''Sciurus ingrami'', usually called Ingram's squirrel in English, is a squirrel found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It is known as ''serelepe'' in southeastern Brazil. It is found in the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

Biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is regarded variously as a species, or as a subspecies of the Brazilian Squirrel ''Sciurus aestuans'' or ''Guerlinguetus brasiliensis''. It is solitary and territorial, but has been seen to act together and mob a predatory cat, the

margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlife ...

Diet

In the moist highland forests of ''

Araucaria angustifolia ''Araucaria angustifolia'', the Paraná pine, Brazilian pine or candelabra tree (, or ), is a critically endangered species in the conifer genus '' Araucaria''. Although the common names in various languages refer to the species as a "pine", it d ...

'' on the Misiones plateau and surrounding areas this squirrel subsists mostly on the nuts of '' Syagrus romanzoffiana''. In a secondary ''Araucaria angustifolia'' forest in the Parque Recreativo Primavera in the vicinity of the city of

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

, Paraná, 1400 hours in a single year's time was spent observing the feeding behaviour of this squirrel. Although it fed on ten plant species, it obtained most of its diet from the nuts of '' Syagrus romanzoffiana'' (queen palm) throughout the year, but it punctuated this with peaks of feeding on the seeds of ''Araucaria angustifolia'' in the fall and winter, and acorns of the non-native ''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus ...

'' (English oak, as ''Q. pedunculata'' in the study) in the summer. Mushrooms were also important in the winter and spring. Other introduced plant species were lesser but substantial food items, as such the seeds of ''

Pinus taeda ''Pinus taeda'', commonly known as loblolly pine, is one of several pines native to the Southeastern United States, from East Texas to Florida, and north to southern New Jersey. The wood industry classifies the species as a southern yellow pine. ...

'' (loblolly pine) in the winter and the nuts of ''

Castanea sativa ''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...

'' (chestnut) in the spring and summer were quite often consumed. Other minor but regular plants were the nuts of the native ''

Butia eriospatha ''Butia eriospatha'' is a small species of ''Butia'' palm endemic to the highlands of southern Brazil. It is very similar to ''B. odorata'', but is easily distinguished from this species by the distinct spathes which are densely covered in rust- ...

'' (woolly jelly palm) in the spring and summer, pips of the non-native ''

Eriobotrya japonica The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family ...

'' (loquat) in the winter, the native ''

Eugenia uniflora ''Eugenia uniflora'', the pitanga, Suriname cherry, Brazilian cherry, Cayenne cherry, cerisier carré, monkimonki kersie or ñangapirí, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to tropical South America’s east coast, ranging ...

'' in the spring and summer, and the native '' Rhamnus sphaerosperma'' in the summer and fall, as well as flowers and tree bark. '' Symplocos uniflora'' was a rare food item in the summer.

References

Sciurus Mammals of Brazil Fauna of the Atlantic Forest Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas {{Squirrel-stub