Description
The Squirrels of South Asia Database is a collection of occurrence records of all squirrel species (34 specices) that occur in South Asia. Complete occurrence data has been collected for species whose range extends out of South Asia (eg. into Southeast Asia). The data are collated from traditional sources (museums, literature, primary field records), citizen science records, and social media records (14 platforms). Only data that are not already funnelled/present to GBIF are included in this upload. Years covered: 1766 - 2022. Details of the database creation are here: The database is built and curated by the Sciurid Lab at IISER Tirupati (https://sciuridlab.in)
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,187 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Swati U, D'Souza S, Aravind P S, Rajamani N (2023). IISERTPT Squirrels of South Asia Database - Version1. Version 1.5. IISER Tirupati. Occurrence dataset. https://cloud.gbif.org/asia/resource?r=sosa_version1&v=1.5
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is IISER Tirupati. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: f842ea5a-e38c-4be2-924d-c065b41215b0. IISER Tirupati publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.
Keywords
Occurrence; Squirrels; South Asia; Asia; Tree Squirrels; Flying Squirrels; Ground Squirrels; Marmots; Observation; Occurrence; Squirrels; South Asia; Asia; Tree Squirrels; Flying Squirrels; Ground Squirrels; Marmots
Contacts
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- PhD Student
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0290-863X
- Originator
- Researcher
- Originator
- PhD Student
- ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Assistant Professor
Geographic Coverage
We collected comprehensive occurrence records across the entire geographic ranges of the 34 target species. Species range across South Asian (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Maldives) and some (16 species) ranges that extend eastward into Central Asia or East and Southeast Asia. One species of palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii) has been introduced to the Middle-east and Australia, well outside of its native geographic range. When squirrel species in this database were found to occur in countries outside of South Asia (e.g. Central/East/Southeast Asia), their occurrence data were collected across all countries in their geographic ranges.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [1.406, 50.625], North East [47.517, 110.391] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Sciuridae
| Species | Belomys pearsonii (Gray, 1842), Biswamoyopterus biswasi Saha, 1981, Callosciurus erythraeus (Pallas, 1779), Callosciurus pygerythrus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1833), Dremomys lokriah (Hodgson, 1836), Dremomys pernyi (Milne-Edwards, 1867), Dremomys rufigenis (Blanford, 1878), Eoglaucomys fimbriatus (Gray, 1837), Eupetaurus cinereus Thomas, 1888, Funambulus layardi (Blyth, 1849), Funambulus obscurus (Pelzeln & Kohl, 1886), Funambulus (Funambulus) palmarum (Linnaeus, 1766), Funambulus (Prasadsciurus) pennantii Wroughton, 1905, Funambulus (Funambulus) sublineatus (Waterhouse, 1838), Funambulus (Funambulus) tristriatus (Waterhouse, 1837), Hylopetes alboniger (Hodgson, 1836), Hylopetes phayrei (Blyth, 1859), Marmota (Marmota) caudata (Geoffroy, 1844), Marmota (Marmota) himalayana (Hodgson, 1841), Petaurista petaurista albiventer (Gray, 1834), Petaurista elegans (Müller, 1840), Petaurista magnificus (Hodgson, 1836), Petaurista nobilis (Gray, 1842), Petaurista petaurista (Pallas, 1766), Petaurista philippensis (Elliot, 1839), Petaurista mechukaensis Choudhury, 2007, Petaurista mishmiensis Choudhury, 2009, Petinomys fuscocapillus (Jerdon, 1847), Ratufa bicolor (Sparrman, 1778), Ratufa indica (Erxleben, 1777), Ratufa macroura (Pennant, 1769), Spermophilus fulvus (Lichtenstein, 1823), Spermophilopsis leptodactylus (Lichtenstein, 1823), Tamiops mcclellandii (Horsfield, 1840) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1766-01-01 / 2022-12-31 |
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Project Data
The Squirrels of South Asia database compiles information on squirrel occurrence in the region. The database includes 34 squirrel species, representing 14% of global diversity. The database collects data from various sources such as museums, literature, citizen science, and social media. It covers the entire range of the target species and spans from the early 1800s to May 2023. By consolidating information, the database enhances our understanding of squirrel distribution, population dynamics, and conservation needs in South Asia.
| Title | Squirrels of South Asia Database |
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| Identifier | IISERTPT: SOSA |
| Funding | IISER Tirupati intramural funds and Department of Science and Technology SERB |
| Study Area Description | South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan), as well as some parts of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China) and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei). The introduced range of Funambulus pennantii include Australia, Iran, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. |
| Design Description | The database includes 34 squirrel species (including tree, flying and ground squirrels), representing 14% of global sciurid diversity. It collates data from various sources such as museums, literature, primary fieldwork, citizen science, and social media platforms. It covers the entire range of the target species, including countries in Central Asia and Southeast Asia, when required. This database enhances our understanding of squirrel distribution, population dynamics, and their conservation needs in South Asia by consolidating information. It aims to be a valuable resource for researchers, conservationists, and wildlife enthusiasts. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
We collected data from three major sources. Traditional data sources included museum data, information from the literature and primary field data. The second source of data included records from citizen science platforms (5 platforms), and the third source of data encompassed social media platforms (14 sources). A pipeline was created for the data collection (Figure 1), and all volunteers on the project were trained to follow this in order to maintain consistency in data collection. For all data records, irrespective of source, we noted essential information like species name, location, date/year of observation, and observer/author. Media data were examined/downloaded when available. In addition to this, all other relevant data associated with each record were noted (e.g. behaviour, ecological information, etc.).
| Study Extent | South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan), as well as some parts of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China) and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei). The introduced range of Funambulus pennantii include Australia, Iran, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. |
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Method step description:
- 1. Sourcing records from different sources 2. Curating records and validating species identity 3. Curating records and assigning location accurately 4. Entering the data into a database
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | f842ea5a-e38c-4be2-924d-c065b41215b0 |
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| https://cloud.gbif.org/asia/resource?r=sosa_version1 |