Xerina Murray

Kryštufek, Boris, Mahmoudi, Ahmad, Tesakov, Alexey S., Matějů, Jan & Hutterer, Rainer, 2016, A review of bristly ground squirrels Xerini and a generic revision in the African genus Xerus, Mammalia (Warsaw, Poland) 80 (5), pp. 521-540 : 532

Subtribe Xerina Murray : African bristly ground squirrels

For synonyms see under Xerinae .

Subtribe Xerina includes African members of the tribe Xerini , with long tail and a pelage which is bristly (rough in Atlantoxerus ) at all seasons; a bold light (whitish) ring is surrounding the eye, and three genera of totally four have flank stripes ( Figure 2 ). Soles and plants are nude ( Figure 4 ); the pollex bears a tiny nail, claws on the remaining digits are not enlarged (<10 mm in length); two tufts of supraorbital vibrissae are present; the cerebral dura mater has no melanocits; the external meatus acusticus lacks a bony tube (except in Geosciurus ); buccinator and masticatory foramina are separate ( Figure 7 ).

Few common names were in use in the past for Xerina : “spiny (or bristly) squirrels” ( Murray 1866, Flower and Lyddeker 189, Osborn 1910) and “African ground squirrels” ( Pocock 1922, Simpson 1945, Li et al. 2006). Pocock (1922) was perhaps the first who used the combination “bristly ground squirrels”.

Figures

Figure 2: Representatives of genera in African bristly ground squirrels Xerina: 1 – AtlantoxerUS getUlUS (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands; photo courtesy Alenka KryŠtufek); 2 – GeoSciUrUS inaUriS (Etosha National Park, Namibia; photo courtesy Emmanuel Do Linh San); 3 – XerUS rUtilUS (Samburu National Park, Kenya; photo by Jan Matějů); 4 – EUxerUS erythroPUS (captive; photo courtesy Klaus Rudloff).

Figure 4: Right front paw (ventral view) in (1) SPermoPhiloPSiS lePtodactylUS (ZFMK 92.478) and (2) AtlantoxerUS getUlUS (NMW 28084). Roman numerals correspond to digits (No. I is the thumb); a.v. – antebrachial vibrissae. Note that digit III is longer than either digits II and IV. Also note differences in length of claws (decidedly longer in SPermoPhiloPSiS) and in hairiness of the palm (nude in AtlantoxerUS). Not to scale.

Figure 7: Skull of AtlantoxerUS getUlUS (NMW 43000) in dorsal, lateral and ventral views (from top to bottom). Arrows point on traits which are informative for taxonomic ranking of Xerini. 1 – lacrimal bone; 2-postorbital process of the frontal bone; 3 – anterior extension of the squamosal bone; 4 – parietointerparietal suture; 5 – interparietal suture; 6 – anteriorly projected external ridge on the front face of the zygomatic plate; 7 – jugal bone; 8 – opisthodont upper incisor; 9 – masseteric tubercle; 10 – buccinator foramen; 11 – masticatory foramen; 12 – posterior margin of hard palate; 13 – external meatUS acUSticUS.