White-tailed Antelope Squirrel

TaxoboxAntelope Squirrel
status = LR/lc | status_system = IUCN2.3


image_width = 250px
image_caption = White-tailed Antelope Squirrel in Southern Utah
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
familia = Sciuridae
genus = "Ammospermophilus"
species = "A. leucurus"
binomial = "Ammospermophilus leucurus"
binomial_authority = (Merriam, 1889)

The White-tailed Antelope Squirrel ("Ammospermophilus leucurus") is a diurnal species of ground squirrel found in arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is omnivorous, feeding primarily on foliage (10%-60% of its diet), seeds (20%-50%), arthropods, and to a lesser extent, vertebrates (mainly lizards and rodents; predatory behavior by ground squirrels has been noted [Green, M. M. (1925). Notes on some mammals of Montmorency County, Michigan. J. Mamm., 6: 173-178.] [Bailey, B. (1923). Meat-eating propensities of some rodents of Minnesota. J. Mamm., 4: 129.] [Johnson, A. M. (1922). An observation of the carnivorous propensities of the gray gopher. J. Mamm., 3: 187.] [Bridgwater, D. D., and Penny, D.F. (1966). Predation by "Citellus tridecemlineatus"on other vertebrates. J. Mamm., 47: 345-346.] ). [Bradley W. G. (1968). Food habits of the antelope ground squirrel in southern Nevada. Journal Of Mammalogy, 49:14–21] This species of squirrel has an average home range of convert|14.9|acre|m2, and utilizes approximately convert|4|acre|m2 in its daily activities. [Bradley, W.G. and J.E. Deacon (1965). "The biotic communities of southern Nevada," Univ. Nevada, Desert Research Institute Preprint, 9: 1-74 plus indices.]

References

*
*ITIS|ID=180181|taxon=Ammospermophilus leucurus|year=2006|date=18 March

External links

* [http://www.death-valley.us/article21.html overview from Death Valley.us]
* [http://www.dfg.ca.gov/whdab/html/M067.html overview from California Fish and Game]