The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Rodents: part one

Chlidonias said:
Tamiasciurus
Three species, two of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Douglas' Squirrel Tamiasciurus douglasii
Three subspecies: albolimbatus, douglasii, mollipilosus

Taxonomic note: the subspecies albolimbatus seems not to be recognised by the major mammal works now (e.g. Wilson and Reeder) but the three subspecies as listed above can be distinguished by the colouration of the underparts (off-white, orange, and pale-yellow respectively), so I have retained it here. Otherwise it is included within T. d. mollipilosus. Mearns' Squirrel Tamiasciurus mearnsi has also been treated as a subspecies of T. douglasii.


Photo by @branta68 in the wild, USA (subspecies albolimbatus[otherwise mollipilosus])

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Douglas Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Newzooboy in the wild, Canada (subspecies douglasii)

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Douglas Squirrel - Nov 2014 | ZooChat


American Red Squirrel or Pine Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
Twenty-four subspecies currently recognised, but certainly in need of taxonomic revision: abieticola, baileyi, dakotensis, dixiensis, fremonti, grahamensis, gymnicus, hudsonicus, kenaiensis, lanuginosus, laurentianus, loquax, lychnuchus, minnesota, mogollonensis, pallescens, petulans, picatus, preblei, regalis, richardsoni, streatori, ungavensis, ventorum

Taxonomic note: the subspecies fremonti may be separable as a distinct species. This is one of the taxa pictured below.


Photo by @Tomek at Axe Valley Bird and Animal Park, UK (unknown subspecies, used here to illustrate further colour differences within the species)

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American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), April 2017 | ZooChat


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Colorado (USA) (subspecies fremonti)

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American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) @ Rocky Mountain NP 2011 | ZooChat


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Maine (USA) (subspecies gymnicus)

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American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in Maine 2009 | ZooChat


Photo by @Vision in the wild, Ontario (Canada) (subspecies loquax [I think])

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American red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus | ZooChat


Photo by @birdsandbats in the wild, Wisconsin (USA) (subspecies minnesota)

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American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) | ZooChat


Photo by @Pleistohorse in the wild, Alaska (USA) (subspecies preblei)

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American Red Squirrel - Alaska | ZooChat


Photo by @Ituri in the wild, Idaho (USA) (subspecies richardsoni)

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Richardson’s Red Squirrel | ZooChat


Photo by @Ituri in the wild, Idaho (USA) (subspecies streatori)

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Streator’s Red Squirrel | ZooChat


Mearns' Squirrel Tamiasciurus mearnsi
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: this taxa was originally treated as a subspecies of Tamiasciurus douglasii but was raised to species level based on its isolated distribution. Genetics suggest it may still fall within T. douglasii.

There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.
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birdsandbats said:
I think I might have a photo of T.h. minnesota that I could upload if you want it.
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Chlidonias said:
Yes indeed. If it's a good photo (or at least good enough), then I will use it.
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birdsandbats said:
It's kind of blurry, but okay. I could probably get a better picture, but for now, it will probably do.
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birdsandbats said:
American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

Taken July 20 2018 in Appleton, WI.
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Chlidonias said:
Yeah that's good enough. I'll add it in, and if you can get a better photo I'll replace it with that one. (And yes, it should be T. h. minnesota in Appleton).
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https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/american-red-squirrel-tamiasciurus-hudsonicus.414864/full
 
I have a photo of a different morph of whatever subspecies of Eurasian Red Squirrel lives in Madrid I can share in due time. Maybe one or two other photos from different parts of Europe, too. I don't know I've seen a lot of them in the last few weeks.

I don't know if there are any photos of the animals on ZC but Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona has nominate Southern Flying Squirrel.

As for Abert's Squirrel I remember having one mere inches from me in Arizona once, but unfortunately I was too young to have been carrying a camera with me. I agree they are a fantastic squirrel.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I have a photo of a different morph of whatever subspecies of Eurasian Red Squirrel lives in Madrid I can share in due time. Maybe one or two other photos from different parts of Europe, too. I don't know I've seen a lot of them in the last few weeks.

I don't know if there are any photos of the animals on ZC but Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona has nominate Southern Flying Squirrel.

As for Abert's Squirrel I remember having one mere inches from me in Arizona once, but unfortunately I was too young to have been carrying a camera with me. I agree they are a fantastic squirrel.

