Sun squirrels (

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Heliosciurus''), form a taxon of

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), 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 squirrel ...

s under the subfamily

Xerinae The Xerinae comprise a subfamily of squirrels, many of which are highly terrestrial. It includes the tribes Marmotini (marmots, chipmunks, prairie dogs, and other Holarctic ground squirrels), Xerini (African and some Eurasian ground squirrels), ...

and the tribe

Protoxerini The Protoxerini comprise a tribe of squirrels found in Africa. The 30 species in six genera are:Thorington, R. W. and R. S. Hoffmann. 2005. Family Sciuridae. Pp 754–818 in Mammal Species of the World A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Johns ...

. They are only found in sub-Saharan

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. Either the habit of basking in the sun on tree branches or the tail being commonly used as a sunshade gave this group its common name. Sun squirrels have been implicated in the spread of human

monkeypox Mpox (, ; formerly known as monkeypox) is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and other animals. Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and lymphadenopathy, swollen lymph nodes. The illness ...

in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. There are six species in the genus: * Gambian sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus gambianus'' * Mutable sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus mutabilis'' * Small sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus punctatus'' * Red-legged sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus rufobrachium'' * Ruwenzori sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus ruwenzorii'' * Zanj sun squirrel, '' Heliosciurus undulatus''

References

*Nowak, Ronald M. (1999), ''Walker's Mammals of the World'', 6th edition,

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and

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, pp 1281–1282.
list of the squirrels in the world
''www.squirrels.org'', archived at ''web.archive.org'' Taxa named by Édouard Louis Trouessart {{Squirrel-stub