| Oriental giant squirrels Temporal range: MiddleMiocene to Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Ratufinae Moore, 1959 |
| Genus: | Ratufa J. E. Gray, 1867 |
| Type species | |
| Sciurus indicus Erxleben, 1777 | |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
Eoscuirus | |
Oriental giant squirrels are cat-sizedtree squirrels from thegenusRatufa in thesubfamilyRatufinae. They are a distinctive element of thefauna ofsouth andsoutheast Asia.
There are four livingspecies of oriental giant squirrels:
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Cream-coloured giant squirrel | Ratufa affinis | Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra (Indonesia), Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia) |
 | Black giant squirrel | Ratufa bicolor | Northern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan, southern China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and western Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Bali and nearby small islands) |
 | Indian giant squirrel | Ratufa indica | India. |
 | Grizzled giant squirrel | Ratufa macroura | Southern India, Sri Lanka |
In prehistoric times this lineage was more widespread. For example, animals very similar toRatufa and possibly belonging to this genus, at least belonging to the Ratufinae, were part of the earlyLanghian (Middle Miocene, some 16–15.2million years ago) Hambach fauna ofGermany.[1]
