ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Duck! It's a new flying squirrel.
There are 52 species of flying squirrels in the world.
The little nocturnal omnivores inhabit most of Earth's forests, including those along eastern North America. But even under the best of circumstances catching a glimpse of the creatures, which use specialized flaps of skin to glide from tree to tree, is difficult. In fact, the animals are so hard to observe, scientists are still finding new ones. The most recent, Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis, or the Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel, was recently found in the forests of Yunnan Province in Southwest China and described in the journal ZooKeys.
According to a press release, flying squirrels in the genus Biswamoyopterus are the rarest and most mysterious. The first species in the group, the Namdapha flying squirrel, was described in 1981 and is known from only a single specimen collected in India's Namdapha National Park. It has not been seen since. The Laotian flying squirrel was found only in 2013, also from a single creature—one being sold as part of the bushmeat trade. Both animals are pretty large for squirrels, weighing in between 3 and 4 pounds.
So Quan Li of the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was surprised last year when he came across a Biswamoyopterus squirrel in the Academy’s collection. At first, he believed it was a rare second specimen of the Namdapha squirrel. But closer examination revealed it was quite different. Not only was its coloration dissimilar, but its teeth and other details of its anatomy were distinguishable from the other two species.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-flying-squirrel-discovered-china-180972693/
There are 52 species of flying squirrels in the world.
The little nocturnal omnivores inhabit most of Earth's forests, including those along eastern North America. But even under the best of circumstances catching a glimpse of the creatures, which use specialized flaps of skin to glide from tree to tree, is difficult. In fact, the animals are so hard to observe, scientists are still finding new ones. The most recent, Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis, or the Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel, was recently found in the forests of Yunnan Province in Southwest China and described in the journal ZooKeys.
According to a press release, flying squirrels in the genus Biswamoyopterus are the rarest and most mysterious. The first species in the group, the Namdapha flying squirrel, was described in 1981 and is known from only a single specimen collected in India's Namdapha National Park. It has not been seen since. The Laotian flying squirrel was found only in 2013, also from a single creature—one being sold as part of the bushmeat trade. Both animals are pretty large for squirrels, weighing in between 3 and 4 pounds.
So Quan Li of the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was surprised last year when he came across a Biswamoyopterus squirrel in the Academy’s collection. At first, he believed it was a rare second specimen of the Namdapha squirrel. But closer examination revealed it was quite different. Not only was its coloration dissimilar, but its teeth and other details of its anatomy were distinguishable from the other two species.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-flying-squirrel-discovered-china-180972693/