Notocitellus
Genus of rodents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Notocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels, containing two species from Mexico. These species are the tropical ground squirrel (Notocitellus adocetus), and the ring-tailed ground squirrel (N. annulatus). Notocitellus was formerly placed in the large ground squirrel genus Spermophilus, as a subgenus or species group. Since DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene has shown Spermophilus to be paraphyletic to the marmots, antelope squirrels, and prairie dogs,[2] it is now separated, along with six other genera.[3] The exact relations of this genus are unclear, though a relation to the antelope squirrels is possible.[3]
| Notocitellus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Tribe: | Marmotini |
| Genus: | Notocitellus A. H. Howell, 1938 |
| Type species | |
| Spermophilus annulatus | |
| Species | |
| |
| Distribution of the Notocitellus ground squirrels | |