrus, intermedius, michianus, ningpoensis, pranis, rubeculus, shanicus, siamensis, sladeni, styani, thai, thaiwanensis, zimmeensis

Some of the subspecies, in particular flavimanus and griseimanus, probably should be included under C. finlaysonii rather than C. erythraeus. The two species are closely-related and studies of their taxonomic relationships are a complete mess.

Photo by @Hix in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia (subspecies rubeculus)


Red-bellied (Pallas') Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild (in the grounds of Taipei Zoo), Taiwan (subspecies thaiwanensis)


Pallas's squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus) wild | ZooChat


Variable or Finlayson's Squirrel Callosciurus finlaysonii
At least sixteen subspecies (but extremely complicated and disputable): albivexilli, annellatus, bocourti, boonsongi, cinnamomeus, ferrugineus, finlaysonii, folletti, frandseni, germaini, harmandi, menamicus, nox, sinistralis, trotteri, williamsoni

Taxonomic note: there are suggestions that this may be a species complex. The named subspecies are a complete mess - descriptions of colouration versus distribution often do not match up in the wild, single populations well away from human settlements can contain multiple "subspecies" colourations, and apparently individual squirrels can change colour through the year.


The first five photos below were all taken by @Chlidonias in city parks in Bangkok, where pet squirrels from around Thailand are released. The first three are probably all versions of the subspecies C. f. bocourti (Bangkok squirrels are often separated from C. f. bocourti as C. f. floweri but this does not seem justified). The fourth may be one of the northern subspecies which are typically dark red, but it may equally just be a red form of boucourti. The fifth photo, of the all-white squirrel, would be identified as the type-subspecies C. f. finlaysonii (endemic to Si Chang island) if using the Field Guide to the Mammals of South-east Asia by Charles M. Francis, but I suspect white animals can occur in any population.


Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlaysonii) - ZooChat


Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlaysonii) - ZooChat


Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlaysonii) - ZooChat

Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlaysonii) - ZooChat


Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlaysonii) - ZooChat


Photo below by @zoogiraffe at Ponderosa Rural Therapeutic Centre, UK (labelled here and on Zootierliste as being the Pegu (Burma) subspecies ferrugineus, but likely to be the (currently undescribed) Laotian form as depicted in Francis' Field Guide to the Mammals of South-east Asia)


Pegu Red Squirrel | ZooChat
(Another photo by @devilfish here: Callosciurus (finlaysoni) ferrugineus | ZooChat)


Sunda Black-banded Squirrel Callosciurus nigrovittatus
Four subspecies: bilimitatus, bocki, klossi, nigrovittatus


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia (subspecies bilimitatus)


Sunda Black-banded Squirrel (Callosciurus nigrovittatus) | ZooChat


Plantain Squirrel Callosciurus notatus
Five subspecies: diardii, miniatus, notatus, suffusus, vittatus (plus absolutely masses of synonyms)


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild (in the grounds of Melaka Zoo), Peninsular Malaysia (subspecies miniatus)


plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) | ZooChat


Photo by @Sun Bear in the wild, Singapore (subspecies miniatus), showing the belly colour.


Botanical Gardens | ZooChat


Photo by @Hix in the wild, Brunei (subspecies suffusus)


Plantain Squirrel | ZooChat


Bornean Black-banded Squirrel Callosciurus orestes
Monotypic


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sabah (Malaysian Borneo)


Bornean Black-banded Squirrel (Callosciurus orestes) | ZooChat

 

Prevost's Squirrel Callosciurus prevostii
A huge number of subspecies, with over 40 having been named and mostly still in use. I won't list them all here, but you can see all the combinations, plus a distribution map covered in dots representing all the named subspecies here: Callosciurus prevostii (Rodentia: Sciuridae) | Mammalian Species | Oxford Academic


Photo by @ThylacineAlive at Los Angeles Zoo, USA (Bangka subspecies bangkanus)


Bangka Prevost's Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Jordan-Jaguar97 at Blackpool Zoo, UK (Sarawak subspecies borneoensis)


Prevosts Squirrel at Blackpool Zoo, 20/02/14 | ZooChat


Photo by @Hix in the wild, Brunei (Brunei subspecies caroli)


Prevost's Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) (Sabah subspecies pluto)


Prevost's squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii) | ZooChat


Photo by @Hix at Zoo Negara, Malaysia (west Peninsular Malaysian subspecies prevostii)


Prevost's Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Joker1706 at Randers Regnskov Tropical Zoo, Denmark (Sumatran subspecies rafflesi)


Prevost´s squirrel | ZooChat


Irrawaddy or Hoary-bellied Squirrel Callosciurus pygerythrus
Seven subspecies: blythii, janetta, lokroides, mearsi, owensi, pygerythrus, stevensi


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, India (subspecies blythii)


Irrawaddy or Hoary-bellied Squirrel (Callosciurus pygerythrus) | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Burma (Myanmar) (subspecies janetta)


Irrawaddy or Hoary-bellied Squirrel (Callosciurus pygerythrus) | ZooChat

 

The remaining species in the genus Callosciurus are not pictured here:


Ear-spot Squirrel Callosciurus adamsi
Monotypic


Kloss' Squirrel Callosciurus albescens
Monotypic


Kinabalu Squirrel Callosciurus baluensis
Monotypic


Hon Khoai Squirrel Callosciurus honkhoaiensis
Monotypic. This species was only described in 2018 and is known solely from Hon Khoai Island off south Vietnam.


Inornate Squirrel Callosciurus inornatus
Monotypic


Mentawai Squirrel Callosciurus melanogaster
Three subspecies: atratus, melanogaster, mentawi


Phayre's Squirrel Callosciurus phayrei
Monotypic


Anderson's Squirrel Callosciurus quinquestriatus
Two subspecies: imarius, quinquestriatus