Ratufa macroura (Pennant 1769)

[Sciurus] macrourus Pennant 1769, Indian Zool., Vol. 1: pl. 1.

Type Locality: " Ceylon and Malabar.... Malacca ...Goa and Amboina." Restricted by Phillips (1933) to highlands of Central and Uva Provs., Sri Lanka.

Vernacular Names: Sri Lankan Giant Squirrel.

Synonyms: Ratufa zeylanicus (Ray 1693) .

Subspecies::

Subspecies Ratufa macroura subsp. macroura Pennant 1769

Subspecies Ratufa macroura subsp. dandolena Thomas and Wroughton 1915

Subspecies Ratufa macroura subsp. melanochra Thomas and Wroughton 1915

Distribution: Sri Lanka and S India.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II. IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Reviewed by Corbet and Hill (1992). Joshua (1996) reported apparent hybridization with R. indica, but had no cytogenetic data.