Hylopetes+spadicus

(Hylopetes spadiceus, Blyth 1847)
 * Red-cheeked Flying Squirrel **


 * [[image:1.png width="217" height="326"]] || [[image:2.png width="543" height="319"]] ||
 * ** Photo ** : Robert Teo, permission pending. || ** Drawing ** : [] ||
 * Introduction **

The red-cheeked flying squirrel is a gliding mammal that is found in Singapore and most of Southeast Asia1. First discovered and named in an expedition by Edward Blyth in 1847, the red-cheeked flying squirrel has remained fairly unstudied, with little known about its specific reproduction, diet and ecology2. It is nocturnal and lives in primary forest, nesting in small holes in the trunks of tall trees, coming out and gliding from foraging patch to foraging patch at night3. Despite being known to man since Blyth’s discovery, the red-cheeked flying squirrel was first discovered in Singapore in October 1996 and is critically endangered within Singapore3. ** Photo ** : Scanned copy of //The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal//, 1847 While the red-cheeked flying squirrel is not actually able to fly (despite its name), it is able to glide from tree to tree using the //patagium//, a furry parachute-like membrane that resembles wingsuits used by BASE jumpers (though in actual fact, wingsuits were designed after the them and are sometimes known as “flying squirrel suits”).


 * Taxonomic Information **

** Image ** : Artist’s impression of //Hylopetes spadiceus//2.

// Taxonomy // The red-cheeked flying squirrel belongs to the kingdom Animalia and the phylum Chordata, which means it has a bilateral body plan with a notochord, dorsal neural tube and pharyngeal slits, among other features. It belongs to the class Mammalia, hence it possesses hair, three middle ear bones, mammary glands and a neocortex. It is classified as a rodent, in the order Rodentia, with a single pair of continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws and in the family Sciuridae, for squirrels. The genus //Hylopetes// is for Southeast Asian flying squirrels (flying squirrels belong to the overall tribe of Pteromyini) and the specific species epithet is //spadiceus//.


 * Kingdom || Phylum || Class || Order || Family || Genus || Species ||
 * Animalia || Chordata || Mammalia || Rodentia || Sciuridae || // Hylopetes // || // Spadiceus // ||

// Names // The red-cheeked flying squirrel was first classified as //Sciuropterus spadiceus// by Blyth4, and later modified to //Hylopetes// //spadiceus// in 1908 when //Sciuropterus// was split into //Hylopetes//, //Petinomys// and //Glaucomys// by Thomas Oldfield5. It is also referred to as the //amoenus// (Miller, 1906); //aurantiacus// (Wagner, 1841); //belone// (Thomas, 1908); //everetti// (Thomas, 1895); //harrisoni// (Stone, 1900); //sumatrae// (Sody, 1949) and //caroli// (Gyldenstolpe, 1920). Currently, //everetti// and //sumatrae// are recognized as subspecies. // Type Locality // “Arracan”, from Arakan, Burma6. // Subspecies // It has 3 subspecies: //H. s. spadiceus//, //H. s. everetti// and //H. s. sumatrae//.

// Description // // Hylopetes spadiceus // is a medium-sized squirrel with blackish or grey-brown upper parts, with rust-coloured, buff or yellow tips, especially in the midline. The underparts of its body are white on grey under-fur, with a faint orange tinge. Its gliding membrane has a thin white margin. Its tail is dark, slightly orange-brown with buff under-fur, with a distinctly orange or chestnut colouring at the base. Its cheeks are orange-brown or grey2. // Size // Based on 3 specimens7: l Female: 146.44mm (HB: head and body), 129.1mm (T: tail), 78.0g (M: mass) l Male: 142.00mm (HB), 118.1mm (T), 70.9g (M) l Undetermined: 147.9mm (HB), 125.8mm (T), 75.9g (M)

In general, they are believed to grow up to 180mm (HB), 160mm (T) and weigh up to 157g8.


 * Biological Information **

// Distribution //

// Hylopetes spadiceus // is found in Southeast Asia, from southeastern Burma, as well as western and southern Thailand, through the Malay Peninsula to Singapore, as well as on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is also found in southeastern Vietnam, with a subspecies on the northeastern areas of Borneo in Indonesia in tall and secondary forests2.

** Map ** : http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=10607 // Ecology // // Hylopetes spadiceus // is known to nest in tree holes about 32 millimetres wide and 0.3-3.3 metres above the ground2. In particular, their nesting holes are generally located nearer the base of medium-sized trees, preferring to either excavate their own holes or use abandoned holes made by other species rather than use natural tree holes. They have also been reported to nest within coconuts8. During the day, the nesting hole entrance is plugged with dry grass or some vegetation to block sunlight, and this is subsequently removed at dusk when the nocturnal squirrels move out of their holes and ascend to the canopy to begin foraging8. Since they are gliding mammals, it is crucial that they begin their foraging from a tall height to allow sufficient descent time in gliding from tree to tree. Each nesting hole can be shared, as shown in the photographs below that show 3 squirrels coming out from the same nesting hole at dusk. || || || ** Photos: ** Taken from [], permission pending. The top row and bottom left photos show 3 squirrels from the same tree hole emerging, while the bottom right shows the covering of the hole with dry vegetation in the day.
 * [[image:6.png width="446" height="347"]] || [[image:7.png width="446" height="347"]]
 * [[image:taxo4254/8.png width="271" height="420"]]

// Reproduction // Little is known2.

// Diet // Little is known2.


 * Anthropic Association **

// Economic Importance to Humans // This species currently does not have any particular economic importance to humans.

// Conservation Status // In general, the red-cheeked flying squirrel is fairly extensively found and classified as a “Least Concern” species by the IUCN1, though threats do exist to its habitat and this may change if the deforestation situation continues in mainland South-East Asia where the red-cheeked flying squirrel is endemic. Within Singapore however, the red-cheeked flying squirrel is classified as “Critically Endangered”, due to forest degradation at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which appears to be its primary habitat in Singapore.


 * References **

1 Duckworth, J.W. & Hedges, S. 2008. //Hylopetes spadiceus//. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <[|www.iucnredlist.org]>. Downloaded on **10 November 2014**. 2 Stephen Jackson, 2012. //Gliding Mammals of the World//, 232 pages. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood VIC, Australia 3 Davison, G., Ng, P. and Ho, H. C. 2008. // Hylopetes spadiceus //. Singapore Red Data Book. <[]>. Downloaded on **11 November 2014**. 4 Blyth, E. 1847. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for July, 1847. //The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal//, Vol. 16(2), 851-881. 5 Oldfield, T. 1908. The Genera and Subgenera of the //Sciuropterus// Group, with Descriptions of Three New Species. //The Annals and Magazine of Natural History//, 8th series, No. 1, 1-8. 6 Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder, 2005. //Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference//. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, USA. 7 Richard W. Thorington Jr, John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele and James F. Whatton, 2012. //Squirrels of the World//. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, USA. 8 Ecology Asia. <[]>. Retrieved **12 November 2014**.