The Chinese dormouse or Sichuan dormouse (''Chaetocauda sichuanensis'') is a species of
dormouse
A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...
found in subalpine mixed forests in northern
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, where it is known from
Jiuzhaigou and Wanglang Nature Reserves. It is known only from two captured female specimens taken in the
Wanglang Natural Reserve, and was first described by Wang Youzhi in 1985 and relisted by Corbet and Hill (1991, 1992) under a new
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 ...
as ''Chaetocauda sichuanensis''. It is currently the only member of the genus ''Chaetocauda''. The two specimens had head and body lengths of 90mm and 91mm and tail lengths of 92mm and 102mm, respectively. They weighed 24.5 and 36.0 g. It is nocturnal and arboreal, nesting in trees around 3 metres above the ground, and was found above an altitude of 2500m above sea level. It is classified as endangered by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
as of the 2004 Red List due to its small, isolated habitat
References
*Wang, Youzhi. 1985. A new genus and species of Gliridae. Acta Theriologica Sinica, Vol. 5 (1985), pp. 67–75.
External links
The Dormouse Hollow* An illustration o
Dormice
Mammals of Asia
EDGE species
Mammals described in 1985
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