Heliosciurus rufobrachium (Waterhouse, 1842), one of six species of Heliosciurus, is a sciurid commonly called red-legged sun squirrel. It is a medium-sized diurnally adapted tree squirrel occurring at ground-level to upper heights of the canopy of mature forests. It ranges from the west coast of Africa to Garissa County, Kenya. Adapted to an arboreal life, its frugivorous diet makes it a seed disperser for forest plants. In portions of West Africa, it serves as a source of bushmeat and it is a reservoir for human monkey-pox virus and Trypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness. H. rufobrachium is listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
How to translate text using browser tools
30 September 2019
Heliosciurus rufobrachium (Rodentia: Sciuridae)
Howard H. Thomas,
Troy L. Best,
Bernard Agwanda
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
Mammalian Species
Vol. 51 • No. 978
September 2019
Vol. 51 • No. 978
September 2019
Africa
red-legged sun squirrel
rodent
sciurid