The spinal nerves that constitute the brachial plexus in the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

The brachial plexus in adult red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) was found to be formed by the rami ventralis of C5, C6, C7, C8. A thin branch of C5 and C6 constituted the cranial trunk, and the caudal trunk was formed completely by the rami ventralis of C7 and C8. Thus, in squirrels, the spinal nerves which form the brachial plexus and the joining of these spinal nerves to each other differ from other rodents and mammals.

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A novel dicistrovirus in a captive red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

Journal of General Virology ◽

10.1099/jgv.0.001555 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 102 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Akbar Dastjerdi ◽

David J. Everest ◽

Hannah Davies ◽

Daniela Denk ◽

Roland Zell

Keyword(s):

Genome Organization ◽

New Genus ◽

Mammalian Species ◽

Particle Morphology ◽

Intestinal Content ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Sciurus Vulgaris ◽

Red Squirrels ◽

The Family ◽

Generation Sequencing

Dicistroviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses in the family Dicistroviridae. The viruses have mainly been detected in arthropods and are the cause of several devastating diseases in many of these species such as honeybees. Increasingly, dicistroviruses have also been detected in both mammalian and avian species in faeces, blood and liver, but with unconfirmed pathology. Here, we report a novel dicistrovirus detected in the intestinal content of a captive red squirrel with enteritis along with the disease history, pathology and genomic characterisation of the virus. Virus particle morphology resembled those of picornaviruses with a diameter of 28–32 nm but failed to be detected using a mammalian/avian pan viral microarray. Next-generation sequencing confirmed a dicistrovirus having a typical dicistrovirus genome organization, but with the polyprotein 1 being shorter by about 100 amino acids, compared to that of other dicistroviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of ORF1 and ORF2 sequences clustered the virus with two yet unassigned dicistroviruses detected in Gorilla gorilla and a freshwater arthropod and likely to be designated to a new genus. Our data further highlights the ever-growing diversity of dicistroviruses, but the clinical significance of the virus in mammalian species and particularly red squirrels has yet to be established.

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The spinal nerves that constitute the plexus lumbosacrales of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

Veterinární Medicína ◽

10.17221/3021-vetmed ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 55 (No. 4) ◽

pp. 183-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Aydin

Keyword(s):

Hind Limb ◽

Lumbosacral Plexus ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Sciurus Vulgaris ◽

Common Root ◽

Spinal Nerves ◽

The Common ◽

The One

This study was aimed at investigating the lumbosacral plexus of squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). Ten squirrels were used in this work. The animals were carefully dissected and the spinal nerves that constitute the lumbosacral plexus were examined. It was discovered that the lumbosacral plexus was formed by L6, L7, S1, S2 in nine animals and in the one remaining animal in addition to these branches rami ventralis of L4 and L5 were forming the plexus. The common root forming the last part of the lumbosacral plexus and giving branches dispersing to the hind limb was formed by the rami ventralis of L6, L7, S1, S2. Thus, in squirrels, the spinal nerves forming the lumbosacral plexus and the joining of these spinal nerves to each other differs from other rodents and mammals.

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Population fragmentation leads to morpho-functional variation in British red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris)

10.1101/593319 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Philip G. Cox ◽

Philip J.R. Morris ◽

Andrew C. Kitchener

Keyword(s):

Functional Divergence ◽

Population Decline ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Population Fragmentation ◽

Sciurus Vulgaris ◽

Functional Variation ◽

Linear Measurements ◽

Red Squirrels ◽

Geometric Morphometric ◽

The Uk

AbstractIt is well-known that population fragmentation and isolation can lead to rapid morphological and functional divergence, with the effect being particularly well-documented in rodents. Here, we investigated whether such a phenomenon could be identified in the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), which was once widespread across the majority of Great Britain, but suffered a severe population decline across the 20th century, leaving a highly fragmented distribution. The aim was to test for morphological and biomechanical variation of the mandible between the remaining British red squirrel populations. Linear and geometric morphometric methods were used to analyse shape in a sample of over 250 squirrel mandibles from across the UK and Germany. Canonical variates analysis identified significant shape differences between most British red squirrel populations, but particularly between squirrels from Formby and those from other populations. Linear measurements showed that Formby red squirrels have a significantly lower mechanical advantage of the temporalis muscle, indicating that they are less efficient at gnawing. We suggest that this difference may be related to past supplemental feeding of Formby squirrels with peanuts, which are less mechanically resistant than food items that occur naturally in the diet of British red squirrels.

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Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis with Bartonella washoensis in a Human European Patient and Its Detection in Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris)

Journal of Clinical Microbiology ◽

10.1128/jcm.01404-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Friederike D. von Loewenich ◽

Christof Seckert ◽

Elke Dauber ◽

Marja J. L. Kik ◽

Ankje de Vries ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prosthetic Valve ◽

Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis ◽

Housekeeping Genes ◽

Housekeeping Gene ◽

Reservoir Host ◽

Human Infection ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Sciurus Vulgaris ◽

Red Squirrels ◽

Content Type

ABSTRACT Members of the genus Bartonella are fastidious Gram-negative facultative intracellular bacteria that are typically transmitted by arthropod vectors. Several Bartonella spp. have been found to cause culture-negative endocarditis in humans. Here, we report the case of a 75-year-old German woman with prosthetic valve endocarditis due to Bartonella washoensis. The infecting agent was characterized by sequencing of six housekeeping genes (16S rRNA, ftsZ, gltA, groEL, ribC, and rpoB), applying a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) approach. The 5,097 bp of the concatenated housekeeping gene sequence from the patient were 99.0% identical to a sequence from a B. washoensis strain isolated from a red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris orientis) from China. A total of 39% (24/62) of red squirrel (S. vulgaris) samples from the Netherlands were positive for the B. washoensis gltA gene variant detected in the patient. This suggests that the red squirrel is the reservoir host for human infection in Europe.

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Is coat-colour polymorphism in Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris L.) adaptive?

Mammalia ◽

10.1515/mamm.2004.005 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 68 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Luc A. Wauters ◽

Massimiliano Zaninetti ◽

Guido Tosi ◽

Sandro Bertolino

Keyword(s):

Coat Colour ◽

Colour Polymorphism ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Sciurus Vulgaris ◽

Red Squirrels

Coat-colour polymorphism, the relative frequencies of red, brown and black fur-morphs, was examined in nine populations of the Eurasian red squirrel (

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