Franklin's Ground Squirrel

Taxobox
name = Franklin's Ground Squirrel


status = VU | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = down
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
familia = Sciuridae
genus = "Spermophilus"
species = "S. franklinii"
binomial = "Spermophilus franklinii"
binomial_authority = Sabine, 1822

Franklin's Ground Squirrel ("Spermophilus franklinii") is a species native to tallgrass American prairie, from Canada to the northcentral United States. The species hibernates from early fall to spring, and bears a litter of 6-8 pups at this time. The species is not choosy in its diet, eschewing the typical herbivorous diet of most squirrels when it can find insects, eggs, young birds, and fruits, seeds, and nuts when they are available.

Due to the destruction of prairie, the populations of Franklin's ground squirrel have dwindled, approaching levels of concern. However, the species is prolific, and locally abundant.

Taxonomy

Franklin's Ground Squirrel was first described by Joseph Sabine in 1822, who named it in honor of the British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin.cite journal| author = Andrea C. Ostroff and Elmer J. Finck| date = 30 July 2003| title = "Spermophilus franklinii" | journal = Mammalian Species | volume = 724 | publisher = American Society of Mammalogists| url = http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/724_Spermophilus_franklinii.pdf| accessdate = 2007-12-17 |format=PDF] It is typically placed in its own subgenus, "Poliocitellus", cite journal| author = Matthew D. Herron, Todd A. Castoe, and Christopher L. Parkinson| year = 2004| title = "Sciurid phylogeny and the paraphyly of Holarctic groundsquirrels (Spermophilus)" | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 31| doi =10.1016/j.ympev.2003.09.015 | accessdate = 2007-12-18 | pages = 1015] cite journal| author = Richard G. Harrison, Steven M. Bogdanowicz, Robert S. Hoffmann, Eric Yensen, and Paul W. Sherman| month = September | year = 2003| title = "Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of the Ground Squirrels (Rodentia: Marmotinae)" | journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution | volume = 10| issue = 3| accessdate = 2007-12-23 ] and there are no commonly-recognized subspecies.

DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene has shown "Spermophilus" to be paraphyletic; in particular, Franklin's Ground Squirrel is suggested to be sister to a clade containing not only the Mohave, Round-tailed, Spotted, and Perote Ground Squirrels, but the prairie dogs as well.

References

* Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is vulnerable.