Plantain squirrel
| Plantain squirrel | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Genus: | Callosciurus |
| Species: | C. notatus
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| Binomial name | |
| Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert, 1785)
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| Subspecies[2] | |
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| Distribution in red | |
The plantain squirrel, oriental squirrel or tricoloured squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in a wide range of habitats: forests, mangroves, parks, gardens, and agricultural areas. Fruit farmers consider them to be pests.
Description
[edit]Its body is about 20–30 cm (8–12 in) long with a similar-sized tail. It is greyish/brown with a chestnut belly and a black and white stripe on the side. It is very quick and agile in trees, able to jump a few metres between trees, and rarely wanders on the ground.
Diet
[edit]Its diet consists mostly of leaves and fruits, but it also eats insects and bird eggs. It is known to break open twigs that contain ant larvae to eat them.[3] It can eat fruits much bigger than itself, such as mangoes, jackfruit, or coconuts.
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus name Callosciurus means "beautiful squirrel". Kloss's squirrel (Callosciurus albescens) is sometimes considered a subspecies.
References
[edit]- ^ Duckworth, J. W. (2017) [errata version of 2016 assessment]. "Callosciurus notatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T3600A115065317. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T3600A22254046.en. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ Thorington, R.W. Jr.; Hoffmann, R.S. (2005). "Family Sciuridae". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed.). The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 754–818. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4. OCLC 26158608.
- ^ Anja Leo, Damage to Macaranga ant-plants by a myrmecophagous squirrel (Callosciurus notatus, Rodentia, Sciuridae) in West Malaysia [1] Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
External links
[edit]- http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/plantain_squirrel.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110716084244/http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/squirrelplantain.htm
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