{{Short description|Species of rodent}} {{Speciesbox | name = Yucatan squirrel | image = Yucatan gray squirrel.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |author=Vázquez, E. |author2=Emmons, L. |author3=Reid, F. |author4=Cuarón, A.D. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T20026A115156290 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T20026A22245813.en |access-date=20 December 2025}}</ref> | genus = Sciurus | species = yucatanensis | authority = J. A. Allen, 1877 | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision_ref = <ref name="Thorington">{{cite book|last1=Thorington|first1=R.W. Jr.|last2=Hoffmann|first2=R.S.|year=2005|pages=754–818|editor1-last=Wilson|editor1-first=D.E.|editor2-last=Reeder|editor2-first=D.M|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=12400243|chapter=''Sciurus'' (''Sciurus'') ''yucatanensis''|chapter-url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=12400243|title=Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference|edition=3rd|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-8221-4|oclc=26158608}}</ref> | subdivision = * ''S. y. yucatanensis'' * ''S. y. baliolus'' * ''S. y. phaeopus'' | synonyms =''Sciurus carolinensis'' var. ''yucatanensis'' J.A. Allen, 1877 | range_map = Distribution of Yucatan squirrel in Central America.svg | range_map_caption = range of the Yucatan squirrel }}

The '''Yucatan squirrel''' ('''''Sciurus yucatanensis'''''), originally named the '''Yucatan gray squirrel''', also once named the '''Campeche squirrel''', is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' found in the Yucatán Peninsula and adjacent areas. It is native to northern Belize, northeastern Guatemala, and southeast Mexico.<ref name=gbif1>{{cite GBIF |id=5219678 |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' J.A.Allen, 1877 |date=2017 |doi=10.15468/39omei |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="iucn" />

==Biology== The Yucatan squirrel lives in dry deciduous and evergreen forests, semiarid pine-oak woodlands, and secondary forest growing in formerly logged areas.<ref name=iucn/><ref name=Ardillas>{{cite magazine |last=Valdés Alarcón |first=Manuel |date=November 2003 |title=Las Ardillas de México |url=http://www.conabio.gob.mx/institucion/conabio_espanol/doctos/biodiv51.pdf |language=es |magazine=Biodiversitas |issue=51 |location=Mexico City |publisher=Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad |access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref> They are found in lowlands below an altitude of {{convert|750|m|ft}}. They are active during the day and rest during the night, spending most of their time in trees. They are most active in the early morning, but may be seen sunning on a branch later in the day.<ref name=iucn/>

Their dreys (or nests), to be found in branches high up in the trees,<ref name="SOTW" /> are built from leaves and twigs. Their food consists of soft fruit, nuts and seeds, whilst Reid in 2009 concluded that their main diet consists of flowers, buds, and shoots. Females generally give birth to two or three young during the April to August dry season.<ref name=iucn/>

They are predated by birds of prey, wild cats and dogs, procyonids, primates, and snakes.<ref name="SOTW" />

===Dimensions and description=== The Yucatan squirrel is {{convert|450|-|500|mm|in}} long,<ref name="BESTetal">{{cite journal |last1=Best |first1=Troy L. |last2=Ruiz-Piiia |first2=Hugo A. |last3=Leon-Paniagua |first3=Livia S. |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' |journal=Mammalian Species |date=20 October 1995 |issue=506 |pages=1–4 |publisher=The American Society of Mammalogists}} </ref> larger in size than the eastern gray squirrel (''S. carolinensis'').<ref name="Rodentia" /> The Yucatan squirrel, Collie's squirrel (''S. colliaei''), and the variegated squirrel (''S. variegatoides'') have similar fur colours and patterns, but differ in size.<ref name="BESTetal" /> The relatively long adult tail of has a length of {{convert|240|mm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name="BESTetal" /><ref name="Goodwin" /> Both sexes are the same size, with a mass of {{convert|341|-|475|g|oz}}.<ref name="SOTW">{{cite book |last1=Thorington |first1=Richard W. |last2=Koprowski |last3=Steele |first2=John L. |first3=Michael A. |last4=Whatton |first4= James F. |title=Squirrels of the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PeYX8PwBxUC&q=yucatan+squirrel&pg=PT87 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4214-0469-1}}</ref>

Its pelage is coarse and harsh.<ref name="Rodentia" /> The upper parts of the body are coloured black and grey, with additional yellow to ochraceous buff colourings. The lower body is colured off-white, yellow-grey and black.<ref name="BESTetal" /> The tail is white, with a well-defined lines of black, and black on either side of the central white area. The tail hairs are shorter than on the head and body.<ref name="Rodentia" /> The face has a buff-coloured patch above the nose, with the sides of head coloured mainly black.<ref name="Goodwin" /> The grey, brown and white ears are narrow and pointed, tufted and an off-white colour from November to February in northern populations and from February to April in southern populations.<ref name="Rodentia" /><ref name="BESTetal" />

