''Biswamoyopterus'' is a genus of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

in the family

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

. It contains three known species of very large

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) 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 a ...

s, with '' B. laoensis'' being among the longest of all squirrels. They are distributed in forests in northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, 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 ''Petaurista'' is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. They are large to very large flying squirrels found in forests and other wooded habitats in southern and eastern Asia. Like other flying squirrels, they are mostly nocturnal and able ...

'' giant flying squirrels that are more common and overlap in range with the rare ''Biswamoyopterus''.

Species

There are currently three known species in this genus: *

Namdapha flying squirrel The Namdapha flying squirrel (''Biswamoyopterus biswasi'') 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 ...

''Biswamoyopterus biswasi'' * Laotian giant flying squirrel ''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'' * Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel ''Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10740238 Biswamoyopterus Rodent genera