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Urocitellus
Genus of rodents From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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,[2][3] 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.[4]
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".[4] The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda.[5] Oura (οὐρά) is the ancient Greek word for "tail".[6]
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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[7]
- Townsend's ground squirrel, Urocitellus townsendii
- Long-tailed ground squirrel, Urocitellus undulatus
- Washington ground squirrel, Urocitellus washingtoni
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References
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