Urocitellus
Richardson's ground squirrel in Manitoba
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Tribe:	Marmotini
Genus:	Urocitellus Obolenskij, 1927
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,^[1] 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.^[2]

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".^[2] The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda.^[3] Oura (οὐρά) is the ancient Greek word for "tail".^[4]

Species

Thirteen species are currently identified:

Genus Urocitellus

• Uinta ground squirrel, Urocitellus armatus
• Belding's ground squirrel, Urocitellus beldingi
• Northern Idaho ground squirrel, Urocitellus brunneus
• Merriam's ground squirrel, Urocitellus canus
• Columbian ground squirrel, Urocitellus columbianus
• Wyoming ground squirrel, Urocitellus elegans
• Southern Idaho ground squirrel, Urocitellus endemicus
• Piute ground squirrel, Urocitellus mollis
• Arctic ground squirrel, Urocitellus parryii
• Richardson's ground squirrel, Urocitellus richardsonii
• Townsend's ground squirrel, Urocitellus townsendii
• Long-tailed ground squirrel, Urocitellus undulatus
• Washington ground squirrel, Urocitellus washingtoni

References