The Madras treeshrew (''Anathana ellioti''), also known as the Indian treeshrew, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

treeshrew The treeshrews (also called tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia (from Latin ''scandere'', "to climb"), which split into two families: the ...

in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Anathana'' found in the hill forests of central and southern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The genus name is derived from the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

name of ''moongil anathaan'' (literally "bamboo squirrel") and the species name is after Sir Walter Elliot of the Indian Civil Services in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Description

This treeshrew is 16.0 to 18.5 cm long with a tail of 16.5 to 19.5 cm. The nominate race (type locality: Eastern Ghats, Madras. British Museum 50.1.21.5) has the tail coloured like the back, the ground colour above being reddish-brown while the feet and hind legs are buff or

ochraceous Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...

. The other two races have the tail coloured differently from the back. The race ''A. e. pallida'' (type locality: Manbhum, Bengal, collected by

Robert Cecil Beavan Captain Robert Cecil Beavan (14 August 1841 – 3 February 1870), corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London, served in India with the Bengal Staff Corps for 10 years. During his short life he collected specimens of birds and egg ...

British Museum 66.12.28.2) has the colour of body above reddish-brown and the feet and hind legs grizzled buffy. Race ''A. e. wroughtoni'' (type locality: Mandvi, Surat, collected by R. C. Wroughton British Museum 96.11.7.1) has the colour of body above dull grizzled brownish and the feet and hind legs grizzled greyish. Some later workers lump all the three races. Its dental formula is . The dentition is suited for an omnivorous diet. Some authors have suggested this species could be included within the genus '' Tupaia'', although most have kept the genus separate based on anatomical differences.

Distribution

The Madras treeshrew is found on the Indian Subcontinent south of the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

. Three subspecies have been described — ''A. e. ellioti'' of the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

, Biligirirangan and the

Shevaroy Hills The Servarayan hills, with the anglicised name Shevaroy Hills, are a towering mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in Tamil Nadu state, southern India. The local Tamil name comes from a local deity, ''Servarayan''. Geography The Serv ...

and other hills of Southern India, ''A. e. pallida'' from Central India primarily in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

, and ''A. e. wroughtoni'' from the

Satpura Range The Satpura Range, formerly also known as the Seeonee Hills, is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range paralle ...

and the Dangs near Bombay. They have been reported within the Western Ghats ranges of Wayanad (Periya) and Mahabaleshwar. The northernmost record is from Garhwa district of Bihar. Little is known about the status of these populations as the distribution is patchy, but S. M. Mohnot considered them as "common" in 1975.

Behaviour and ecology

This species of treeshrew is not particularly arboreal and spends much of its time on the ground or clambering about on rocky terrain in the search of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s. It is easily separated from the

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

s in the field by the shape and color of the tail and the upward curve in which it is held when walking about. They have a behaviour of climbing up low, slanting trunks and sliding down headfirst. This may be associated with

scent marking In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. ...

, as many of the Scandentia have

scent glands Scent gland are exocrine glands found in most mammals. They produce semi-viscous secretions which contain pheromones and other semiochemical compounds. These odor-messengers indicate information such as status, territorial marking, mood, and ...

on their throats. A species of

sucking louse Sucking lice (known scientifically as Anoplura) are a parvorder of around 550 species of lice. All sucking lice are blood-feeding ectoparasites of mammals. They can cause localized skin irritations and are vectors of several blood-borne disea ...

'' Docophthirus acinetus'' is found only on this species, the genus itself being restricted to hosts in the family

Tupaiidae Tupaiidae is one of two families of treeshrews, the other family being Ptilocercidae. The family contains three living genera and 19 living species. The family name derives from ''tupai'', the Malay word for treeshrew and also for squirrel which ...

. Endoparasitic microfiliriae have also been described from the species. The Crested Hawk-eagle ('' Nisaetus cirrhatus'') has been known to prey on this tree shrew.Sirdesai, V., M. Ali, and M. S. R. Shad. 2013. Crested Hawk-eagle ''Nisaetus cirrhatus'' feeding on Madras Treeshrew ''Anathana ellioti''. Indian Birds 8(1):13.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q581371 Mammals described in 1850 Treeshrews Mammals of India Taxa named by George Robert Waterhouse