Japanese squirrel

Japanese squirrel
	Japanese squirrel ( Sciurus lis )
Systematics
Subordination :	Squirrel relatives (Sciuromorpha)
Family :	Squirrel (Sciuridae)
Subfamily :	Tree squirrel and flying squirrel (Sciurinae)
Tribe :	Tree squirrel (Sciurini)
Genre :	Red squirrel ( Sciurus )
Type :	Japanese squirrel
Scientific name
	Sciurus lis
	Temminck , 1844

The Japanese squirrel ( Sciurus lis ) is a species of Japanese squirrel from the genus of squirrels ( Sciurus ). It is believed to be derived from the Eurasian squirrel ( Sciurus vulgaris ) that penetrated the Japanese islands via Sakhalin .

features

Japanese squirrel

The body length of the Japanese squirrel is 16–22 cm, its tail becomes 13–17 cm long. Adult animals weigh around 300 g. The hair on the belly side and on the tip of the tail are white. In the summer dress the back fur is reddish brown, in the winter dress it is grayish.

distribution

Japanese squirrels live on the two main islands of Honshū and Shikoku as well as on the smaller island of Awaji-shima . The population in Hiroshima Prefecture has died out. Whether the species was ever widespread on the third main island of Kyūshū is controversial. The Japanese squirrel does not occur on the northern main island of Hokkaidō . The native populations of the European squirrel there, however, show only a small evolutionary distance to the Japanese squirrel in phylogenetic studies.

Individual evidence

↑ T. Oshida: Nihonsan risuka Dobutsu no shizenshi to Blakiston-sen. In: Honyurui Kagaku. Vol. 39, no. 1, Nihon Honyurui Gakkai, 1999, pp. 339-340.
↑ M. Yasuda: Zetsumetsu no osore no aru Kyūshū no Nihon Risu, Nihon Momonga oyobi Musasabi. In: Honyurui Kagaku. Vol. 47, no. 2, Nihon Honyurui Gakkai, 2007, pp. 195-202.
↑ T. Oshida, R. Masuda, MC Yoshida: Phylogenetic Relationships among Japanese Species of the Family Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia), Inferred from Nucleotide Sequences of Mitochondrial 12S Ribosomal RNA Genes. In: Zoological Science. Volume 13, No. 4, 1996, pp. 615-620. (bioone.org)

Web links

Commons : Japanese Squirrel - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Sciurus lis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Ishii, N. & Kaneko, Y., 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2013.

[1] T. Oshida: Nihonsan risuka Dobutsu no shizenshi to Blakiston-sen. In: Honyurui Kagaku. Vol. 39, no. 1, Nihon Honyurui Gakkai, 1999, pp. 339-340.

[2] M. Yasuda: Zetsumetsu no osore no aru Kyūshū no Nihon Risu, Nihon Momonga oyobi Musasabi. In: Honyurui Kagaku. Vol. 47, no. 2, Nihon Honyurui Gakkai, 2007, pp. 195-202.

[3] T. Oshida, R. Masuda, MC Yoshida: Phylogenetic Relationships among Japanese Species of the Family Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia), Inferred from Nucleotide Sequences of Mitochondrial 12S Ribosomal RNA Genes. In: Zoological Science. Volume 13, No. 4, 1996, pp. 615-620. (bioone.org)