The world’s gliding mammals are an extraordinary group of animals that have the ability to glide from tree to tree with seemingly effortless grace. There are more than 60 species of gliding mammals including the flying squirrels from Europe and North America, the scaly-tailed flying squirrels from central Africa and the gliding possums of Australia and New Guinea.
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae, Pteromyini
Description: The fur of its upper parts is dark brown or black with pale buff tips; its underparts are creamy white with grey under-fur. The gliding membrane is blackish above and sparsely covered with buff hairs below. Its tail is dark brownish-grey with whitish hairs at the base.
Its cheeks are greyish or white and there are often white marks behind its ears which form a partial collar. Its feet are brownish. There is a black ring around the eye, and a black line running from the eye-ring to the nose.
Distribution: Occurs in northern Burma and northern Thailand with another population on the Malay Peninsula. Also found on Sumatra and on Borneo in Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak. Inhabits primary forest and partially cut primary forest with some records near fruit and rubber plantations. Other specimens have been found in dry deciduous, tropical or monsoonal forests and wet tropical rainforests.
Reproduction: Limited information suggests that the female produces one to two young at a time.
Diet: Includes seeds and fruit.
Ecology: One record of the species on the Malay Peninsula described a nest hole, 19 millimetres in width, in a tree trunk at 50 centimetres above the ground.
Status: Vulnerable.
| HB | 92–128 mm |
| TL | 85–118 mm |
| HF | 21–25 mm |
| M | 26–58 g |
Petinomys lugens
Petinomys mindanensis
Petinomys vordermanni
Pteromys momonga
Mahogany Glider
Petaurus gracilis
Javanese Flying Squirrel
Iomys horsfieldi
Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel
Petaurista elegans
Lord Derby’s Scaly-tailed Flying Squirrel
Anomalurus derbianus