WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Sciurus niger | Fox Squirrel 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Eastern fox squirrels occur along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains
from the Delmarva Peninsula in Maryland south to central Florida and
west to the Mississippi River floodplain [23].  Delmarva fox squirrels
occur in only four Eastern Shore counties in Maryland and one location
in Accomac County, Virginia.  This subspecies was formerly found in
southeastern Pennsylvania, Deleware, New Jersey, and probably the
Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula [2].  S. n. ssp. avicennia
occurs in southern Florida; S. n. ssp. subauratus occurs on the
Mississippi River floodplain [23].

The range of western fox squirrels extends from the valleys of
south-central Pennsylvania south through the Appalachian Mountains and
the uplands of the Gulf States and west to the prairies and more
recently to the front range of the Rocky Mountains [23].  Western fox
squirrels have also extended their range into northern Michigan and
westward to North Dakota, eastern Colorado, and Texas.  In northern
Mexico, fox squirrels occur in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and
Tamaulipas [16].

Fox squirrels have been introduced into many portions of the West.
Introduced populations exist in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
and Montana [1,5,12,16].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak-pine
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES41 Wet grasslands


STATES : 


    
AL
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA
    
ID
    
IL


    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
MD
    
MI
    
MN
    
MS
    
MO


    
MT
    
NE
    
NJ
    
NM
    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA


    
SC
	
SD
    
TN
    
TX
    
VA
    
WA
    
WI






    
ON






    
MEXICO
    




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K025  Alder - ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K030  California oakwoods
   K080  Marl - everglades
   K090  Live oak - sea oats
   K091  Cypress savanna
   K092  Everglades
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K101  Elm - ash forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K105  Mangrove
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest
   K113  Southern floodplain forest
   K115  Sand pine scrub
   K116  Subtropical pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    14  Northern pin oak
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    28  Black cherry - maple
    39  Black ash - American elm - red maple
    40  Post oak - blackjack oak
    42  Bur oak
    43  Bear oak
    44  Chestnut oak
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    59  Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    61  River birch - sycamore
    62  Silver maple - American elm
    65  Pin oak - sweetgum
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    70  Longleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
    87  Sweet gum - yellow-poplar
    88  Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
    89  Live oak
    91  Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
    92  Sweetgum - willow oak
    93  Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
    94  Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
    95  Black willow
    96  Overcup oak - water hickory
   100  Pondcypress
   101  Baldcypress
   105  Tropical hardwoods
   108  Red maple
   109  Hawthorn
   110  Black oak
   203  Balsam poplar
   217  Aspen
   221  Red alder
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   233  Oregon white oak
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   236  Bur oak
   241  Western live oak
   246  California black oak
   249  Canyon live oak
   250  Blue oak - Digger pine
   252  Paper birch
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Fox squirrels inhabit a variety of open hardwood, hardwood-pine, and
swamp communities depending on geographic location.  The Delmarva fox
squirrel in Maryland prefers mature stands of hardwoods such as oaks
(Quercus spp.), hickories (Carya spp.), walnuts (Juglans spp.), and
beech (Fagus spp.) that are interspersed with mature loblolly pine
(Pinus taeda).  Delmarva fox squirrels are also found in deciduous
swamps close to pine woodlands [2,5,9].  In southern Florida, fox
squirrels occupy pine hammocks and range into mangrove (Rhizophora spp.)
and cypress (Cupressus spp.) stands.  In coastal regions of northern
Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, fox squirrels are most often found
in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)/turkey oak (Quercus laevis) habitats
[5].  In Alabama, fox squirrels occur along watercourses, on the shores
of bayous and in deep bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) swamps, and in
upland dry pine stands [5].

In eastern Texas, fox squirrels inhabit oak-hickory ridges.  Farther
west, they occupy both timbered river bottoms and oak ridges. In the
central portions of Oklahoma and Iowa, fox squirrels are most abundant
in the transition belt between prairie and oak woodland.  Here fox
squirrels also occupy upland hardwood forests, dense timber along
streams and rivers, and open pecan (Carya pecan) orchards [5].  Primary
fox squirrel habitat in Wisconsin is oak-hickory woodlots with oak,
swamp hardwoods, and mixed upland hardwoods [5].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Sciurus niger | Fox Squirrel