Red giant flying squirrel

Red giant flying squirrel
P. p. candidula in Namdapha National Park, northeast India
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Petaurista
Species:
P. petaurista
Binomial name
Petaurista petaurista
(Pallas, 1766)
Range in red as reported by the IUCN, but see text

The red giant flying squirrel or common giant flying squirrel (Petaurista petaurista) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae (squirrels). It is found in a wide variety of forest–types, plantations and more open habitats with scattered trees in Southeast Asia, ranging north to the Himalayas and southern and central China.[2][3] One of the largest arboreal squirrels, all populations have at least some reddish-brown above and pale underparts, but otherwise there are significant geographic variations in the colours. The taxonomic position of those in the Sundaic region is generally agreed upon, but there is considerable uncertainty about the others, which variously have been included in this or other species, or recognized as their own species.[2][4]

Like other flying squirrels, the red giant flying squirrel is mostly nocturnal and able to glide (not actually fly like a bat) long distances between trees by spreading out its patagium, skin between its limbs.[3][5] It is a herbivore and the female has one, infrequently two, young per litter.[5] Although declining locally due to habitat loss and to a lesser degree hunting, it remains overall common and it is not a threatened species.[2]

  1. ^ Duckworth, J.W. (2016). "Petaurista petaurista". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Duckworth, J.W. (2016). "Petaurista petaurista". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b Jackson, S.M. (2012). Gliding Mammals of the World. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 112–135. ISBN 9780643092600.
  4. ^ Jackson, S.M.; R.W. Thorington Jr. (2012). "Gliding Mammals – Taxonomy of Living and Extinct Species". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 638 (638): 1–117. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.638.1.
  5. ^ a b Thorington Jr., R.W.; J.L. Koprowski; M.A. Steele; J.F. Whatton (2012). Squirrels of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 116–122. ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1.