| Ictidomys parvidens | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Genus: | Ictidomys |
| Species: | I. parvidens |
| Binomial name | |
|
Ictidomys parvidens Mearns, 1896 |
|
Ictidomys parvidens is a species of squirrel in the family Sciuridae.
All the species of Ictidomys were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus (I. parvidens as a subspecies of Spermophilus mexicanus), but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus. As a result, Ictidomys is now considered a genus in its own right.