Bocages tree squirrel
| Bocages tree squirrel | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Funisciurus bayonii | ||||||||||||
| ( Bocage , 1890) |
Bocage's tree squirrel ( Funisciurus bayonii ), also known as Lunda redshank squirrel , is a little researched squirrel species from the African redshank squirrel genus ( Funisciurus ). The species name refers to the Italian naturalist Enrico Pietro Bayon and the German common name to José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage , who first described the species in 1890 .
features
Around 30 copies have been collected so far. Head and trunk lengths of 167 and 190 mm, tail lengths of 178 and 170 mm and hind foot lengths of 42 and 41 mm, respectively, are documented for two bellows . In five specimens, the skull length is given as 41 to 44 mm, the skull width as 24 to 26 mm and the entire length of the upper row of teeth from the first incisor to the third molar as 7.5 to 7.8 mm.
The back fur is solid, dull olive with black spots. An indistinct, sand-colored to whitish-sand-colored side stripe runs from the shoulder to the rump. The peritoneum is gray with a sand-colored tint. The top of the head, as well as the fore and hind limbs, are colored similar to the back. A light ring runs around the eyes. The long tail is grayish, black and ocher in color and shows no visible ring pattern. Overall, it is darker than the rest of the body. The shape of the skull is short-snouted and in this respect resembles the Congo tree squirrel ( Funisciurus congicus ). The postorbital process above the eye socket is well developed. The nostrils are wide. The tooth formula for the molars is 5/4. The posterior end of the palatal bone is in line with the posterior end of the third molar. The number of teats is not known.
Distribution, habitat and way of life
The range of Bocage's tree squirrels is limited to northeastern Angola and the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . On the basis of the work Vegetation Map of Africa South of the Tropic of Cancer by RWJ Keay from 1959, the German zoologist Eduard Amtmann assumed in the 1960s that the habitat includes wet forests at low or medium altitudes, forest savannah mosaics, woodland and wet savannas. However, this assumption has not yet been confirmed. Nothing is known about the way of life of the species.
status
The IUCN classifies Bocage's tree squirrels in the category of “insufficient data” ( data deficient ). It was last collected in the 1950s or 1960s and last sighted in the 1990s. Bocage's tree squirrels have so far only been observed in unprotected regions. There is no information about hazards or about the population trend.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Amtmann, E. 1966. On the systematics of African chipmunks of the genus Funisciurus. A contribution to the problem of climate-parallel variation and phenetics. Bonn Zoological Contributions 17: 1-44.
- ↑ a b c Funisciurus bayonii in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
literature
- Richard W. Thorington Jr., Lindsay A. Pappas, and Chad E. Schennum: Funisciurus bayonii . In: Jonathan Kingdon, Thomas M. Butynski, David CD Happold, Meredith Happold (Eds.): Mammals of Africa. Volume 3: Rodents, Hares, and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London et al. 2013, ISBN 978-140-812-253-2 , pp. 50-51.
- 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
Web links
- Funisciurus bayonii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Peter Grubb, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2014.