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Urocitellus

Urocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels. They were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus, but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus. As a result, Urocitellus is now considered as a genus in its own right.

Last revised
Jul 8, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
480 w
Citations
8
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Urocitellus
Richardson's ground squirrel in Manitoba
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Tribe: Marmotini
Genus: Urocitellus
Obolenskij, 1927
Type species
Spermophilus eversmanni
Brandt, 1842
(= Mus citillus undulata Pallas, 1779)1
Species

See text.

Urocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels. They were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus, but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots,23 and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus. As a result, Urocitellus is now considered as a genus in its own right.4

All but two species are native to the northern and western parts of North America, from California and Minnesota through the north-western United States and western Canada; the Arctic ground squirrel inhabits Arctic terrain on both sides of the Bering Strait, while the long-tailed ground squirrel is exclusively found in Asia. The name of the genus is said to be derived from the Latin uro, meaning "tail" and citellus for "ground squirrel".4 The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda.5 Oura (οὐρά) is the ancient Greek word for "tail".6

Species

Fourteen species are currently identified:

Genus Urocitellus

References

References

  1. Kryštufek, Boris; Vohralík, Vladimir (15 December 2013). "Taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic rodents (Rodentia). Part 2. Sciuridae: Urocitellus, Marmota, and Sciurotamias". Lynx. 44.
  2. Harrison, Richard G.; Bogdanowicz, Steven M.; Hoffmann, Robert S.; Yensen, Eric; Sherman, Paul W. (September 2003). "Phylogeny and evolutionary history of the ground squirrels (Rodentia: Marmotinae)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 10 (3): 249–276. doi:10.1023/B:JOMM.0000015105.96065.f0.
  3. Herron, Matthew D.; Castoe, Todd A.; Parkinson, Christopher L. (June 2004). "Sciurid phylogeny and the paraphyly of Holarctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (3): 1015–1030. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.09.015.
  4. Helgen, Kristofer M.; Cole, F. Russel; Helgen, Lauren E. & Wilson, Don E (2009). "Generic Revision in the Holarctic Ground Squirrel Genus Spermophilus". Journal of Mammalogy. 90 (2): 270–305. doi:10.1644/07-MAMM-A-309.1.
  5. Lewis, C.T. & Short, C. (1879). A Latin dictionary founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  6. Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  7. McLean, Bryan S; Rickart, Eric A; Cook, Joseph A; Guralnick, Robert P; Burgin, Connor J; Lohr, Kristin (2025-03-25). "Integrative species delimitation reveals an Idaho-endemic ground squirrel, Urocitellus idahoensis (Merriam 1913)". Journal of Mammalogy. 106 (2): 405–429. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyae135. ISSN 0022-2372. PMC 11933283. PMID 40144356.