~Thylo
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I think the squirrels in Madrid would be infuscatus but they are complicated (and also a lot of squirrels have been introduced to Madrid from elsewhere), but upload it anyway. In most of the places you've gone in Europe the squirrels would be the central subspecies cinerea / fuscoater but if you went to Scandinavia then that would be useful because there's only a poor photo from there available.

I'm not sure how I missed the blindingly obvious, but there is a photo of a nominate Southern Flying Squirrel from Wildlife World, and it is even titled as being such - so that is now in the thread.
 
Dremomys
Five species, two of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.

Note that the Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel Dremomys everetti has now been moved to the genus Sundasciurus.



Perny's Long-nosed Squirrel Dremomys pernyi
Six subspecies: flavior, howelli, imus, owstoni, pernyi, senex


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Taiwan (subspecies owstoni)

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Owston's Long-nosed Squirrel (Dremomys pernyi owstoni) - ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, China (subspecies pernyi)

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Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel (Dremomys pernyi) - ZooChat


Red-cheeked Squirrel Dremomys rufigenis
Five subspecies: adamsoni, belfieldi, fuscus, ornatus, rufigenis


Taxonomic note: a 2015 paper on the genetics of the genus Dremomys found that this species was polyphyletic and was most likely composed of two or more species. The paper also notes previous studies have shown morphological differences between northern and southern subspecies. See https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/27584/Hawkins et al. (2015).pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y


Photo by @ronnienl in the wild, Malaysia (subspecies belfieldi)

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Asian red-cheeked Squirrel - Fraser's Hill - ZooChat


Photo by @LaughingDove in the wild, Vietnam (subspecies fuscus)

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Red-cheeked Squirrel - Datanla | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Vietnam (subspecies rufigenis)

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Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel (Dremomys rufigenis) | ZooChat



The remaining species in this genus are not pictured here:


Red-throated Squirrel Dremomys gularis
Monotypic


Orange-bellied Himalayan Squirrel Dremomys lokriah
Five subspecies: garonum, lokriah, macmillani, motuoensis, pagus


Red-hipped Squirrel Dremomys pyrrhomerus
Two subspecies: pyrrhomerus, riudonensis
 
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Exilisciurus
Three species, two of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Plain Pigmy Squirrel Exilisciurus exilis
Monotypic


Both photos below by @LaughingDove in the wild, Sabah (Malaysian Borneo)

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Bornean Pygmy Squirrel - Sepilok | ZooChat


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Bornean Pygmy Squirrel - Sepilok | ZooChat


Whitehead's Pigmy Squirrel Exilisciurus whiteheadi
Monotypic


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

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Whitehead's Pygmy Squirrel - Mount Kinabalu | ZooChat



The third species is not pictured here:


Philippine Pigmy Squirrel Exilisciurus concinnus
Monotypic
 
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Funambulus
Six species, five of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Flame-striped or Layard's Palm Squirrel Funambulus layardi
Monotypic. Two subspecies have been described (layardi and signatus) but they are doubtfully valid.


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sri Lanka

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Flame-striped or Layard's Squirrel (Funambulus layardi) | ZooChat


Sri Lankan Dusky Palm Squirrel Funambulus obscurus
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: formerly a subspecies of Funambulus sublineatus.


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sri Lanka

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Sri Lankan Dusky Squirrel (Funambulus obscurus) | ZooChat


Three-striped or Indian Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum
Subspecies are complex. Generally three are recognised from southern India (bellaricus, palmarum, robertsoni) although the first may be synonymised with the second. The subspecies comorinus, gossei and bengalensis are now synonymised with palmarum. In Sri Lanka, where many species get divided into "dry-zone", "wet-zone", and "montane" groups, four subspecies are often recognised (brodei, favonicus, kelaarti, olympius), and sometimes a further one, matugamensis (otherwise a junior synonym of favonicus); however, for Three-striped Palm Squirrels this doesn't seem valid at all as there is little difference between any of the populations, and it is now more common for all Sri Lankan animals to be combined as brodei (which is the treatment that I follow).


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sri Lanka (subspecies brodei)

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Three-Striped Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum brodei) | ZooChat


Five-striped (or Five-lined or Northern) Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennantii
Two subspecies are normally recognised: argentescens in desert regions from Kutch west to Iran, and pennantii everywhere else in India. Three further subspecies may or may not be recognised, chhattisgarhi, gangutrianus, and lutescens - see http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/records/102/03-04/0089-0103.pdf - in which case the subspecies pennantii would be restricted to western India.


