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Abstract: Sciurus pucheranii (Fitzinger, 1867) is a sciurid commonly called the Andean squirrel. This small tree squirrel has reddish brown pelage with a dark dorsal midline and is 1 of 28 species in the genus Sciurus. It is endemic to Colombia, South America, and is found in sub-Andean and high-elevation cloud forests of the Cordillera chains of the Andes Mountains. Deforestation within the range of S. pucheranii may negatively impact this species in the future. Currently the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists S. pucheranii in the Data Deficient (DD) category. DOI: 10.1644/841.1.
Key words: Andes, cloud forest, sciurid, South America, tree squirrel
Published 25 September 2009 by the American Society of Mammalogists Synonymy completed 20 June 2008 www.mammalogy.org
Sciurus pucheranii (Fitzinger, 1867)
Andean Squirrel
Sciurus rufoniger Pucheran, 1845:336. Type locality "Colombia, near Bogota;" "Sciurus rufonigra" preoccupied by Gray 1842:263.
Funambulus pucheranii Fitzinger, 1867:487. Replacement name for Sciurus rufoniger Pucheran, 1845.
Sciurus medellinensis Gray, 1867:431. Type locality "Medellin, Colombia."
Sciurus minor Alston, 1878:669. Type locality "Habite la Colombie (Santa-Fe de Bogota)."
Sciurus caucensis Nelson, 1899:79. Type locality "Rio Lima, near San Antonio, Western Andes, Colombia; altitude 6000 feet."
Guerlinguetus pucheranii: Allen, 1914:587. Name combination.
Leptosciurus pucheranii: Allen, 1915:202. Name combination.
Sciurus pucherani Ellerman, 1940:343. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Funambulus pucheranii Fitzinger, 1867.
Sciurus pucheranii: Hernández-Camacho 1957:219. First use of current name combination.
Microsciurus (Leptosciurus) pucherani Moore, 1959:203. Name combination and incorrect subsequent spelling of Funambulus pucheranii Fitzinger, 1867.
CONTEXT AND CONTENT. Order Rodentia, suborder Sciuromorpha, family Sciuridae, subfamily Sciurinae, tribe Sciurini (Steppan et al. 2004; Thorington and Hoffmann 2005), subgenus Guerlinguetus (Cabrera 1961). The genus Sciurus contains 28 species (Thorington and Hoffmann 2005). Eight species are recognized within Guerlinguetus: Sciurus aestuans, S. gilvigularis, S. granatensis, S. ignitus, S. pucheranii, S. richmondi, S. sanborni, and S. stramineus (Honacki et al. 1982; Thorington and Hoffmann 2005). The relationships of Microsciurus and Sciurus are contentious (Steppan et al. 2004) and S. pucheranii may be congeneric with Microsciurus (Alberico et al. 2000; Moore 1959). Three subspecies are currently recognized (Cabrera 1961; Thorington and Hoffmann 2005):
S. p. caucensis Nelson, 1899. See above.
S. p. medellinensis Gray, 1867. See above.
S. p. pucheranii (Fitzinger, 1867). See above.
NOMENCLATURAL NOTES. The English and Spanish common names...