Atlantoxerus getulus

The Barbary ground squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is monotypic within the genus Atlantoxerus. It is endemic to the Atlas mountains in Morocco and some parts in Algeria, and has been introduced into the Canary Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland and rocky areas where it lives colonially in burrows. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

Atlantoxerus getulus

Chrumps · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Barbary ground squirrelPBDB
Sits inside
AtlantoxerusPBDB
Diet
granivore, frugivorePBDB, for Sciuridae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Sciuridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 2 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 7.246 Mya and 5.333 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence7.3–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.8–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.75 Mya4.83 Mya

1 occurrence of Atlantoxerus getulus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Sahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°E

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The named rock units Atlantoxerus getulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Atlantoxerus getulus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Atlantoxerus getulus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

5 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Atlantoxerus getulus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Atlantoxerus getulus

Credit
Chrumps
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Atlantoxerus getulus · ummz:mammals:120316

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAtlantoxerus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)