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, India (subspecies pennantii - if the further three subspecies above are recognised, then this animal (from Agra) is around the boundary between lutescens and gangutrianus)

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Five-striped Palm Squirrel (Funambulus pennantii) | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, India (subspecies pennantii - if the further three subspecies above are recognised, then this animal (from Calcutta) is around the boundary between chhattisgarhi and lutescens)

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five-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii) | ZooChat


Photo by @J I N X in the wild, Pakistan (subspecies pennantii - if the further three subspecies above are recognised, then this animal (from Peshawar) is lutescens)

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Wild northern palm squirrel - Peshawar zoo 6/23/2019 - ZooChat


Nilgiri or Indian Dusky Palm Squirrel Funambulus sublineatus
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: formerly two subspecies, one in Sri Lanka (obscurus) and one in southern India (sublineatus), which are now split into two full species.

There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.


Jungle Palm Squirrel Funambulus tristriatus
Two subspecies: numarius, tristriatus


Photo by @Maguari in the wild, India (subspecies numarius?)

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Jungle Striped Squirrel, Kabini River Lodge, 18th November 2024 - ZooChat


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

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Jungle Striped Squirrel (Funambulus tristriatus) | ZooChat
 
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Glyphotes
One species


Red-bellied Sculptor Squirrel Glyphotes simus
Monotypic


There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.
 
Hyosciurus
Two species, neither of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Montane Long-nosed Squirrel Hyosciurus heinrichi
Monotypic


Lowland Long-nosed Squirrel Hyosciurus ileile
Monotypic
 
Chlidonias said:
I think the squirrels in Madrid would be infuscatus but they are complicated (and also a lot of squirrels have been introduced to Madrid from elsewhere), but upload it anyway. In most of the places you've gone in Europe the squirrels would be the central subspecies cinerea / fuscoater but if you went to Scandinavia then that would be useful because there's only a poor photo from there available.
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Unfortunately no trips to Scandinavia this time around, but I will try and upload the Iberian photo as quickly as possible once I'm home and on a computer (only have a phone for this trip).

~Thylo
 
Lariscus
Four species, one of which is represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Niobe Ground Squirrel Lariscus niobe
Two subspecies: niobe, vulcanus


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sumatra (Indonesia) (subspecies niobe)

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Niobe Ground Squirrel (Lariscus niobe) | ZooChat



The other three species are not pictured here:


Four-striped Ground Squirrel Lariscus hosei
Monotypic


Three-striped Ground Squirrel Lariscus insignis
Five subspecies: diversus, insignis, javanus, peninsulae, rostratus


Mentawai Ground Squirrel Lariscus obscurus
Three subspecies: auroreus, obscurus, siberu
 
Nannosciurus
One species


Black-eared Pigmy Squirrel Nannosciurus melanotis
Four subspecies: bancanus, borneanus, melanotis, pulcher


There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.
 
Prosciurillus
Seven species, one of which is represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Celebes Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus murinus
Three subspecies: griseus, murinus, necopinus


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sulawesi (Indonesia) (subspecies necopinus)

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Sulawesi Dwarf Squirrel (Prosciurillus murinus) | ZooChat



The remaining species in this genus are not pictured here:


Secretive Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus abstrusus
Monotypic


Alston's Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus alstoni
Monotypic


Whitish Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus leucomus
Four subspecies: hirsutus, leucomus, occidentalis, tokneanus


Sangihe Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus rosenbergii
Monotypic


Montane Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus topapuensis
Monotypic


Weber's Dwarf Squirrel Prosciurillus weberi
Monotypic
 
Rhinosciurus
One species


Shrew-faced or Long-nosed Ground Squirrel Rhinosciurus laticaudatus
Three subspecies: alacris, laticaudatus, saturatus


There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.
 
Rubrisciurus
One species


Sulawesi Red-bellied Squirrel Rubrisciurus rubriventer
Monotypic


There are no photos of this species in the Zoochat galleries.
 
Sundasciurus
At least twenty species, about nine of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.

I've divided this genus over two posts, firstly listing the non-Philippine species and secondly the Philippine species.

Of the eleven non-Philippines species, six are depicted here.



Sumatran Montane Squirrel Sundasciurus altitudinis
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: this species and the Malaysian Montane Squirrel S. tahan were formerly included within the Slender Squirrel S. tenuis, but genetically they are more closely related to the Bornean montane species (brookei and jentinki).


