Caucasian Squirrel

The Caucasian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus) or Persian squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus found in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in south-western Asia. The species is traditionally said to have first been described in 1778 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in the 13th edition of Systema Naturae, and named Sciurus anomalus. However, this work was actually published in 1788, so the true first description was made by Johann Anton Güldenstädt in 1785. Gmelin made reference to this in the 1788 work, citing Güldenstädt as the author. == Taxonomy and evolution == Various positions exist on the taxonomy of the Caucasian squirrel. A 2009 evaluation of the taxonomy of the Sciurus genus found it to not be closely related to the other Old World species, the red squirrel and its immediate offshoots, and to be closer to New World species. A 2020 study on the taxonomy of Sciurinae instead placed the Old World squirrels within a single genus distinct from the New World species. Sciurus anomalus emerges in the fossil record in the Early Pleistocene, becoming common in Turkey by the Middle Paleolithic and in Lebanon by the Late Paleolithic. It spread southward into the Levant during the Last…