Coastal Iris vs Indian Palm Squirrel

Iris atropurpurea compared with Funambulus palmarum

Key Differences

• Coastal Iris is Critically Endangered while Indian Palm Squirrel is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coastal Iris	Indian Palm Squirrel
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Mantodea (Mantodea)	Rodentia (Rodents)
Family	Eremiaphilidae	Sciuridae (Squirrels)
Genus	Iris	Funambulus
Species	Iris atropurpurea	Funambulus palmarum

Evolutionary Relationship

Coastal Iris and Indian Palm Squirrel share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Coastal Iris

CR — Critically Endangered

Indian Palm Squirrel

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coastal Iris	Indian Palm Squirrel
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Coastal Iris

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Indian Palm Squirrel

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Coastal Iris

Iris atropurpurea, the coastal iris or Sharon iris, is a bulbous geophyte in the family Iridaceae critically endangered and endemic to the coastal plain of central Israel, one of the most range-restricted irises in the world. The species is confined to a narrow strip of the Sharon plain sandy coastal habitat, a Mediterranean coastal sandstone and sandy soil ecosystem that has been almost entirely eliminated by the sprawling Tel Aviv metropolitan area and its associated agricultural conversion. Iris atropurpurea produces striking deep purple to blackish-purple flowers with intricate veining and yellow signals in late winter and early spring, blooming briefly before entering summer dormancy as a bulb in the dry Mediterranean season. Fewer than twenty natural populations of this species are thought to survive, all within a highly fragmented and disturbed coastal landscape under permanent threat from urban expansion, recreational pressure, invasive alien plants, and changes in grazing regimes that alter the open sandy habitat structure the iris requires. It is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Conservation efforts include habitat protection in a few coastal reserves, translocation programs, and cultivation in Israeli botanical gardens to secure genetic material against the extinction of remaining wild populations.