Photo by @LaughingDove in the wild, Sumatra (Indonesia)

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Sumatran Mountain Squirrel - ZooChat


Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel Sundasciurus everetti
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: this species has always been placed within the genus Dremomys but the genetics has shown it to belong instead in the genus Sundasciurus. Read the 2015 paper which formally changed the genus here: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/27584/Hawkins et al. (2015).pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Sabah (Bornean Malaysia)

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Bornean mountain ground squirrel (Dremomys everetti) | ZooChat


Horse-tailed Squirrel Sundasciurus hippurus
Five to seven subspecies: borneensis, hippurosus, hippurus, ornatus, pryeri. Two further subspecies, hippurellus and inquinatus, may also be recognised (otherwise combined in hippurus - all three are from Borneo).


Photo by @Sicarius at Batu Secret Zoo, Indonesia (Sumatran subspecies hippurosus)

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Sumatran horse-tailed squirrel (Sundasciurus hippurus hippurosus) - ZooChat


Jentink's Squirrel Sundasciurus jentinki
Monotypic


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

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Jentinck's Squirrel - Mount Kinabalu | ZooChat


Malaysian Montane Squirrel Sundasciurus tahan
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: this species and the Sumatran Montane Squirrel S. altitudinis were formerly included within the Slender Squirrel S. tenuis, but genetically they are more closely related to the Bornean montane species (brookei and jentinki).


Photo by @Hix in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia

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Montane Slender Squirrel | ZooChat


Slender Squirrel Sundasciurus tenuis
Five subspecies: bancarus, modestus, parvus, procerus, tenuis


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Singapore (subspecies tenuis)

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slender squirrel (Sundasciurus tenuis) | ZooChat



The remaining non-Philippine species are not pictured here:


Brooke's Squirrel Sundasciurus brookei
Monotypic


Fraternal Squirrel Sundasciurus fraterculus
Monotypic


Low's Squirrel Sundasciurus lowii
Three subspecies: bangueyae, lingungensis, lowii

Taxonomic note: a 2020 paper split S. lowii into three species - lowii, natunensis, and robinsoni - which I have followed here. See Species New to Science: [Mammalogy • 2020] Ancient Divergence Driven by Geographic Isolation and Ecological Adaptation in Forest Dependent Sundaland Tree Squirrels (Genus Sundasciurus)


Natuna Squirrel Sundasciurus natunensis
Monotypic

Taxonomic note: formerly treated as a subspecies of Low's Squirrel S. lowii.


Robinson's Squirrel Sundasciurus robinsoni
Three subspecies: balae (including humilis), robinsoni (including seimundi), vanakeni

Taxonomic note: formerly treated as subspecies of Low's Squirrel S. lowii.
 
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Sundasciurus (Philippine species)

Half of the species in this genus are from the Philippines, and of those species which are depicted here all are of captive animals in Philippine zoos where the labelling appears to be rather haphazard. I have no good resources for Philippine mammals, other than written descriptions, so I can't really judge which are correctly labelled and which aren't. Therefore I have simply provided the list of species and a separate series of photos labelled as they are in the galleries. All of the Philippine species are monotypic.


Davao Squirrel Sundasciurus davensis

Busuanga Squirrel Sundasciurus hoogstraali

Northern Palawan Squirrel Sundasciurus juvencus

Mindanao Squirrel Sundasciurus mindanensis

Culion Squirrel Sundasciurus moellendorffi

Philippine Squirrel Sundasciurus philippinensis

Palawan Montane Squirrel Sundasciurus rabori

Samar Squirrel Sundasciurus samarensis

Southern Palawan Squirrel Sundasciurus steerii



Photo by @alexkant at Avilon Zoo, Philippines (labelled as Mindanao Squirrel Sundasciurus mindanensis)

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Mindanao squirrel/ Sundasciurus mindanensis | ZooChat


Photo by @alexkant at Xzootic Animal Park, Philippines (labelled as Philippine Tree Squirrel Sundasciurus philippinensis)

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Philippine tree squirrel/ Sundasciurus philippinensis | ZooChat


Photo by @alexkant at Manilla Zoo, Philippines (labelled as Philippine Tree Squirrel Sundasciurus philippinensis)

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Philippine tree squirrel/ Sundasciurus philippinensis | ZooChat


Photo by @Giant Eland at Avilon Zoo, Philippines (labelled as Philippine Tree Squirrel Sundasciurus philippinensis)

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Philippine tree squirrel (Sundasciurus philippinensis) | ZooChat


Photo by @alexkant at Crocolandia Foundation, Philippines (labelled as Southern Palawan Tree Squirrel Sundasciurus steerii)

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Southern Palawan tree squirrel/ Sundasciurus steerii | ZooChat
 
Tamiops
At least four species, all of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.

