marmot (marmot)

[Formerly marmot to ( met, variously altered from ML. mus montan us, a marmot, lit. 'mountain mouse': see mouse and mountain.] 1. A rodent quadruped of the ge nus Arctomys; a bear-mouse, ground-hog, or woodchuck. There are several species, of Europe, Asia, and North America; they are the largest living represen tatives of the Sciuridae, fout thick set form, with short bushy tail. They are terrestrial and fo orial, living in underground burrows, generally in open ground and often in communities, and hibernate in winter. The species to which the name was originally given is Arc tomys marmotta or A. alpinus. inhabiting the Alps and Pyrenees. A. bobac is the Asiatic marmot, occurring also in of the related genera Cynomys and Spermophilus, which include the prairie-dogs and marmot-squirrels, are sometimes called marmots. See cut under Arctomys. 2. The Cape cony, Hyrax capensis: a misnomer. Kolbe, Vosmaer, Buffon, etc. - Earle marmot, the suslik, Spermophilus citillus.