Notocitellus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Tribe:	Marmotini
Genus:	Notocitellus A. H. Howell, 1938
Type species
Spermophilus annulatus Audubon & Bachman, 1842[1]
Species
N. adocetus N. annulatus
Distribution of the Notocitellus ground squirrels

Notocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels, containing two species from Mexico. These species are the tropical ground squirrel (Notocitellus adocetus), and the ring-tailed ground squirrel (N. annulatus). Notocitellus was formerly placed in the large ground squirrel genus Spermophilus, as a subgenus or species group. Since DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene has shown Spermophilus to be paraphyletic to the marmots, antelope squirrels, and prairie dogs,^[2] it is now separated, along with six other genera.^[3] The exact relations of this genus are unclear, though a relation to the antelope squirrels is possible.^[3]

References