In this thread I include six species, five of which are represented by photos.

Genetic studies have shown that there are probably many more than four species. The Taiwan Striped Squirrel T. formosanus is split from T. maritimus by various authors, and given the level of mammal endemism on Taiwan I have followed that here. In 2022 a new species, the Minshan Striped Squirrel T. minshanica, was described from the Minshan Mountains in Sichuan (China) - this species is not depicted in the photos below.

A 2024 paper (Lost in synonymy: Integrative species delimitation reveals two unrecognized species of Southern Asian tree squirrels (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Callosciurinae)) split T. macclellandii into two species, the western T. macclellandii and eastern T. barbei, and suggested that the subspecies inconstans may also be a candidate split.


There are quite a few very good photos in the galleries of Tamiops macclellandii and Tamiops swinhoei from captive collections in Europe, but I don't think any are of known subspecies - or even whether they are correctly identified - so I have restricted the photo choices below to wild animals.



Taiwan Striped Squirrel Tamiops formosanus
Monotypic. Split from T. maritimus.


Photo by @ronnienl in the wild, Taiwan

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Maritime Striped Squirrel - ZooChat


Himalayan or Western Striped Squirrel Tamiops macclellandii
Six subspecies: barbei, collinus, inconstans, kongensis, leucotis, macclellandii

A 2024 paper (Lost in synonymy: Integrative species delimitation reveals two unrecognized species of Southern Asian tree squirrels (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Callosciurinae)) split T. macclellandii into two species, the western T. macclellandii (which would then be monotypic) and eastern T. barbei (all other subspecies), but also suggested that the subspecies inconstans may be another candidate split.

Note: the specific name is variously spelled either macclellandii or mcclellandii.


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

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Himalayan Striped Squirrel (Tamiops macclellandii) | ZooChat


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

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Western Striped Squirrel - Rice Fields Near Petchaburi | ZooChat


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

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Himalayan Striped Squirrel | ZooChat


Maritime Striped Squirrel Tamiops maritimus
Four or five subspecies: hainanus, maritimus, moi, monticolus. The Taiwan Striped Squirrel formosanus may be separated as a full species by some authors, and given the level of mammal endemism of Taiwan I have followed that here.


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, China (subspecies maritimus)

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Maritime Squirrel (Tamiops maritimus) - ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, China (subspecies monticolus)

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Maritime striped squirrel (Tamiops maritimus) | ZooChat


Photo by @LaughingDove in the wild, Vietnam (subspecies moi)

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Eastern (Maritime) Striped Squirrel - Mount Lang Biang | ZooChat


Minshan Striped Squirrel Tamiops minshanica
Monotypic.


This species is not represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Cambodian Striped Squirrel Tamiops rodolphii
Two subspecies: elbeli, rodolphii


Photo by @LaughingDove in the wild, Vietnam (subspecies rodolphii)

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Cambodian Striped Squirrel - Cat Tien | ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, Vietnam, showing the belly colour (subspecies rodolphii)

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Cambodian Striped Squirrel (Tamiops rodolphii) | ZooChat


Swinhoe's Striped Squirrel Tamiops swinhoei
At least eight subspecies: chingpingensis, forresti, markhamensis, olivaceus, russeolus, spencei, swinhoei, vestitus (this species is mainly found at higher altitudes and, particularly in Yunnan (China), the mountain ranges separate the populations)


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, China (subspecies forresti)

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Swinhoe's Striped Squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei) - ZooChat


Photo by @Chlidonias in the wild, China (subspecies swinhoei)

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Swinhoes striped squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei) | ZooChat


Photo by @Deer Forest in the wild, China (subspecies vestitus)

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Swinhoe's Striped Squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei) - Beijing | ZooChat
 
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Either S. philippinensis is super variable while being monotypic (possible) or Philippine zoos have a species identification problem..

~Thylo
 
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