Tamias

{{Short description|Genus of rodents}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Chipmunk with stuffed cheeks in Prospect Park (05980).jpg

| image_caption = Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus)

| taxon = Tamias

| authority = Illiger, 1811

| type_species = Sciurus striatus

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = Tamias striatus

}}

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).Musser et al., 2010, p. 22 The genus name Tamias ({{langx|el|ταμίας}}) means "treasurer", "steward", or "housekeeper",{{cite book |author=Henry George Liddell |author2=Robert Scott. |title=A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie |year=1940 |publisher= Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}} which is a reference to the animals' role in plant dispersal through their habit of collecting and storing food for winter use.{{Cite journal|jstor=3503819 |title=Tamias striatus |author=Snyder, D.P. |journal=Mammalian Species |year=1982 |issue=168 |pages=1–8|doi=10.2307/3503819 }}

File:Tamias - tokyo area - 2012 12 19.ogv area]]

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,{{cite web |url=http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/ |title=Mammal Species of the World |accessdate=2007-06-27 |author=Wilson, D. E. |author2=D. M. Reeder |year=2005 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623030727/http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/ |archivedate=2007-06-23}}{{cite journal|last1=Piaggio|first1=A. J.|last2=Spicer|first2=G. S.|year=2001|title=Molecular phylogeny of the chipmunks inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase II gene sequences|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=20|issue=3|pages=335–350|url=http://online.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio01.pdf|doi=10.1006/mpev.2001.0975|pmid=11527462|bibcode=2001MolPE..20..335P |access-date=2018-11-02|archive-date=2012-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823153636/http://online.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio01.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution|volume=7|issue=3|year=2000|title=Molecular Phylogeny of the Chipmunk Genus Tamias Based on the Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit II Gene|first1=Antoinette J.|last1=Piaggio|first2=Greg S.|last2=Spicer|url=http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio00.pdf|doi=10.1023/a:1009484302799|pages=147–166|s2cid=7623018|access-date=2018-11-02|archive-date=2011-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913140312/http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio00.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal|last1=Musser|first1= G. G.|last2=Durden|first2= L. A.|last3= Holden|first3= M. E.|last4= Light|first4= J. E.|year=2010|title=Systematic review of endemic Sulawesi squirrels (Rodentia, Sciuridae), with descriptions of new species of associated sucking lice (Insecta, Anoplura), and phylogenetic and zoogeographic assessments of sciurid lice|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History|volume= 339|issue= 339|pages= 1–260|doi= 10.1206/695.1|hdl= 2246/6067|s2cid= 82712592}} 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:

• {{extinct}}Tamias allobrogensis; Mein and Ginsburg, 2002 – Miocene of FranceMein and Ginsburg, 2002
• {{extinct}}Tamias anatoliensis; Bosma et al., 2013 – Miocene of Turkey{{Cite journal |last1=Bosma |first1=Anneke A. |last2=De Bruijn |first2=Hans |last3=Wessels |first3=Wilma |date=25 June 2013 |title=Late Miocene Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Anatolia, Turkey |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2013.755990 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=924–942 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2013.755990 |issn=0272-4634 |access-date=19 April 2025 |via=Taylor and Francis Online}}
• {{extinct}}Tamias atsali; De Bruijn, 1995 – Pliocene of GreeceDe Bruijn, 1995
• {{extinct}}Tamias eviensis; De Bruijn et al., 1980 – Miocene of GreeceDoukas, 2003, table 2
• {{extinct}}Tamias urialis; Munthe, 1980, described from the Miocene of Pakistan, may be more closely related to Tamiops.Qiu et al., 2008, p. 115

One American fossil species, {{extinct}}Tamias aristus from the late Pleistocene, has been identified.{{cite journal|last1=Ray|first1=Clayton E|title=A New Chipmunk, Tamias aristus, from the Pleistocene of Georgia|journal=Journal of Paleontology|date=September 1965|volume=39|issue=5|pages=1016–1022|jstor=3555320}}