SCIURIDAE Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

Amori, Giovanni, Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude, Decher, Jan, Assou, Delagnon, Gippoliti, Spartaco & Luiselli, Luca, 2016, Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist, Zoosystema 38 (2), pp. 201-244 : 230-231

Family SCIURIDAE Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

REMARK

Squirrels are regularly traded as traditional medicine items throughout the country ( Fig. 28 ).

Epixerus ebii (Temminck, 1853) •

REMARK

This species, cited as Sciurus ebii Temminck, 1853 , was recorded from Asante by Matschie (1893b). More investigations are needed to show whether the species is present in the country, as neither Thorington & Hoffmann (2005) nor IUCN (2014) include it in the native species of Togo.

Funisciurus anerythrus (Thomas, 1890) •

REMARK

A voucher of this species, captured at Dapaong (northern savannah habitat), is currently stored in the NMNH. However, this species is considered to be found in lowland moist forests ( IUCN 2014 ) and has not been recorded from Togo ( Thorington & Hoffmann 2005). Thus , its eventual presence should be confirmed by 1) re-examination of the available voucher ; and 2) further new records.

Funisciurus leucogenys (Waterhouse, 1842) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE. — Matschie (1893b) recorded this species at Bismarckburg (Adéle), indicating it as Sciurus auriculatus Matschie, 1891 . The species is also present in Togo according to both Thorington & Hoffmann (2005) and IUCN (2014).

VOUCHERS. — Six ZMB vouchers originated from Bismarckburg and Misahohe.

Funisciurus pyrropus (F. Cuvier, 1833) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE AND VOUCHERS. — Recorded from Bismarckburg ( Matschie 1893b), with a voucher currently stored at ZMB ( Grubb et al. 1998).

Funisciurus substriatus De Winton, 1899 ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE AND VOUCHERS. — Vouchers of this species are available from Ezimé (NMNH) and Sokodé (ZMB). The species is also present in Togo according to both Thorington & Hoffmann (2005), Thorington & Schennum (2013) and IUCN (2014).

Heliosciurus gambianus (Ogilby, 1835) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE. — First recorded in Togo by Matschie (1893b).

VOUCHERS. — Vouchers from Bismarckburg, Misahohe and Sokodé (ZMB) and Peura (NMNH). Matschie (1893b) cited Sciurus punctatus Temminck, 1853 from Bismarckburg, but the latter specific identification was dismissed by Grubb ( Grubb et al. 1998: 178).

Heliosciurus rufobrachium (Waterhouse, 1842) ▶

VOUCHERS. — Subspecies isabellinus (Gray, 1867) occurs East of the Volta River ( Grubb et al. 1998). Several specimens, captured at Pagala, Agou and Ezimé, are currently stored at NMNH.

Paraxerus poensis (A. Smith, 1830) ▶

HISTORICAL LITERATURE. — Matschie (1893b) reported it to be present in Togo as Sciurus poensis . In addition, a ZMB voucher, identified as Paraxerus cepapi (A. Smith, 1836) and likely attributable to this species, originated from Bismarckburg (Adéle). The distribution of this forest species matches more or less exactly that of several West-central African rainforest taxa (e.g., the reptiles Kinixys homeana Bell, 1827 , Kinixys erosa (Schweigger, 1812) , Bitis nasicornis (Shaw, 1792) , etc.)(e.g., Chippaux 1999), and therefore may well be present in the forested ecological zone IV, where the above-mentioned forest reptiles are indeed occurring ( Segniagbeto et al. 2015b). Nonetheless, this squirrel does not occur in Togo according to both Thorington & Hoffmann (2005) and IUCN (2014).

Protoxerus stangeri (Waterhouse, 1842) ▶

VOUCHERS. — Three specimens, captured at Pagala, are currently stored in the NMNH, and three other vouchers from Haho-Baoué, Sokodé and Apaso-Acrosa, are deposited in ZMB.

REMARK

Subspecies nigeriae (Thomas, 1906) occurs East of Volta River ( Grubb et al. 1998).

Xerus erythropus (E. Geoffroy, 1803) ▶ ( Fig. 28 )

HISTORICAL LITERATURE. — First cited to occur in Togo by Matschie (1893b), with specimens recorded from Bismarckburg (Adéle).

VOUCHERS. — Several specimens, captured at Dapaong, Padori and Ezimé, are currently stored in the NMNH, and 20 additional ZMB vouchers originated from Bismarckburg, Misa Höhe, Aného (Petit Popo) and Sansanné-Mango.

REMARK

This species is regularly traded for traditional medicine all throughout Togo ( Fig. 28 ).

Figures

FIG. 28. — Squirrels are regularly traded as traditional medicine items throughout the country. In this case, Xerus erythropus (E. Geoffroy, 1803) traded in the Maritime Region, southern Togo. Photograph: Fabio Petrozzi.