The variegated squirrel is a long-tailed tree squirrel whose coat color and pattern vary greatly among subspecies. It lives in forests and open woodland in Central America.
Its fur is shiny, and its tail is long and bushy. Among subspecies, the back ranges from blackish through reddish brown and yellowish gray to white; some have stripes or forehead patches.
It is mostly active in the morning and lives alone in trees. It builds nests high where a branch meets the trunk and moves by running and leaping among trees.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.