Sun squirrel

Taxobox
name = Sun squirrels
fossil_range = Late Pleistocene to Recent


image_caption = "Heliosciurus gambianus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
familia = Sciuridae
subfamilia = Xerinae
tribus = Protoxerini
genus = "Heliosciurus"
genus_authority = Trouessart, 1880
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Heliosciurus ruwenzorii"
* "Heliosciurus gambianus"
* "Heliosciurus rufobrachium"
* "Heliosciurus mutabilis"
* "Heliosciurus undulatus"

Sun squirrels (genus "Heliosciurus"), form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae and the tribe Protoxerini. They are only found in sub-Saharan Africa.

The habit of basking in the sun on tree branches probably gave this group its common name.

Sun squirrels have been implicated in the spread of human monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are 5 species in the genus:
* "Heliosciurus ruwenzorii"
* "Heliosciurus gambianus"
* "Heliosciurus rufobrachium"
* "Heliosciurus mutabilis"
* "Heliosciurus undulatus"

References

*Nowak, Ronald M. (1999), "Walker's Mammals of the World", 6th edition, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp 1281-1282.
*http://www.squirrels.org/names.html