RODENTIA, Bowdich, 1821

PATTON, JAMES L., DA SILVA, MARIA NAZARETH F. & MALCOLM, JAY R., 2000, Mammals Of The Rio Juruá And The Evolutionary And Ecological Diversification Of Amazonia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (244), pp. 1-306 : 85

ORDER RODENTIA SCIURIDAE HEMPRICH, 1820

There are three size classes of squirrels that occur together throughout most of Ama­

zonia, with potentially three to five species sympatric, or nearly so, in the western part of the basin (Emmons and Feer, 1997). Included in this compilation are the large red squirrels of the Sciurus igniventris ­ spadiceus complex (subgenus Urosciurus , following Hoffmann et al., 1993), the intermediate sized and generally grayish­ to reddish­yellow members of the Sciurus aestuans complex (subgenus Guerlinguetus , following Hoffmann et al., 1993), and dwarf and pygmy squirrels of the genera Microsciurus and Sciurillus . Patton (1984) examined geographic variation within S. igniventris and S. spadiceus and differences between the two species in Ecuador and Perú, but no other recent systematic analysis of these, or other Amazonian tree squirrels has as yet been published. Lawrence (1988), in an evaluation of the holotype of Sciurus duida J. A. Allen compared both S. igniventris and S. spadiceus based on characters given in Hershkovitz (1959) and Patton (1984). Dr. Mario de Vivo of the Museu de Zoologia of the Universidade de São Paulo is in the process of revising the large and intermediate squirrels usually placed in the genus Sciurus .

We made no extensive effort to obtain samples of squirrels during the Rio Juruá surveys, primarily because squirrels do not enter traps readily, even our canopy platform traps and because our abilities to hunt locally were limited by the concomitant diurnal primate surveys being undertaken by Carlos Peres (see Peres, 1997). Specimens that were obtained are few in number and were mostly from sites other than the 16 primary survey points. Taxonomic and other information given below are based on specimens collect­ ed, with additional comments as to species presence based on observational records.

SCIURUS LINNAEUS, 1758