72 Sciurus variegatoidesblackish. The venter is white; the ears are black, edged
with dark rusty patches at the base. The lateral line on
the fl ank is dull red.
S. v. dorsalis—comparatively arid regions around Lake Nica-
ragua (Nicaragua) and the northwest area of Costa Rica,
including the Nicoya Peninsula. The colors on this form
are brighter than on S. v. adolphei. The midline of the
dorsal surface is blackish brown or grizzled yellowish
brown, surrounded by lighter pelage ranging from buff y
to white. The underparts are white, buff y yellow, or
bright rufous. The head coloration is lighter and paler
than that of the dorsal surface.
S. v. goldmani—arid tropical forests in the southeastern
coastal band in Guatemala, extending north over the
border to Finca Esperanza (Chiapas, México). The upper-
parts are iron gray, and the underparts are white. The
ears are black rimmed, rufous tufted, and have a white
patch behind the base. The tail is black on top, washed
with white.
S. v. helveolus—Panama, along the Pacifi c coast from Pan-
ama City toward the city of Santiago. This form is similar
to S. v. dorsalis and S. v. variegatoides, but the limbs and
underparts are paler.
S. v. loweryi—Valle del General and Valle de Coto Brus (Costa
Rica). The upperparts are predominately black, inter-
mixed with tawny. The lateral and underparts are tawny,
as are the postauricular patches. The dorsal surface of
the tail is black and white. The ventral surface of the tail
has hairs that are brown at the base, followed by bands
of tawny and black, and tipped with white. This subspe-
cies may be distinguished from S. v. dorsalis by S. v. low-
eryi’s smaller size and the presence of tawny (never
white) patches on the dorsum.
S. v. managuensis—humid tropical forests along the Managua
River in a small area around Quiraguá (Guatemala), by
the border with Honduras. This form is smaller than S.
v. boothiae. The dorsal surface is blackish yellow, and the
ventral surface is buff y yellow.
S. v. melania—Pacifi c coastal lowlands of the eastern portion
of Panama. This form, as indicated by the subspecies
name, possesses pelage of a uniformly polished black
color.
S. v. rigidus—central Costa Rica, extending to the coast of
the Gulf of Nicoya. The black hairs are ringed once with
a rust or ochre color. The upperparts are black, sprinkled
with rusty ochre yellow or white. The underparts are
rusty, and whitish toward the midline. The chin and the
patches at the base of the ears are also whitish. The ex-
tremities are rust colored, mixed with black.
S. v. thomasi—humid tropical forests in the central and Ca-
ribbean coastal regions of Costa Rica. All of the upper-
parts are black, with underlying dark yellow or ferrugi-Sciurus variegatoides thomasi. Photo courtesy Alex Vargas,
http://www.pbase.com/alex_vargas.Sciurus variegatoides. Photo courtesy Randall D. Babb.