Flying squirrels are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they are able to glide from one tree to another with the aid of a patagium, a furred parachute-like skin membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. Their long tails also provide stability as they glide. Anatomically they are very similar to other squirrels with a number of adaptations to suit their lifestyle; their limb bones are longer and their hand bones, foot bones, and distal vertebrae are shorter. Flying squirrels are able to steer and exert control over their glide path with their limbs and tail.
The western woolly flying squirrel is a species of very large flying squirrel in the genus Eupetaurus. It is native to northern Pakistan and northwestern India. It was long considered the only species in the genus until the description of two other species in 2021. Until recently, scientific knowledge of this rare species was limited to 11 skins collected in the late nineteenth century. However, recent research has confirmed that it remains in Kashmir. It is among the longest members of the family Sciuridae, and one of the biggest gliding animals known. Observations confirm that despite its size, it does glide effectively, like other flying squirrels.
Sciurinae is a subfamily of squirrels, uniting the flying squirrels with certain related tree squirrels. Older sources place the flying squirrels in a separate subfamily (Pteromyinae) and unite all remaining sciurids into the subfamily Sciurinae, but this has been strongly refuted by genetic studies.
Eupetaurus is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Members of this genus are known as woolly flying squirrels. They are large to very large flying squirrels found in the highest rocky cliffs near the treeline of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. Due to the inaccessibility of their montane habitat, they are difficult to study.
Biswamoyopterus is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It contains three known species of very large flying squirrels, with B. laoensis being among the longest of all squirrels. They are distributed in forests in northeast India, southwest China and Laos. Despite their size, species in this genus tend to be very elusive; due to this, all of them have been described relatively recently. Additionally, they are easily confused with certain Petaurista giant flying squirrels that are more common and overlap in range with the rare Biswamoyopterus.
The Namdapha flying squirrel is an arboreal, nocturnal flying squirrel endemic to Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, where it is known from a single specimen collected in Namdapha National Park in 1981. No population estimate is available for B. biswasi, but the known habitat is tall Mesua ferrea jungles, often on hill slopes in the catchment area of Dihing River in northeastern India.
The hairy-footed flying squirrel is a flying squirrel found in the mountains of the eastern Himalaya, Southeast Asia, southern China, and the island of Taiwan. It lives at elevations of 800–2,400 m (2,600–7,900 ft) above sea level.
The red giant flying squirrel or common giant flying squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae (squirrels). It is found in a wide variety of forest–types, plantations and more open habitats with scattered trees in Southeast Asia, ranging north to the Himalayas and southern and central China. One of the largest arboreal squirrels, all populations have at least some reddish-brown above and pale underparts, but otherwise there are significant geographic variations in the colours. The taxonomic position of those in the Sundaic region is generally agreed upon, but there is considerable uncertainty about the others, which variously have been included in this or other species, or recognized as their own species.
The Bhutan giant flying squirrel, also known as the Gray's giant flying squirrel or noble giant flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This species lives in Himalayan forests and it is one of the largest flying squirrels. Like other flying squirrels, it is mainly nocturnal and able to glide long distances between trees by spreading out its patagium, skin between its limbs.
The Indian giant flying squirrel, also called the large brown flying squirrel or the common giant flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is capable of gliding flight using a skin membrane stretched between front and hind legs. It is found in mainland Southeast and South Asia, and southern and central China.
The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey or Burmese snub-nosed monkey or black snub-nosed monkey is a critically endangered species of colobine monkey discovered in 2010 in northern Burma (Myanmar). It was formally described as a novel species of primate in 2011 based on its fur, beard and tail. Two groups of the species were discovered in China in 2011 and 2015, respectively.
Yunguisaurus is an extinct genus of pistosaur known from the Guizhou Province of China.
Largocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of basal saurosphargid, a marine reptile known from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, southwestern China. It contains a type species, Largocephalosaurus polycarpon, and a second species L. qianensis.
The Laotian giant flying squirrel is an arboreal, flying squirrel endemic to Laos. It was the second described member in the genus Biswamoyopterus, after being first collected in September 2012 by scientists researching the animal corpses in the illegal Thongnami bushmeat market, Ban Thongnami, Pakkading District, Bolikhamxai Province.
The Skywalker hoolock gibbon or Gaoligong hoolock gibbon is an arboreal primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of three species of hoolock gibbon and was first described in January 2017 in the American Journal of Primatology. The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is one of two species of Eastern hoolocks: H. tianxing and H. leuconedys. Researchers estimate H. tianxing diverged from H. leuconedys roughly 490,000 years ago. The Eastern hoolock is vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with a population of 310,000-370,000 individuals. Of this population, H. tianxing makes up less than 150 individuals, making the Skywalker hoolock gibbon an endangered species.
The Gaoligong forest hedgehog or Wang's forest hedgehog is a species of hedgehog in the family Erinaceidae found only in China. It is endemic to the slopes of Mt. Gaoligong in the Yunnan Province, where it lives in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest at elevations between 2200 m and 2680 m. This distribution is disjunct from that of the other species in this genus.
Sinopyrophorus is a genus of bioluminescent hard-bodied clicking beetles in the superfamily Elateroidea, and is the sole member of the recently recognized family Sinopyrophoridae. The genus currently contains a single species, Sinopyrophorus schimmeli, which was described in 2019 from the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests of western Yunnan, China.
The Tibetan woolly flying squirrel is a species of very large flying squirrel in the genus Eupetaurus. It is found in the south-central portion of the Tibetan Plateau, namely south-central Tibet, northern Sikkim, and western Bhutan.
The Yunnan woolly flying squirrel is a species of very large flying squirrel in the genus Eupetaurus. It is found on the southeastern margin of the Himalayas, namely in northwestern Yunnan and potentially Myanmar.
The Himalayan large-eared flying squirrel is a species of flying squirrel found in southwestern Yunnan Province, China, and adjoining Myanmar. It is the only member of the genus Priapomys.
