Funisciurus pyrropus (F. Cuvier, 1833)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6840226 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6819073 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/064D0660-FFB4-ED49-FF6B-F448F5F9FE36 |
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treatment provided by |
Diego |
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scientific name |
Funisciurus pyrropus |
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Fire-footed Rope Squirrel
Funisciurus pyrropus View in CoL
French: Ecureuil de Cuvier / German: FeuerfuRhdrnchen / Spanish: Ardilla listada africana de pies de fuego
Other common names: Red-legged Rope Squirrel
Taxonomy. Sciurus pyrropus F. Cuvier, 1833 ,
Gabon.
Nine subspecies are recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
Ep. pyrropus EF. Cuvier, 1833 — S Cameroon to Mayombe Forest in S Gabon and SW Republic of the Congo.
E p. akka de Winton, 1895 — E DR Congo, Uganda, and W Rwanda.
FE p. leonis Thomas, 1905 — Liberia and Sierra Leone.
E p. leucostigma Temminck, 1853 — S Ghana.
Ep. mandingo Thomas, 1903 — Gambia and S Senegal.
F.p. nigrensis Thomas, 1909 — S Nigeria, between the Niger and Cross rivers.
Ep. niveatus Thomas, 1923 — Ivory Coast.
Ep. pembertoni Thomas, 1904 — N Angola and extreme S DR Congo.
E p. talboti Thomas, 1909 — Cameroon (Mt Cameroon) and SE Nigeria. View Figure
Subspecific affiliations in Guinea Bissau and Guinea are not defined but are likely leonis, mandingo, or both. Subspecific affiliations in other areas (e.g. SW Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and NW Republic of the Congo) are not known.
Descriptive notes. Head—body mean 193-1 mm (males) and 191-6 mm (females), tail mean 145-3 mm (males) and 150-9 mm (females); weight mean 225 g (males) and 240-3 g (females). The Fire-footed Rope Squirrel is medium-sized and ground-dwelling;it has gray-to-black dorsal pelage, with faint white eye ring and elongated snout. Ventral pelage is pure white or ivory. Long bushytail is grizzled black and white, with red highlights and frosted white. Subspecies akkalacks any red on face, and limbs and muzzle are tinged with orange. Subspecies leonis has deep rufous color and red sides. Subspecies leucostigma lacks red crown and has duller sienna-red shading and red lines below lateral stripes. Subspecies mandingois tan and black on dorsal surface, and limbs and ears are orange. Subspecies nigrensis has brown head. Subspecies niveatus has grizzled dorsal pelage. Subspecies pembertoni is most brightly colored, and talboti has grizzled red and olive-brown flanks.
Habitat. Rainforests, evergreen forests, and mature secondary forests from sea level to elevations of 1650 m. The Fire-footed Rope Squirrel is moderately tolerantly of disturbance and can occur in forest fragments.
Food and Feeding. The Fire-footed Rope Squirrel is an opportunistic omnivore that feeds primarily on fruit and seeds that compose 80% of the diet; other food items are ants and termites for which the elongated snout is believe to permit probing crevices for these rich foods.
Breeding. Several male Fire-footed Rope Squirrels pursue a single female in a mating chase. Litters have 1-2 young.
Activity patterns. The Fire-footed Rope Squirrel is diurnal and forages widely on the ground from soon after sunrise until late afternoon. Whensitting upright,it curlsits tail over its back. When moving across the ground,tail is held vertically with tip curled backward.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Fire-footed Rope Squirrel is largely solitary but occasionally forages pairs. Home range of a male was 5-2 ha, a female more than 1 ha, and a subadult female more than 2-3 ha. It forages slowly on the ground and fallen logs and in vegetation below 1-5 m. Males move 61 m/h and females 35 m/h. When mildly alarmed, individuals emit chucks that resonate through the forest and rhythmically moveits tail up and down. High-intensity alarm is a quickpaced series of staccato rapid chucks that lasts 20-40 seconds. Although they occasionally build nests in hollows offallen logs, they prefer burrows and sometimes use those excavated by other mammals.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Firefooted Rope Squirrel is widespread and presumably has large populations. It occurs in protected areas and is tolerant of some habitat modification. Population trends are stable, there are no major threads, and it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
Bibliography. Angelici et al. (2001), Emmons (1975, 1978, 1980, 2013e), Rosevear (1969), Thorington et al. (2012).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
