Père David's Rock Squirrel

Open encyclopedia reference

The Père David's rock squirrel (Sciurotamias davidianus), also known as the Chinese rock squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to China, where it is found widely in rocky habitats in the eastern and central parts of the country. This largely terrestrial squirrel is overall dull olive-grey with paler underparts, a distinct pale eye-ring and a dark patch on the cheeks. It has sometimes been confused with the rather different –but in colour very variable– Pallas's squirrel; an introduced population in Belgium was first mistakenly identified as Père David's rock squirrel.

Wikipedia contributors, Père David's rock squirrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:43:12.948725+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Sciurotamias (Sciurotamias) davidianus (Milne-Edwards, 1867)

Name authority

(Milne-Edwards, 1867)

Common name

Père David's Rock Squirrel

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Sciuridae

Genus

Sciurotamias

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. genusSciurotamias Miller, 1901
17. subgenusSciurotamias Miller, 1901
18. speciesSciurotamias (Sciurotamias) davidianus (Milne-Edwards, 1867)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Sciurotamias. 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=632418 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:4VNCP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.