Sciurus


The genus Sciurus contains most of the common, bushy-tailed squirrels in North America, Europe, temperate Asia, Central America and South America.

Species

The number of species in the genus is subject to change.
In 2005 Thorington & Hoffman accepted 28 species in the genus; this is the taxonomic interpretation followed by the IUCN website :
Genus Sciurus
In 2015, 15–17 species were left in the genus Sciurus after de Vivo & Carmignotto comprehensively reviewed South American Sciuridae for the first time in many decades and proposed numerous changes; synonymising some species and many subspecies, splitting another species, and naming new species. They followed Joel Asaph Allen's unsatisfying 1914 attempt in the early 20th century in splitting the genus Sciurus by raising the South American subgenera to the rank of genus, adding Urosciurus to Hadrosciurus, and splitting the genus Guerlinguetus in three. Their taxonomic treatment might also require Sciurus deppei to be moved to Notosciurus.