The Laotian giant flying squirrel (''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'') is an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 ...

. It was the second described member in the genus ''

Biswamoyopterus ''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, ...

'', after being first collected in September 2012 by scientists researching the animal corpses in the illegal Thongnami

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

market, Ban Thongnami, Pakkading District,

Bolikhamxai Province Bolikhamsai (, ), formerly gallicized as Borikhamxay, is a province of Laos. Pakxan, Thaphabat, Pakkading, Borikhane, Viengthong, and Khamkeut are its districts and Pakxan is its capital city. The province is the site of the Nam Theun 2 Dam, ...

Description

''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'' has reddish, grizzled

fur A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

with white above. Its crown is pale grey, its

patagium The patagium (: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flying. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, theropod dinosaurs (inclu ...

is orangish and its underparts are white. ''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'' has one of the greatest lengths in the squirrel family, with a body length of and a tail length of , for a total length of , along with a mass of . This is slightly larger than the one other ''Biswamoyopterus'' species, '' B. biswasi'', known from a single sample found in India in 1981.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14828451 Biswamoyopterus Rodents of Laos Endemic fauna of Laos Mammals described in 2013 Species known from a single specimen