Spermophilus
Spermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the squirrel family. As traditionally defined the genus was very species-rich, ranging through Europe, Asia and North America, but this arrangement was found to be paraphyletic to the certainly distinct prairie dogs, marmots, and antelope squirrels. As a consequence, all the former Spermophilus species of North America have been moved to other genera, leaving the European and Asian species as true Spermophilus (the only exceptions are two Asian Urocitellus).
| Spermophilus Temporal range: Middle Miocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
| Spermophilus in Turkey | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Tribe: | Marmotini |
| Genus: | Spermophilus Cuvier, 1825 |
| Type species | |
| Mus citellus | |
| Species | |
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See text. | |
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| Relationships among the Marmotini according to cytochrome b data (Helgen et al., 2009: fig. 2): Genera that were formerly included in Spermophilus are in bold. |
Some species are sometimes called susliks (or sousliks). This name comes from Russian суслик, suslik. In some languages, a derivative of the name is in common usage, for example suseł in Polish. The scientific name of this genus means "seed-lovers" (gr. σπέρμα sperma, genitive σπέρματος spermatos – seed; φίλος philos – friend, lover).