Tibetan Woolly Flying Squirrel

description

Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org: act: 19 DA 79 D 4 - 7 E 20 - 4 EB 6 - A 1 C 7 - 2 C 22 C 6 F 21 D 58 Holotype: NML 19524, adult, skin and skull, collected in ‘ Tibet’. Sequences of Cytb for this specimen are deposited in GenBank (no. AY 331673). This specimen was first discussed by Anderson (1879), who left it taxonomically unidentified. When describing E. cinereus as a new genus and species, Thomas (1888) speculated that Anderson’s Tibetan specimen was also a Eupetaurus, a point later confirmed by Jentink (1890), who figured the skull of this specimen. Little is known about the collection details for this specimen other than that it is ‘ said to be from Tibet’ (Jentink, 1890: 143). Corbet & Hill (1992: 314) noted that the association of the skull and skin for this specimen suggest that ‘ it is not a trade skin’ (i. e. it is probably a wild-collected animal). To us, this specimen, when considered alongside the paratype skin obtained in a market in the Tibetan town of Gyantse (also spelt Gyangze, 江 ở) in 1909, establishes the historical occurrence of this species in the south-central portion of the Tibetan Plateau (see below). Paratype: BMN

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