Taiwan giant slip squirrel

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Taiwan giant slip squirrel
Systematics
Subordination : Squirrel relatives (Sciuromorpha)
Family : Squirrel (Sciuridae)
Subfamily : Tree squirrel and flying squirrel (Sciurinae)
Tribe : Flying Squirrel (Pteromyini)
Genre : Giant Sliding Squirrel ( Petaurista )
Type : Taiwan giant slip squirrel
Scientific name
Petaurista Lena
Thomas , 1907

The Taiwan giant sliding squirrel ( Petaurista lena , Syn .: Petaurista alborufus lena ) is a sliding squirrel from the genus of the giant sliding squirrel ( Petaurista ). It is endemic to the island of Taiwan off the Chinese coast. The species status of the Taiwan giant sliding squirrel is controversial and in numerous representations it is assigned as a subspecies to the red and white giant sliding squirrel ( Petaurista alborufus ).

features

The Taiwan giant sliding squirrel reaches a head-torso length of 34.9 to 51 centimeters and a tail length of 36 to 52.5 centimeters with a weight of 0.9 to 1.9 kilograms. The species is therefore comparatively small within the genus and was considered the smallest subspecies of the red and white giant flying squirrel. Like all giant flying squirrels, it has a large and hairy flight membrane that connects the wrists and ankles and is enlarged by a fold of skin between the hind legs and the base of the tail. The flight membrane is muscular and reinforced at the edge, it can be tensed and relaxed accordingly in order to control the direction of gliding.

The animals are noticeably two-colored. The back fur as well as large parts of the dorsal sliding skin and the head are colored light red-brown. The ventral side with the ventral part of the sliding skin as well as the face, chin and throat are white. The tail changes from the red-brown color on the back to a darker brown.

distribution

The Taiwan giant sliding squirrel is endemic to the island of Taiwan off the Chinese coast.

Way of life

Very little information is available about the specific way of life of the Taiwan giant gliding squirrel, especially since it has long been assigned to the red and white giant gliding squirrel . The habitat is in mixed forest areas made of deciduous and coniferous trees at heights of 1200 to over 3750 meters. Like all species of the genus, it is strictly arboreal and nocturnal and feeds primarily on leaves and other parts of plants. It uses the leaves, fruits and bark of various plants, including above all Pasania kawakamii , Quercus glauca , Lithocarpus nantoensis and Lithocarpus amygdalifolius , Machalis japonica , Elaeocarpus sylvestris , Trachodendron aralioides , Mucuna macrocarosana and Turpinia formana . They also use seeds of Cunninghamia konishii , flowers and leaves of Gordonia axillaris and bark of Cryptomeria japonica . Like all other flying squirrels, this species is also able to glide over long distances by jumping off a tree.

The mating season of the animals is in June and the population density is up to about 30 individuals per hectare in the deciduous forest, while in coniferous forest stands they occur much less often or not at all.

Systematics

The first scientific description of the Taiwan giant sliding squirrel comes from Oldfield Thomas from 1907, who already described the species as Petaurista lena from Tapposha in the center of the island of Taiwan, then Formosa.

The species status of the Taiwan giant flying squirrel is controversial and in some systematics it is listed as a subspecies of the red and white giant flying squirrel ( Petaurista alborufus ). In Jackson & Thorington 2012 and later in the Handbook of the Mammals of the World from 2016, however, it is treated as an independent species and classified in the genus of the giant sliding squirrel ( Petaurista ). Among other things, they relate to the results of molecular biological studies by Yu et al. 2006, according to which this species should be regarded as a separate species along with some others. This result was confirmed by further work by Li et al. 2013.

No subspecies are distinguished within the species.

Existence, endangerment and protection

The Taiwan giant sliding squirrel has not yet been listed as an independent species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The status of the species' population is largely unknown.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j J.L. Koprowski, EA Goldstein, KR Bennett, C. Pereira Mendes: Taiwan Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista albiventer. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, ISBN 978- 84-941892-3-4 , pp. 775-776.
  2. ↑ Oldfield Thomas : A New Flying Squirrel from Formosa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 (20), 1907; Pp. 522-523. ( Digitized version )
  3. ^ Petaurista alborufus In: Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012; Pp. 110-111, ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1
  4. ↑ Red and White Giant Flying Squirrel. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, 2008; P. 177, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 .
  5. ↑ Stephen M. Jackson, Richard W. Thorington Jr .: Gliding Mammals: Taxonomy of Living and Extant Species. Smithonian Contributions to Zoology 638, Smithonian Institution Press, Washington DC 2012; P. 57.
  6. ↑ Farong Yu, Fahong Yu, Junfeng Pang, C. William Kilpatrick, Peter M. McGuire, Yingxiang Wang, Shunqing Lu, Charles A. Woods: Phylogeny and biogeography of the Petaurista philippensis complex (Rodentia: Sciuridae), inter- and intraspeciWc relationships inferred from molecular and morphometric analysis. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38 (3), March 2006; Pp. 755-766. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2005.12.002
  7. ↑ Song Li, Kai He, Fa-Hong Yu, Qi-Sen Yang: Molecular Phylogeny and Biogeography of Petaurista Inferred from the Cytochrome b Gene, with Implications for the Taxonomic Status of P. caniceps, P. marica and P. sybilla. PLOS ONE , July 16, 2013 doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0070461

literature

  • JL Koprowski, EA Goldstein, KR Bennett, C. Pereira Mendes: Taiwan Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista albiventer. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, ISBN 978- 84-941892-3-4 , pp. 775-776.