Order : RODENTIA
Family : Sciuridae
Species : Callosciurus concolor

Head-Body Length : 22 cm
Tail Length : to 24.5 cm ?
Weight : 280 grams

Callosciurus concolor (Southern Grey-bellied Squirrel) occurs in primary forest, secondary forest and disturbed habitats up to at least 1100 metres elevation. Its diet comprises fruits, leaves, bark, flowers and some insects.

Hinckley et al (2024) give an extremely detailed description of the fur colour of this species in different locales. The examples shown here, from four locations in Peninsular Malaysia (Fraser's Hill, Langkawi Island, Perak and Terengganu) show a fairly consistent fur colour in these areas i.e. mainly brownish fur, except for the belly, limbs and posterior part of the tail which are greyish. The tail sometimes has a black tip.

Callosciurus concolor occurs in southern Thailand (from Trang and Surat Thani southwards) and Peninsular Malaysia from the northern border down to Pahang and Melaka in the south (Hinckley et al, 2024).

Callosciurus concolor was formerly treated as a subspecies of Callosciurus caniceps (Northern Grey-bellied Squirrel).

Figs 1 and 2 : Typical examples from lower montane forest at Fraser's Hill, Peninsular Malaysia.

Fig 3 : Example from lowland forest on Langkawi Island, northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Fig 4 : Example from Ulu Kinta, Perak, Peninsular Malaysia.

Fig 5 : Example from Tanjong Jara, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia.


References :

Francis, C.M. 2019. A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-east Asia. Second Edition. Bloomsbury Publishing. 416 pp.

Hinckley A, Maldonado JE, Tamura N, Leonard JA, Hawkins MTR (2024) Lost in synonymy: Integrative species delimitation reveals two unrecognized species of Southern Asian tree squirrels (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Callosciurinae). Vertebrate Zoology 74 683–707.