Lady Burton redshank squirrel
| Lady Burton redshank squirrel | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lady Burton redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus isabella ), drawing by Joseph Smit from the first description in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1862 |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Funisciurus isabella | ||||||||||||
| ( Gray , 1862) |
The Lady-Burton redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus isabella ) is a species of squirrel from the genus of the redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus ). It occurs in parts of Central Africa and was named after the British travel writer Lady Isabel Burton .
features
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel reaches an average head-trunk length of 14.3 to 17.5 centimeters, the tail is 13.5 to 18.5 centimeters long. The weight is about 90 to 140 grams. The males are slightly larger than the females. The rear foot length is 34 to 38 millimeters, the ear length 12 to 16 millimeters. It is a small croissant with a light to golden brown fur on the back with sand-colored parts, the hair is basal black and has a sand-colored-yellow tip. On the back there are two dark brown to black stripes on either side of the midline with brownish-yellow stripes in between, which in the case of the central stripes extend from the head to the tail and in the case of the outer stripes from the neck to the torso. The stripes in between are paler in color than the shoulders of the animals. The peritoneum is pale gray with hair that has a gray base and a white tip. The tail is as long as the head-trunk length. It is slender with long hair, the base is sand-colored brown, towards the end it becomes black with sand-colored frost. The females have two paired teats (0 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 4).
| 1 | · | 0 | · | 2 | · | 3 | = 22 |
| 1 | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | 3 |
The skull has a total length of 39.6 to 41.9 millimeters and a width of about 22.4 millimeters. Like all species of the genus has the type in the upper jaw half per one to a incisor tooth formed incisor (incisor) to which a tooth gap ( diastema follows). This is followed by two premolars and three molars . The teeth in the lower jaw correspond to those in the upper jaw, but only with a premolar. In total, the animals have a set of 22 teeth. The bony palate ends at the anterior margin of the last molars.
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel is similar to other redshank squirrels found in the same region and differs from them primarily in its size and color. The sympatrically occurring Banded African striped squirrel ( Funisciurus lemniscatus ) has a striking red to orange belly coloration, the black backing strip do not reach in the neck with him, and the coat between the strips is darker than between the inner and outer strips. The Duchaillu redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus isabella ) is slightly larger and the peritoneum is whitish.
distribution
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel occurs in the area of the west coast of Central Africa from the high elevations in the southwest of Cameroon via Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to the west of the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo . Evidence also comes from the Brazzaville region in the south of the Republic of Congo, while there is no evidence from the Democratic Republic of the Congo , but an occurrence in this country is possible.
Way of life
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel lives mainly in dense and bushy areas and thickets of the tropical rainforest. Preferred habitats include dense sections of secondary forest around roads, abandoned gardens and plantations and other habitats with dense vegetation and tree heights of less than five meters. In contrast, the species does not occur in high and fully grown rainforest areas.
It lives as a loner or, more rarely, in pairs or small groups of three individuals. Loners make up the largest proportion of sightings with around 70%, in pairs they are sighted in around 20% of cases and in small groups in 10%. Beyond that, no information is available about the social structure of the animals. They are diurnal and live as good climbers in the branches of the trees. They usually look for food in the bushes, on tendrils and in trees below 10 meters in height. They usually build the nests as round leaf and branch nests with several entrances in the branches of the bushes, in lianas or on tree trunks in the area of epiphytes or branch origins. Nests of the species only occur where there are no nests of the banded redshank squirrel . The animals feed, such as other species of the genus predominantly herbivor of fruit and seeds, which make up about 81% of the diet, the green plant parts (9 to 10%), insects (about 6%) and fungi and lichens. Ants , termites and caterpillars are most likely to be eaten by the insects . The animals communicate via various calls, including a comparatively low alarm call from a series of "chucks" that the animals utter alone or together. In addition, there is a very loud alarm call consisting of individual calls of different frequencies, which together result in a wobbling call.
No information is available on the mating behavior of the animals. The females are likely to give birth to a single cub as a rule. There is also no information about predators and parasites for this species.
Systematics
_Isabel_Burton.jpg)
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel is classified as an independent species within the genus of the redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus ), which consists of ten species. The first scientific description comes from the British zoologist John Edward Gray from 1862, who described the animals as Sciurus isabella using individuals from the Cameroon Mountain , Cameroon, from a height of 2130 meters . He named the species after the travel writer Lady Isabel Burton , who traveled to different regions of the world alone and with her husband Sir Richard Francis Burton . The animals that Gray used for his first description came from Burton, who was consul in Fernando Po (now Bioko) at the time, and who expressed the wish that one of the new descriptions should be named after his wife.
In addition to the nominate form, no further subspecies are distinguished within the species , but in 2005 Wilson & Reeder listed two subspecies with Funisciurus isabella isabella and Funisciurus isabella dubosti . The now independent Duchaillu redshank squirrel ( Funisciurus duchaillui ) was at times considered a synonym for the Lady Burton redshank squirrel, but is now recognized as a valid species.
Status, threat and protection
The Lady Burton redshank squirrel is listed as "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This is justified by the comparatively large distribution area and the assumed large populations of animals in their habitat with occurrence in several protected areas. There are no known threats to the species' existence.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Louise H. Emmons: Funisciurus isabella, Lady Burton's Rope Squirrel. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , pp. 55-56.
- ↑ a b c d Richard W. Thorington Jr. , John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012, ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1 , pp. 217-218.
- ↑ Peter Grubb: Genus Funisciurus, Rope Squirrels. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , pp. 46-48.
- ↑ David Brugière: Funisciurus duchaillui, Du Chaillu's Rope Squirrel. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , p. 54.
- ↑ a b Funisciurus isabella in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2016-2. Posted by: P. Grubb, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
- ↑ a b Funisciurus isabella . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- ^ John Edward Gray: List of Mammalia from the Cameroon Mountains collected by Capt. Burton, HM Consul, Fernando Po. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1862; P. 180 ( full text ).
literature
- Richard W. Thorington Jr. , John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012, ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1 , pp. 217-218.
- Louise H. Emmons: Funisciurus isabella, Lady Burton's Rope Squirrel. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , pp. 55-56.
Web links
- Funisciurus isabella inthe IUCN 2016-2 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: P. Grubb, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2016.