Pen-tailed treeshrew
(Redirected from
Pentailed treeshrew
)
| Pen-tailed treeshrew | |
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| Illustration in 1848 species description | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Scandentia |
| Family: | Ptilocercidae |
| Genus: | Ptilocercus |
| Species: | P. lowii[1]
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| Binomial name | |
| Ptilocercus lowii[1] J. E. Gray, 1848
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| Pen-tailed treeshrew range | |
The pen-tailed treeshrew (Ptilocercus lowii) is a
Ptilocercidae native to southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and some Indonesian islands.[2]
It is the only living species in the genus Ptilocercus. All other treeshrew species are grouped in the family Tupaiidae.[1]
Distribution and habitat
The pen-tailed treeshrew occurs from southern Thailand and the Malay Peninsula to northern Sumatra,
primary forest up to an elevation of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), where undergrowth is dense.[2]
Behaviour and ecology
Pen-tailed treeshrews studied in Malaysia spent several hours per night consuming naturally
evolutionary adaptation. How pen-tailed treeshrews benefit from this alcohol ingestion or what consequences of consistent high blood alcohol content might factor into their physiology is unclear.[3]
Taxonomy and evolutionary history
The Ptilocercidae are a family within the order
Scandentia. Numerous morphological and genetic differences support the classification of the Ptilocercidae as a separate family from the rest of the treeshrews which diverged around 60 million years ago.[4][5] Treeshrews are considered very close relatives of primates, with the colugos being closer to primates.[4]