''Biswamoyopterus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Sciuridae 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 ...

. It contains three known species of very large

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe (biology), tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family (biology), family Squirrel, Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight i ...

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, 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 ...

southwest China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

and

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. Despite their size, species in this genus tend to be very elusive; due to this, all of them have been described relatively recently. In fact 2 out of the 3 species are only known from a single specimen. 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 ''Biswamoyopterus biswasi'' * Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel ''Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis'' * Laotian giant flying squirrel ''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'' Recent studies have suggested that the three known species are in fact one species. It was based on the Morphological comparisons, where the three species shared nearly similar morphologies.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10740238 Biswamoyopterus Rodent genera