Namdapha Flying Squirrels Are Like Laotian Giant Flying Squirrels

Summary: Wild discoveries of Namdapha flying squirrels in India in 1981 anticipated wild discoveries of related Laotian giant flying squirrels in Laos in 2013.

Zoological Survey of India-Calcutta zoologist Subhendu Sekhar Saha named Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) from a single specimen discovered in 1981; photo by Brij Kishor Gupta/Central Zoo Authority (CZA): Defense Against Animal Cruelty @DefenceAgainstAnimalCruelty, via Facebook Dec. 22, 2011

Wild discoveries of Namdapha flying squirrels in India in 1981 antecede by 11 years and 776.71 miles (1,250 kilometers) wild discoveries of Laotian giant flying squirrels in central Laos Sep. 22, 2012.

An article by Subhendu Sekhar Saha in the Bulletin of the Zoological Survey of India bore the announcement of wild discoveries during a three-month zoological expedition. The article A New Genus and a New Species of Flying Squirrel (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) From Northeastern India concerns a male specimen captured in Arunachal Pradesh. Dr. Shyamrup Biswas detected a male flying squirrel at 8:15 p.m. locally (3:15 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time) 16.16 miles (26 kilometers) east of Miao, Tirap District.

Faunistic survey team members extracted the male specimen of Namdapha flying squirrels from one of the Indian rose chestnut (Mesua ferrea) forest trees April 27, 1981.

The 32-year-old Zoological Survey of India specimen ZSI 20705 features the extracted skull and, for 15.95-inch (405-millimeter) head-body and 23.82-inch (605-millimeter) tail lengths, the preserved skin.

Namdapha flying squirrels within the 30-year-old, 766.41-square-mile (1,985-square-kilometer) Namdapha Tiger Reserve and National Park get pale violet-gray crowns and vinaceous (from Latin vīnāceus, "grape-like") red-brown muzzles. They have red-tipped silver-white-haired foreheads; gray-white cheeks; Mehgony red-ringed eyes; black-, narrow-lined nasal bridges; and silver-white rear-margin and grizzled Morocco red, silver-white front-based, front-margin ear tufts. Namdapha flying squirrels, identified as Biswamoyopterus biswasi ("winged [ornithologist] Biswamoy Biswas [June 2, 1923-Aug. 10, 1994]"), each include one clove-brown chin spot below their lower lips.

Namdapha flying squirrels juggle grizzled Morocco red, silver-white and white from their front-based ear tufts down the sides, and to the middle sections, of their necks.

Smoky, vinaceous gray basal thirds of red-hair shafts and basal gray, middle white and upper black thirds to white keep upper-sides grizzled Morocco red and white.

The Pteromyini (from Greek πτερόν, "wing") tribe and Sciuridae (from Greek σκιά, "shadow," οὐρά, "tail" and -ειδής, "-like") family member lodges softly thick-haired pearl-gray-based, white-tipped undersides. Namdapha flying squirrels manifest loin fur and outer-patagium (from Latin patagīum, "gold-bordered tunic") gliding membranes whose hair shafts mingle cinnamon and orange bases and red tips. They net cinnamon underwool; Mehgony red underarms; grizzled silver-white and vinaceous slate patagium side margins black-lined down forelimbs through digits; Morocco red ankles; and black-margined soles.

A gray-, red-, white-grizzled interfemoral membrane obscures cinnamon, clove-brown, gray, orange, russet lower thirds to the cylindrical tail's cinnamon, clove-brown, gray, orange, red-brown, russet upper thirds.

Namdapha flying squirrel skulls present large sockets and tympanic bullae ("hearing bubbles") with 10 to 12 honeycomb-patterned septae ("partitions"); short palates; and white zygomatic ("cheekbone") arches.

