African striped squirrel
| African striped squirrel | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lady Burton's rope squirrel (Funisciurus isabella) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Protoxerini |
| Genus: | Funisciurus Trouessart, 1880 |
| Type species | |
| Sciurus isabella | |
| Species | |
African striped squirrels (genus Funisciurus), or rope squirrels, form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae and the tribe Protoxerini.[1] They are only found in western and central Africa.
There are ten species in the genus:
- Thomas's rope squirrel (Funisciurus anerythrus)
- Lunda rope squirrel (Funisciurus bayonii)
- Carruther's mountain squirrel (Funisciurus carruthersi)
- Congo rope squirrel (Funisciurus congicus)
- Du Chaillu's rope squirrel (Funisciurus duchaillui)
- Lady Burton's rope squirrel (Funisciurus isabella)
- Ribboned rope squirrel (Funisciurus lemniscatus)
- Red-cheeked rope squirrel (Funisciurus leucogenys)
- Fire-footed rope squirrel (Funisciurus pyrropus)
- Kintampo rope squirrel (Funisciurus substriatus)
Zoonoses
African striped squirrels have been implicated in the spread of human monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[citation needed] African striped squirrels were found to be a source of monkeypox in a 2003 Midwestern monkeypox outbreak.
References
- ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- Nowak, Ronald M. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World (6th ed.). Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1277–1279.
- "Complete list of squirrels by common name and species name". squirrels.org. 1993. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013.