Taxa

Otospermophilus

Genus

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Otospermophilus." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-otospermophilus.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Otospermophilus. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-otospermophilus

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-otospermophilus,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Otospermophilus},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-otospermophilus},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Otospermophilus is a genus of ground squirrel in the tribe Marmotini of the squirrel family Sciuridae, described by Brandt in 1844. It contains three species distributed across Mexico and the United States: the Baja California rock squirrel (Otospermophilus atricapillus), the California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), and the rock squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus). The genus was formerly classified within Spermophilus as a subgenus or species group, until DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed Spermophilus was paraphyletic relative to prairie dogs and marmots, and Otospermophilus was separated as an independent genus along with six other genera.

Sources

Otospermophilus (Wikipedia)

Introduction

Quote, Introduction

Otospermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae, containing three species from Mexico and the United States.

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