Rock Squirrel

Open encyclopedia reference

The rock squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, including southern Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the panhandle of Oklahoma.

In Texas, they can be found in the western, central and Panhandle regions. They are especially common in the Texas Hill Country, a Subregion in central Texas.

Wikipedia contributors, Rock squirrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:08:48.182882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Otospermophilus variegatus (Erxleben, 1777)

Name authority

(Erxleben, 1777)

Common name

Rock Squirrel

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Sciuridae

Genus

Otospermophilus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderSciuromorpha Brandt, 1855
13. familySciuridae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
14. subfamilyXerinae Osborn, 1910
15. tribeMarmotini Pocock, 1923
16. genusOtospermophilus Brandt, 1844
17. speciesOtospermophilus variegatus (Erxleben, 1777)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Otospermophilus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 219 records assigned to Sciuridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=930302 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4B7TG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.