African striped squirrel

African striped squirrels Temporal range:
Lady Burton's rope squirrel (Funisciurus isabella)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Tribe:	Protoxerini
Genus:	Funisciurus Trouessart, 1880
Species
Funisciurus anerythrus Funisciurus bayonii Funisciurus carruthersi Funisciurus congicus Funisciurus isabella Funisciurus lemniscatus Funisciurus leucogenys Funisciurus pyrropus Funisciurus substriatus

African striped squirrels (genus Funisciurus), or rope squirrels, form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae and the tribe Protoxerini. They are only found in western and central Africa.

Discussion

African striped squirrels have been implicated in the spread of human monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are nine species in the genus:

• Thomas's rope squirrel (Funisciurus anerythrus)
• Lunda rope squirrel (Funisciurus bayonii)
• Carruther's mountain squirrel (Funisciurus carruthersi)
• Congo rope squirrel (Funisciurus congicus)
• Lady Burton's rope squirrel (Funisciurus isabella)
• Ribboned rope squirrel (Funisciurus lemniscatus)
• Red-cheeked rope squirrel (Funisciurus leucogenys)
• Fire-footed rope squirrel (Funisciurus pyrropus)
• Kintampo rope squirrel (Funisciurus substriatus)

Congo rope squirrel photographed in Damaraland, Namibia.

References

• Nowak, Ronald M. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World (6th ed.). Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1277–1279.
• "Complete list of squirrels by common name and species name". squirrels.org. 1993. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013.