Mammalia - Rodentia - Sciuridae
Alternative combination: Citellus quatalensis
Synonym: Sciurus venturus Bryant 1945
Full reference: C. L. Gazin. 1930. A Tertiary vertebrate fauna from the upper Cuyama drainage basin, California. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 404(6):55-76
Belongs to Protospermophilus according to M. D. Bryant 1945
See also Black 1963, Gazin 1930 and James 1963
Sister taxa: Protospermophilus angusticeps, Protospermophilus kelloggi, Protospermophilus malheurensis, Protospermophilus minimus, Protospermophilus oregonensis, Protospermophilus parvus, Protospermophilus vortmani
Type specimens:
- Protospermophilus quatalensis: CIT 30, a partial skull ( A skull without the cranium and the posterior half of the orbits, broken upper incisors and left P3 through M2 present; a left mandibular ramus with lower inci). Its type locality is Quatal Canyon South Side 3, which is in a Clarendonian terrestrial horizon in the MR Caliente Formation of California.
- Sciurus venturus: UCMP 34550, a mandible (A part of a left mandibular ramus extending from the level of the anterior margin of M1 to the base of the vertical ramus, lower molar teeth well preserved).
Ecology: scansorial granivore-frugivore
Distribution:
• Miocene of United States (17: California, Nebraska, Texas collections)
Total: 17 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.