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Order : RODENTIA
Family : Sciuridae
Species : Petinomys setosus
Head-Body Length : Up to
11.6 cm
Tail Length : Up to 10.4 cm
Weight : up to ~40 grams
This small flying squirrel
inhabits dry deciduous or monsoonal hill forest in the north of its range,
and wet, primary and secondary, lowland and hill forest in the south. It has
also been recorded from rubber plantations, but it probably only occurs in
such habitat where there is a mosaic of forest and rubber, rather than large
monoculture plantations.
As with other flying squirrels, this species is nocturnal and arboreal, and
feeds on fruits and seeds. It is known to nest in treeholes close to the
ground.
Its fur is greyish to blackish brown above and white or grizzled below,
although some variation in fur colour between populations does occur. The
tail is flattened at the base (and lacks the reddish fur which occurs in
other small species of flying squirrel, such as the
Red-cheeked Flying Squirrel).
Separate populations of Temminck's Flying Squirrel occur in (i) northern
Myanmar and northern Thailand, (ii) southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia,
(iii) Sumatra and (iv) northern Borneo (Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak and
northeastern Kalimantan). Its distribution, however, is patchy even in tall
forest. The loss of good forest has caused a decline in the range of this
species.
Fig 1 : Example from lowland forest in Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo. This squirrel is
identified as Petinomys setosus, rather than the smaller Petinomys hosei /
emiliae, based on the absence of a white tip to the tail, and the shape and
size of the ears. This is the Bornean subspecies, Petinomys setosus
setosus. Photo thanks to Oliver Wearn.
Thanks to Quentin & Karen Phillipps for assistance in identification.
References :
Phillipps Q. & Phillipps K. (2016). Phillipps’ Field Guide to the
Mammals of Borneo and Their Ecology: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan.
Second Edition. John Beaufoy Publishing. 400 pp.
Thorington Jr., R. W., Koprowski, J. L., Steele, M. A., Whatton, J. F. 2012.
Squirrels of the World. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
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