Red-tailed squirrel

Description

The red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis) is a species of tree squirrel distributed from southern Central America to northern South America. t is found in Central and South America (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela) and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago and Margarita. According to the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species it has also been introduced and is invasive in Cuba, however this refers to a small population found around some parts of the margin of Rio Almendares in Havana, which escaped from the Havana Zoo. Ranges from 0 to 3,000m in elevation. It inhabits many types of forests, and can be found in picnic grounds. It was recently reclassified as Notosciurus granatensis in 2015, Notosciurus being a genus created in 1914 by Joel Asaph Allen for a juvenile of this species. however, the IUCN still puts it as a member of the genus Sciurus. his is an extremely variable species in terms of coat colours. As such numerous former species and subspecies have been named from within its range, often from the same locality. Over the years many species were moved into subspecies of this taxon. In 1961 Cabrera recognised 28 subspecies. Other subspecies were subsequently added, such as Sciurus llanensis which was named from southern Venezuela in 1984 and later sank into Sciurus granatensis as a subspecies, so that by the early 2000s 32 subspecies were recognised. In 2015 these were reduced to 6 geographical subspecies. Koprowski, Mercer and Roth writing for the IUCN in 2008, however, claimed the species should perhaps be split into a number of species based on never published morphological and genetic research.