Western dwarf squirrel

The western dwarf squirrel (Microsciurus mimulus) is a small tree squirrel in the genus Microsciurus and the tribe Sciurini, found in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama. It lives in evergreen foothill and highland forest, above about 800 metres in Panama but at lower elevations in Colombia and Ecuador. Handbook notes give a head and body length of 135 to 148 millimetres, a tail of 94 to 116 millimetres and a mean weight of about 120 grams, with a grizzled brown back, a pale buff to salmon belly and relatively long limbs. It is diurnal, and where it shares range with the Central American dwarf squirrel it is found at higher elevations. Several of its subspecies have been proposed as separate species in recent studies, though that is not universally accepted. It is classed as Least Concern, with a stable population, although forest loss is a concern.