Pine squirrel

Pine squirrels Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene - Recent
American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Subfamily:	Sciurinae
Tribe:	Sciurini
Genus:	Tamiasciurus Trouessart, 1880
Species
Tamiasciurus douglasii Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Tamiasciurus mearnsi

Pine squirrels are squirrels of the genus Tamiasciurus. This genus includes three species, the American Red Squirrel T. hudsonicus, the Douglas Squirrel T. douglasii and Mearns's Squirrel T. mearnsi. All are native to North America: pine squirrels can be found in the northern and western United States, most of Canada, Alaska, and northwestern Mexico.

Description

Pine squirrels are small tree squirrels with bushy tails, and along with members of the genus Sciurus, they are members of the large family Sciuridae.

The American Red Squirrel should not be confused with the Eurasian Red Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris - both are usually just referred to as the "red squirrel" in their home continents.

In southeastern Arizona there is a relict population of T. hudsonicus considered sufficiently distinct to be awarded sub-species status, T. hudsonicus grahamenis, the Mount Graham Pine Squirrel, reduced to a few hundred members on the Madrean sky islands conifer forests at higher, cooler altitudes. They are the southernmost of the entire species, left stranded when desertification reduced the area of conifer forest that existed in glacial times. Some authors treat the Mount Graham Pine Squirrel as a distinct species, T. grahamensis.

The name Tamiasciurus comes from the Greek "Ταμίας" "Σκίουρος" for "hoarder squirrel".