Ground Squirrel - Evolution and Systematics

Evolution and Systematics

Palaeosciurus from Europe is the oldest known ground squirrel, and it does not seem to be particularly close to any of the two to three living lineages (subtribes) of Marmotini. The oldest fossils are from the Early Oligocene, more than 30 mya (million years ago), but the genus probably persisted at least until the mid-Miocene, some 15 mya.

It is not clear where the Marmotini originated. The subtribes probably diverged in the early to mid-Oligocene, as primitive marmots and chipmunks are known from the Late Oligocene of North America. Unfortunately, the fossil record of the "true" ground squirrels is less well known, beginning only in the mid-Miocene when modern susliks and prairie dogs are known to have inhabited their present-day range already.

Whether the Marmotini dispersed between North America and Eurasia via "island-hopping" across the Bering Straits or the Greenland region—which both at that time were temperate habitat—and from which continent they dispersed to which, or if both continents brought forth distinct subtribes which then spread to the other, is not known and would probably require more fossil material to be resolved. In any case, that the fairly comprehensive fossil record of Europe—at the relevant time separated from Asia by the Turgai Sea—lacks ancient Marmotini except the indeterminate Palaeosciurus might be taken to indicate that an East Asian or western North American origin with trans-Beringia dispersal is the slightly more satisfying hypothesis. This is also supported by the enigmatic Chinese genus Sciurotamias, which may be the most ancient living lineage of this group, or—if the chipmunks are not included here—close to the common ancestor of the Tamiini and the Marmotini sensu stricto.

In any case, expansion of the Marmotini to Africa was probably prevented by competitive exclusion by their close relatives the Protoxerini and Xerini—the native terrestrial and palm squirrels of that continent—which must have evolved at the same time as the Marmotini did.