New World flying squirrel

New World flying squirrels Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene - Recent
southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Tribe:	Pteromyini
Genus:	Glaucomys Thomas, 1908
Type species
Mus volans
Species
Glaucomys volans Glaucomys sabrinus Glaucomys oregonensis

The three

Species

• Genus Glaucomys
  • Glaucomys oregonensis – Humboldt's flying squirrel
  • Glaucomys sabrinus – northern flying squirrel
  • Glaucomys volans – southern flying squirrel

Gliding

Flying squirrels do not actually fly, but rather glide using a membrane called a

Under ultraviolet light, females and males of all 3 species of Glaucomys fluoresce in varying intensities of pink on both dorsal and ventral surfaces.[4] The fluorescence is hypothesized to help the flying squirrels find each other in low light and mimic the plumage of owls to evade predation.^[5] This hypothesis has been challenged by Toussaint et al. (2022) ^[6] who instead suggest that the pink luminescence is a byproduct of the body's waste management. Moreover, these authors argue that it is far from evident that UV illuminating sources that occur naturally are sufficient to elicit luminescence distinguishable from ambient visible light. An ecological role for the pink luminescence is therefore not likely.

References