California ground squirrel | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Sciuridae |
Genus: | Otospermophilus |
Species: | O. beecheyi
|
Binomial name | |
Otospermophilus beecheyi (Richardson, 1829)[2]
| |
Synonyms | |
Arctomys (Spermophilus) beecheyi Richardson, 1829[3] |
The California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), also known as the Beechey ground squirrel,[4] is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California Peninsula; it is common in Oregon and California and its range has relatively recently extended into Washington and northwestern Nevada. Formerly placed in Spermophilus, as Spermophilus beecheyi, it was reclassified in Otospermophilus in 2009, as it became clear that Spermophilus as previously defined was not a natural (monophyletic) group.[5] A full species account was published for this species in 2016.[6]
Richardson 1829
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).