Samar Squirrel

Open encyclopedia reference

The Samar squirrel (Sundasciurus samarensis) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It was historically known as lalagsing. It is endemic to the Philippines, where it has been recorded from Samar and Leyte Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss, due to expanding human activities, hunting, and the lack of basic knowledge about the species. They thrive in primary and secondary lowland and montane forest, including the lower edges of mossy forest. It is also found in some agricultural areas.

Wikipedia contributors, Samar squirrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:45:30.213494+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Sundasciurus (Aletesciurus) samarensis (Steere, 1890)

Name authority

(Steere, 1890)

Common name

Samar Squirrel

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Sciuridae

Genus

Sundasciurus

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. subfamilyCallosciurinae Pocock, 1923
15. genusSundasciurus Moore, 1958
16. subgenusAletesciurus Moore, 1958
17. speciesSundasciurus (Aletesciurus) samarensis (Steere, 1890)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 219 records assigned to Sciuridae.

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=632470 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:53GB6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.