<i>Microsciurus flaviventer</i>(Rodentia: Sciuridae)

Jessen, Timothy G.; Kilanowski, Allyssa L.; Gwinn, R. Nathan; Merrick, Melissa J.; Koprowski, John L.

doi:10.1093/mspecies/sew006

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…These small squirrel species are generally bark‐gleaners (Jessen et al. , ), consuming plant exudates and insects that are also difficult to identify. Other similar sized species are also affected by the lack of basic ecological data; for example, Sciurillus pusillus , for which we found no dietary information.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another factor that may lead to underestimation of the importance of invertebrates as a food source for Neotropical squirrels is that the diet of the bark‐gleaner squirrel species remains unknown, and bark‐gleaners consume a significant amount of insects (Emmons , Jessen et al. , ). Squirrels also eat small vertebrates (Koprowski et al.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 A possible explanation for the absence of ecological data for eight species of Microsciurus is the difficulty in locating and observing these small rodents (with body weight ~100 g) in the high and dense forest canopy. These small squirrel species are generally bark-gleaners (Jessen et al 2013a(Jessen et al , 2016, consuming plant exudates and insects that are also difficult to identify. Other similar sized species are also affected by the lack of basic ecological data; for example, Sciurillus pusillus, for which we found no dietary information.…”

Section: Squirrel Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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NEOSQUIRREL: a data set of ecological knowledge on Neotropical squirrels

2019

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The squirrels (Sciuridae), with 292 species, make up the second most diverse family of rodents. Squirrels play important roles as seed and spore dispersers and seed predators in all regions where they occur. In Neotropical regions, around 28 species of squirrel are recognised. However, our knowledge of the ecology of the Neotropical Sciuridae is severely incomplete, lacking in the most basic ecological information for most species. We reviewed the literature in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, for all squirrel species in the Neotropical biogeographic region, summarising ecological interactions between squirrels and the local biota, population density records, the number of publications, and the distribution of study sites. We found information for 20 squirrel species (71% of the recognised species), from 15 countries, in 48 publications containing 126 population density records and 155 publications containing 649 ecological interactions. The most studied species were Guerlinguetus brasiliensis, Notosciurus granatensis, and Sciurus variegatoides, with 53% of all publications, whereas for eight species of Microsciurus, we found no publications. The density of Neotropical squirrels varied from 0.08 to 100 individuals per km2 and was negatively correlated with forest area. Neotropical squirrels were recorded eating 174 plant taxa, five fungus taxa, four invertebrate taxa, and one species of vertebrate. Palms were common in the diet of squirrels (30 palm species, 27% of feeding records). Squirrels cached 28 plant species, of which 15 were palms. Sixty‐five taxa of parasites are documented to occur in Neotropical squirrels, and the most common were Enderleinellus lice. Zoonotic parasites, including trypanosomes, Leptospira spp., Leishmania spp., and plague were also reported. Our review reveals the main information gaps in the current knowledge about the ecology of Neotropical Sciuridae and maps the geographic distribution of the available information throughout South and Central America. Squirrels often thrive in small forest fragments and fulfil important roles as seed dispersers and prey for mesopredators.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Squirrel Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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NEOSQUIRREL: a data set of ecological knowledge on Neotropical squirrels

2019

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Do Bony Orbit Dimensions Predict Diel Activity Pattern in Sciurid Rodents?

Smith

Angielczyk

Schmitz

et al. 2018

The Anatomical Record

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Diel activity pattern (DAP) is a key aspect of an animal's ecology, but it is difficult to infer when behavior cannot be directly observed, as in the fossil record. Various anatomical correlates have therefore been used to attempt to classify DAP. Eyeball dimensions are good predictors of DAP because they relate directly to light sensitivity of the eye. Osteological characters, such as scleral ring dimensions, are also reliable proxies, but bony orbit dimensions alone have proven less reliable because soft tissues other than the eyeball can affect orbit size and shape. However, it would be useful if bony orbit dimensions could be used to determine DAP, particularly for mammals, which have no scleral ring, and nonmammalian synapsids, which infrequently preserve scleral rings. We investigated the possibility of predicting DAP in sciurids (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) using orbit measurements and other cranial dimensions, and a variety of quantitative methods, including phylogenetic flexible discriminant analysis, classification trees, and logistic regression. The latter two methods do not require a priori assignment of DAP and therefore reflect the situation in a fossil data set. We find that although there are some interfering phylogenetic factors, nocturnal and non-nocturnal sciurids can be differentiated from one another with over 80% accuracy using all methods investigated here; attempts to differentiate crepuscular animals from nocturnal and diurnal species proved much less successful. Our results indicate that these analyses offer several viable options for predicting DAP in the fossil record, but such analyses should be conducted in a phylogenetic context whenever possible.

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Microsciurus flaviventer(Rodentia: Sciuridae)

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

NEOSQUIRREL: a data set of ecological knowledge on Neotropical squirrels

NEOSQUIRREL: a data set of ecological knowledge on Neotropical squirrels

Do Bony Orbit Dimensions Predict Diel Activity Pattern in Sciurid Rodents?

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