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New World flying squirrel

About: New World flying squirrel is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36 citations. The topic is also known as: Glaucomys.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that a third, previously unrecognized species of North American flying squirrel, whose geographic range extends along the Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia to southern California, should be given the common name “Humboldt's flying squirrel.”
Abstract: The genus Glaucomys (New World flying squirrels) is currently considered to be comprised of 2 species, the northern flying squirrel (G. sabrinus) and the southern flying squirrel (G. volans). We synthesize new information from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences and microsatellite data to demonstrate that the genus consists of 3, rather than 2 species, and that Glaucomys sabrinus, as currently recognized, is actually composed of 2 separate, apparently non-hybridizing species. Control region mtDNA data from 185 individuals across North America revealed 2 distinct clades embedded within G. sabrinus: a widespread “Continental” lineage and a more geographically restricted “Pacific Coastal” lineage. The geographic distributions of these 2 lineages are largely mutually exclusive, with sympatry observed at only 3 sites in the Pacific Northwest. Analysis of 8 microsatellite loci showed no evidence of hybridization between the 2 lineages of G. sabrinus in the region of sympatry. This lack of gene flow is noteworthy given that populations of the Continental lineage of G. sabrinus have been shown to hybridize with G. volans in southeastern Canada. Finally, phylogenetic analyses and estimates of divergence times show that G. volans and Continental G. sabrinus are actually sister taxa that diverged from one another more recently than either did from Pacific Coastal G. sabrinus. We propose that these observations provide strong evidence for a third, previously unrecognized species of North American flying squirrel, whose geographic range extends along the Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia to southern California. Glaucomys oregonensis (Bachman, 1839), whose type locality is in Oregon, is the senior available name for this taxon. We propose that this newly recognized species be given the common name “Humboldt's flying squirrel.”

33 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The phylogenetic relationships of flying squirrels (Pteromyinae) were studied by obtaining complete sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of eight Old and two New World flying squirrel species.
Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships of flying squirrels (Pteromyinae) were studied by obtaining complete sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of eight Old World and two New World flying squirrel species, with special reference to the systematic and phylogenetic status among Hylopetes fimbriatus (Gray, 1837) (≡ Eoglaucomys fimbriatus (Gray, 1837)) from Pakistan, two Glaucomys Thomas, 1908 species from North America, and two Hylopetes Thomas, 1908 species from Southeast Asia Phylogenetic trees supported clustering of (i) Belomys pearsonii (Gray, 1842), (ii) H fimbriatus, the Glaucomys species, Hylopetes lepidus (Horsfield, 1823), and Hylopetes phayrei (Blyth, 1859), (iii) species of Pteromys G Cuvier, 1800, and (iv) species of Petaurista Link, 1795 Early polytomic divergence among the flying squirrel genera could have taken place in the northern part of the Eurasian continent The unclear divergence between the Old and New World flying squirrels shows that divergence among flying squirrel g

13 citations

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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20171
20041