SCIURIDAE (Squirrels and Marmots)
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The Sciuridae is a large and cosmopolitan family of rodents (Order Rodentia,
Suborder Sciuromorpha)
divided up into five subfamilies of living forms: Ratufinae (genus Ratufa,
four species, South Asia, southwestern
China, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia west of Wallace's Line); Sciurillinae
(Sciurillus pusillus, tropical South
America); Sciurinae (20 genera, 81 species, North and South America, Eurasia);
Callosciurinae (14 genera, 64
species, South Asia, China, Southeast Asia west of Wallace's Line); Xerinae
(15 genera, 128 species, North
America, Africa, Europe, and North, Central and East Asia). Frequently found
on nearshore islands, and many
species have been introduced to locations as diverse as the Aleutian Islands,
Newfoundland, the Canary Islands,
Capetown South Africa, Sydney and Perth Australia, the Andaman Islands, and
others.
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Copyright 2012 Charles H. Smith. All rights reserved.