Travancore flying squirrel

Travancore flying squirrel
Conservation status

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Petinomys
Species: P. fuscocapillus
Binomial name
Petinomys fuscocapillus
(Jerdon, 1847)
Synonyms

Petinomys fuscocapillus (Kelaart, 1850)
Sciuropetrus layardi Kelaart, 1850
Sciuropterus fuscocapillus Jerdon, 1847

Travancore flying squirrel (Petinomys fuscocapillus), also known as the small flying squirrel, is a flying squirrel found in South India and Sri Lanka. Travancore flying squirrels were thought to be extinct but were rediscovered in 1989 after a gap of 100 years in Kerala. It was rediscovered in Sri Lanka after 78 years. The animals were reported only in wet and intermediate zones of the island, and had a few sightings in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve. Before these discoveries, distribution of the species was only known through a few possible occurrences and museum specimens which were collected nearly one hundred years before.

Description

Head and body length is 32cm. Tail is 25-29cm. Dorsally reddish brown. Underparts grayish with a ruddy tinge. Tail is feather-shaped and reddish brown with a blackish undersurface. Membrane behind hind limb is small. Vibrissae is black. Dorsal fur is very soft, long and sheen.

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies, as;

Rediscovery

Distribution of the species is only known through a few possible occurrences and museum specimens which were collected nearly hundred years ago. The species was considered to be extinct in India until 1989, when it was rediscovered in a coconut grove in Kerala state, India. In Sri Lanka it was reported by Phillips in 1935 from the wet and intermediate zones of the island, and subsequently the occurrence of this species was confirmed by some camera traps in Sinharaja tropical rain forest. The group of researchers found this mammal from Sri Lanka after 78 years from Knuckles mountain range.

Ecology

Rare, nocturnal mammal with frugivorous diet, they are known to eat bark, shoots, and leaves, and even insects also..[2]

References

  1. ↑ Rajamani, N., Molur, S. & Nameer, P. O. (2008). Petinomys fuscocapillus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  2. ↑ Yapa, A.; Ratnavira, G. (2013). Mammals of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka. p. 1012. ISBN 978-955-8576-32-8.