| Tamias | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Tribe: | Marmotini |
| Genus: | Tamias Illiger, 1811 |
| Species | |
Tamias is a genus of chipmunks in the tribe Marmotini of the squirrel family. The genus includes a single living species, the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus).[1] The genus name Tamias (Greek: ταμίας) means "treasurer", "steward", or "housekeeper",[2] which is a reference to the animals' role in plant dispersal through their habit of collecting and storing food for winter use.[3]
The genus Tamias was formerly divided into three subgenera that, in sum, included all chipmunk species: Tamias, the eastern chipmunk and other fossil species; Eutamias, of which the Siberian chipmunk (E. sibiricus) is the only living member; and Neotamias, which includes the 23 remaining, mostly western, species. These classifications are subjective, and most taxonomies over the twentieth century have placed the chipmunks in a single genus. However, studies of mitochondrial DNA show that the divergence between each of the three chipmunk groups is comparable to the genetic dissimilarity between Marmota and Spermophilus,[4][5][6][7] so they are now often considered as separate genera.
In addition to the eastern chipmunk, some fossil species from Eurasia have been assigned to this genus:
- †Tamias allobrogensis; Mein and Ginsburg, 2002 – Miocene of France[8]
- †Tamias atsali; De Bruijn, 1995 – Pliocene of Greece[9]
- †Tamias eviensis; De Bruijn et al., 1980 – Miocene of Greece[10]
- †Tamias urialis; Munthe, 1980, described from the Miocene of Pakistan, may be more closely related to Tamiops.[11]
One American fossil species, †Tamias aristus from the late Pleistocene, has been identified.[12]
