Tribe Sciurini (mostly American tree squirrels).Genus Sciurillus (South American pygmy squirrel).The following genera of the squirrel family are classified as tree squirrels. Many tree squirrel species have adapted to human-altered environments such as rural farms, suburban backyards and urban parks.Īmerican red squirrel ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)Ĭurrent taxonomy, based on genetic data, splits the tree squirrels into several subfamilies. The best known genus of tree squirrels is Sciurus, which includes the eastern gray squirrel of North America ( introduced to Great Britain in the 1870s), the red squirrel of Eurasia, and the North American fox squirrel, among many others. An exception is the flying squirrel that also makes its home in trees, but has a physiological distinction separating it from its tree squirrel cousins: special flaps of skin called patagia, acting as glider wings, which allow gliding flight. Tree squirrels live mostly among trees, as opposed to those that live in burrows in the ground or among rocks. The defining characteristic used to determine which species of Sciuridae are tree squirrels is dependent on their habitat rather than their physiology. They do not form a single natural, or monophyletic, group they are variously related to others in the squirrel family, including ground squirrels, flying squirrels, marmots, and chipmunks. They include more than 100 arboreal species native to all continents except Antarctica and Oceania. Tree squirrels are the members of the squirrel family (Sciuridae) commonly just referred to as "squirrels". A squirrel in the University of Cambridge Botanic Gardens
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