Namdapha flying squirrels queue up sculpture-, wrinkle-free enamel patchily black-brown-stained; shallow-grooved upper-incisor inner margins; and prominent lower third and upper first three molars and fourth premolars. They reveal black-brown-stained enamel, ear tufts, interfemoral membranes and non-feathery tails like Laotian giant flying squirrels but territorial ranges like red giant flying squirrels (Petaurista petaurista). They survive 55.12- to 98.42-inch (1,400- to 2,500-millimeter) annual rainfall and temperatures between minus 34.6 and minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 and 17.6 degrees Celsius).

One tree in one Na Dihing River valley, on 1,148.29-foot (350-meter) Patkai range western slopes, in one park transmitted one Namdapha flying squirrel 32 years ago.

Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) discoverer Subhendu Sekhar Saha of Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, honored his mentor, Indian ornithologist Biswamoy Biswas (June 2, 1923-Aug. 10, 1994), with the squirrel's genus name, Biswamoyopterus; the species' namesake was the 1981 Namdapha Expedition's leader, Indian zoologist Shyamrup Biswas; Dr. Biswamoy Biswas examines Pangboche, Nepal, yeti scalp during the Daily Mail's 1954 Snowman Expedition in photo by the expedition's mountaineering leader, English mountaineer John Angelo Jackson (March 24, 1921-July 2, 2005): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Zoological Survey of India-Calcutta zoologist Subhendu Sekhar Saha named Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) from a single specimen discovered in 1981; photo by Brij Kishor Gupta/Central Zoo Authority (CZA): Defense Against Animal Cruelty @DefenceAgainstAnimalCruelty, via Facebook Dec. 22, 2011, @ https://www.facebook.com/DefenceAgainstAnimalCruelty/photos/a.193044707389478/334920726535208/

Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) discoverer Subhendu Sekhar Saha of Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, honored his mentor, Indian ornithologist Biswamoy Biswas (June 2, 1923-Aug. 10, 1994), with the squirrel's genus name, Biswamoyopterus; the species' namesake was the 1981 Namdapha Expedition's leader, Indian zoologist Shyamrup Biswas; Dr. Biswamoy Biswas examines Pangboche, Nepal, yeti scalp during the Daily Mail's 1954 Snowman Expedition in photo by the expedition's mountaineering leader, English mountaineer John Angelo Jackson (March 24, 1921-July 2, 2005): CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pangcboche-19534-John-Jackson.jpg

For further information:

Defense Against Animal Cruelty @DefenceAgainstAnimalCruelty. 22 December 2011. "The Namdapha Flying Squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi), the sole species placed in the genus Biswamoyopterus, is an arboreal, nocturnal flying squirrel endemic to India.." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/DefenceAgainstAnimalCruelty/photos/a.193044707389478/334920726535208/

Jordan, Mike J.R. "Squirrels and Relatives I Flying Squirrels (Pteromyinae)." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds., Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol. 16 Mammals V: 135-142. Second edition. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 September 2013. "Laotian Giant Flying Squirrels Are Wild Discoveries in Food Markets." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/09/laotian-giant-flying-squirrels-are-wild.html

Saha, Subhendu Sekhar. 1981. "A New Genus and a New Species of Flying Squirrels (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) from Northeastern India." Bulletin of the Zoological Survey of India, vol. 4, no 3: 331-336.
Available @ http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/bulletin/004/03/0331-0336.pdf

Sanamxay, Daosavanh; Bounsavane Douangboubpha; Sara Bumrungsri; Sysouphanh Xayavong Vilakhan Xayaphet; Chutamas Satasook; and Paul J.J. Bates. 15 July 2013. "Rediscovery of Biswamoyopterus (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae: Pteromyini) in Asia, with the Description of a New Species from Lao PDR." Zootaxa 3686(4): 471-481. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa,3686.4.5.
Available @ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283898290_Rediscovery_of_Biswamoyopterus_Mammalia_Rodentia_Sciuridae_Pteromyini_in_Asia_with_the_description_of_a_new_species_from_Lao_PDR