Central American mountain squirrel

Central American mountain squirrel
	Central American mountain squirrel
Systematics
Subordination :	Squirrel relatives (Sciuromorpha)
Family :	Squirrel (Sciuridae)
Subfamily :	Tree squirrel and flying squirrel (Sciurinae)
Tribe :	Tree squirrel (Sciurini)
Genre :	Syntheosciurus
Type :	Central American mountain squirrel
Scientific name of the genus
	Syntheosciurus
	Bangs , 1902
Scientific name of the species
	Syntheosciurus brochus
	Bangs , 1902

The Central American mountain squirrel ( Syntheosciurus brochus ) is a little-known species of tree squirrel that is only native to Costa Rica and Panama . It lives there in mountain rainforests at altitudes between 1900 and 2600 meters, where it predominantly inhabits the top region of the trees, but often also comes to the forest floor. In the summit area of the Poás volcano in Costa Rica, it lives in a low-growth, hard-to-reach bush forest, which consists mainly of clusia .

features

This squirrel has a head body length of 15 to 18.5 centimeters, plus about 12 to 16 centimeters of tail. It is olive-brown on the top and orange-red on the underside. Because of some peculiarities of the skull structure and the teeth, it is separated from the squirrels and assigned to a separate genus Syntheosciurus .

Way of life

Until the 1980s, this species was only known from four specimens. Since then some of the animals have been studied in detail, mainly through the work of the zoologists Wells and Giacalone. It was discovered that mountain squirrels, unlike squirrels, are sociable. A couple lives with the boys in a tree nest at a height of six to twelve meters. The close partner relationship is unique among tree squirrels.

Systematics

The Central American mountain squirrel was described in 1902 together with the genus Syntheosciurus by the zoologist Outram Bangs from Boquete in the province of Chiriquí in Panama from an altitude of about 2100 meters. To this day it is the only species in the genus monotypical .

supporting documents

^ Syntheosciurus In: Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012; P. 77 ff. ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1
^ JL Koprowski, EA Goldstein, KR Bennett, C. Pereira Mendes: Genus Syntheosciurus. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, ISBN 978- 84-941892-3-4 , p. 757.

literature

Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Robert K. Enders: Observations on Syntheosciurus. Taxonomy and behavior. In: Journal of Mammology. Vol. 61, No. 4, 1980, ISSN 0022-2372 , pp. 725-727.
Jacalyn Giacalone, Nancy Wells, Gregory Willis: Observations on Syntheosciurus brochus (Sciuridae) in Volcán Poás National Park. In: Journal of Mammology. Vol. 68, No. 1, 1987, pp. 145-147.

Web links

Commons : Central American Mountain Squirrel album with pictures, videos and audio files

Syntheosciurus brochus in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2008. Posted by: J. Koprowski u. a., 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2009.

[Thorington_et_al._2012-1] Syntheosciurus In: Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012; P. 77 ff. ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1

[HMW6-2] JL Koprowski, EA Goldstein, KR Bennett, C. Pereira Mendes: Genus Syntheosciurus. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, ISBN 978- 84-941892-3-4 , p. 757.