| Squirrels Temporal range:
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Various members of the family Sciuridae
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota | |||||||||
| Kingdom: | Animalia | |||||||||
| Phylum: | Chordata | |||||||||
| Class: | Mammalia | |||||||||
| Order: | Rodentia | |||||||||
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha | |||||||||
| Family: | Sciuridae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817 | |||||||||
| Type genus | ||||||||||
| Sciurus Linnaeus, 1758
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| Subfamilies and tribes | ||||||||||
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Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (/sɪˈjuːrɪdeɪ, -diː/), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia.[1] The earliest known fossilized squirrels date from the Eocene epoch, and among other living rodent families, the squirrels are most closely related to the mountain beaver and dormice.[2]
- ^ Seebeck, J. H. "Sciuridae" (PDF). Fauna of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ Kay, Emily H.; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (20 May 2008). "Rodents". Current Biology. 18 (10): R406–R410. Bibcode:2008CBio...18.R406K. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.019. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 18492466.