The skull of ''S. yucatanensis'' is short and broad, with a length of about {{convert|57|mm|in|abbr=on}}, the facial portion being particularly short.<ref name="BESTetal" />

==Taxonomy== This taxon was originally described as a variety of the gray squirrel as ''Sciurus carolinensis'' var. ''yucatanensis'' by the American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen in 1877, based on four specimens he received from Mérida, Yucatán, collected by the German-American collector Arthur Schott in 1865. In his 1877 report ''Monographs of North American Rodentia'', Allen mused if it was not more appropriate to name the animal as a separate species, based on the observed distinctiveness of the specimens he had collected. He coined the name 'Yucatan gray squirrel'.<ref name=Rodentia>{{cite book |last1=Coues |first1=Elliott |author-link1=Elliott Coues |last2=Allen |first2=Joel Asaph |author-link2=Joel Asaph Allen |date=1877 |title=Monographs of North American Rodentia |url=https://archive.org/details/monographsofnort00coue/page/704/mode/2up |pages=705–710 |publisher=Washington, Govt. print. off. |oclc=1083697215}}</ref> ''S. yucatanensis'' ssp. ''baliolus'' was published by the American naturalist Edward William Nelson in 1901, based on a specimen from Apazote, in Campeche, Mexico.<ref name=Nelson>{{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=E. W. |author-link=Edward William Nelson |date=9 August 1901 |title=Descriptions of Two New Squirrels from Mexico |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23957#page/149/mode/1up |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=14 |page=131 |location=Washington D. C. |publisher=Biological Society of Washington |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref> ''S. yucatanensis'' ssp. ''phaeopus'' was published by George G. Goodwin in 1932 based on 11 specimens collected in Secanquim and Finca Chamá, in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.<ref name=Goodwin>{{cite journal |last=Goodwin |first=George G. |date=22 October 1932 |title=A new squirrel from Guatemala |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/4004//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N0574.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=574 |pages=1–2 |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref>

Three subspecies are recognised: * ''S. y. yucatanensis'' (J.A. Allen), 1877 - Found within the end of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican states of Yucatán, southwest to Campeche up to the Champotón Municipality and Quintana Roo, and further south to the northern Belize districts of Orange Walk and Corozal. It has the largest known distribution.<ref>{{cite GBIF|id=7261616 |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' subsp. ''yucatanensis'' J.A.Allen, 1877 |date=2017 |doi=10.15468/39omei |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref> It is found in arid woodlands.<ref name=Nelson/> * ''S. y. baliolus'' Nelson, 1901 - Found further southwest from the range of the nominate form in a band across the Yucatán Peninsula from the Champotón Municipality and southwest of the Laguna de Términos in Campeche State and eastern Tabasco State north of the Usumacinta River in Mexico, through northeast Petén Department in Guatemala, to Cayo and Belize districts in Belize.<ref name=gbif1/><ref name=Nelson/><ref>{{cite GBIF|id=5706703 |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' subsp. ''baliolus'' Nelson, 1901 |date=2017 |doi=10.15468/39omei |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref> It is distinguished from the nominate form by virtue of a darker pelage. It inhabits more moist, evergreen woodlands than the nominate form. Nelson coined the name Campeche squirrel for it in 1901.<ref name=Nelson/> * ''S. y. phaeopus'' Goodwin, 1932 - Found at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula from the Mexican states of northwestern and eastern Chiapas east to southern Petén and Alta Verapaz departments of Guatemala and further east along the coast of Belize District in Belize.<ref name=Goodwin/><ref>{{cite GBIF|id=5706690 |title=''Sciurus yucatanensis'' subsp. ''phaeopus'' Goodwin, 1932 |date=2017 |doi=10.15468/39omei |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref> It is distinguished from the other subspecies being the darkest of the three, possessing black legs, tail and at the base of the ears. It was originally found inhabiting pine-oak woodlands at an altitude of around {{convert|366|m|ft|-1}}.<ref name=Goodwin/>

==Interaction with humans== Deforestation is considered to be a 'major threat' to the population, which may also be affected by hunting, in particular in the northern end of the Yucatán Peninsula.<ref name="SOTW" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Fiona |title=A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York |isbn=978-0-19-534322-9 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBEbUaXTWYAC&q=yucatan+squirrel&pg=PA188}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Sciurus yucatanensis}} *[https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/46003-Sciurus-yucatanensis/browse_photos Photos of Yucatán Squirrel ''Sciurus yucatanensis''] from iNaturalist.

{{S. Sciurinae1 nav}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q375300}}

Yucatan squirrel Category:Rodents of Mexico Category:Rodents of Central America Category:Mammals described in 1877 Yucatan squirrel Category:Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot