Eupetaurus
Eupetaurus cinereus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Tribe: Pteromyini
Genus: Eupetaurus
Thomas, 1888
Type species
Eupetaurus cinereus
Species

Eupetaurus is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae.[1] Members of this genus are known as woolly flying squirrels. They are large to very large flying squirrels found in the highest rocky cliffs near the treeline of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. Due to the inaccessibility of their montane habitat, they are difficult to study.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Flying squirrels in the central and eastern Himalayas have been separated from those in the western Himalayas by the Ganges and Yarlung Tsangpo rivers, and are thought to have diverged in the Neogene, between 4.5 to 10.2 million years ago.

Species

For more than a century since its description by Oldfield Thomas, the only species in the genus was thought to be the western woolly flying squirrel (E. cinereus), which is found in northern Pakistan and northwestern India. However, an analysis of museum specimens found evidence of two more species in the eastern Himalayas, the Tibetan woolly flying squirrel (E. tibetensis) and the Yunnan woolly flying squirrel (E. nivamons).[2][4][5]

There are currently three known species in the genus:[1][2]

Description

The cheek teeth are unique as they are both flat-crowned and high crowned (hypsodont), setting Eupetaurus apart from other squirrels and suggesting that they feed on very abrasive plant material, including pine needles.[2][6][7] The western woolly flying squirrel has a grizzled-grey pelage with pronounced frosting, in contrast to the more saturated brown coloration of the two other species, and has more robust cusps and cheek teeth.[2]

Relationships

The woolly flying squirrels are unique among the flying squirrels because of their large size and unique dentition. This led a few early researchers to go so far as to create a distinct family. Some of their arguments were based on poorly drawn and labeled diagrams of the cranium and lower jaw of E. cinereus. Zahler and Woods (1997) suggest instead that Eupetaurus is closely related to another genus of large flying squirrels, Petaurista.[7] A 2021 study suggested that Eupetaurus is the sister genus to a clade consisting of Aeromys and Biswamayopterus.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jackson, Stephen M; Li, Quan; Wan, Tao; Li, Xue-You; Yu, Fa-Hong; Gao, Ge; He, Li-Kun; Helgen, Kristofer M; Jiang, Xue-Long (2021-05-31). "Across the great divide: revision of the genus Eupetaurus (Sciuridae: Pteromyini), the woolly flying squirrels of the Himalayan region, with the description of two new species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab018. ISSN 0024-4082.
  3. ↑ "Two new species of cat-size flying squirrel discovered in the Himalaya". Animals. 2021-06-07. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  4. ↑ "Two New Species of Woolly Flying Squirrels Discovered | Biology | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  5. ↑ "2 new species of Himalayan gigantic woolly flying squirrels discovered". Hindustan Times. 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  6. ↑ Zahler and Khan, 2003
  7. 1 2 Datta, R.; R. Nandini (2013). "Sciurids". In A.J.T. Johnsingh; N. Manjrekar (eds.). Mammals of South Asia. Vol. 2. Universities Press, India. pp. 513–573. ISBN 9788173715891.
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