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Sciurus anomalus (Persian or Caucasian Squirrel / Sincap, Acem Sincabı)

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Sciurus anomalus (Persian or Caucasian Squirrel / Sincap,  Acem Sincabı)


Sciurus anomalus (Persian or Caucasian Squirrel / Sincap,  Acem Sincabı) from Bornova, IZMIR -  15.06.2009.

Squirrels are often considered harmful because they eat or collect some fruits and seeds in residential areas. They may even gnaw and remove the bark of some trees such as the pine, spruce, fir and beech in rural areas. The damage they cause to seeds and seedlings might be sometimes remarkably high in agricultural areas. However, squirrels also play an important role in plant distribution. In Turkey, two tree squirrel species of the genus Sciurus occur: the Persian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus) and the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). The second one lives only in Turkish Thrace (European Turkey). Persian squirel has not long bristle tuft on the tips of earlaps.

Persian squirel is a species is the only representative of the rodent family Sciuridae in the Middle East. This species is distributed from Greece (only known from Lesvos island) through Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in coniferous and temperate mixed forests. Three subspecies of the Persian Squirrel are recognized;

1. Sciurus anomalus anomalus distributed in the southern former Soviet Union,
2. Sciurus anomalus pallescens in northern Iraq and
3. Sciurus anomalus syriacus in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

This separation is based on the coloration of specimens; where as Sciurus anomalus syriacus has dark dorsal pelage and its tail and feet are generally dark in colour, while S. a. anomalus has a deep red tail and S. a. pallescens has pale back and feet and yellowish brown tail.

References: 1. Amr, Z. S. Eid, E., Qarqaz, M. A. Abu Baker, M. (2006). The Status and Distribution of the Persian Squirrel, Sciurus anomalus (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae), in Dibbeen Nature Reserve, Jordan. Zoologische Abhandlungen (Dresden) 55: 199-207. 2. Albayrak, I. & Arslan, A. (2006). Contribution to the Taxonomical and Biological Characteristics of Sciurus anomalus in Turkey (Mammalia: Rodentia). Turkish Journal of Zoology, 30: 111-116.

Author Bayram GÖÇMEN
Created on Monday 15 June 2009
Posted on Wednesday 02 February 2011
Tags İzmir, TURKEY / TÜRKİYE
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