The dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel (''Anomalurus pusillus'') is a species 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 Anomaluridae. It is found in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the C ...

, Republic of the Congo,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Equatorial Guinea,

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

. The species is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

and

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, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

and lives in subtropical or tropical lowland rainforest. Membranes attached to its limbs and tail enable it to glide between trees. This squirrel is currently not considered to be threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

; "much of the habitat within parts of the known range of this species is relatively intact, and the species is unlikely to be experiencing any significant declines."

Description

This is a small flying squirrel, with adults having a head-and-body length of with a tail length of . This flying squirrel weighs between . The head is grey, and there is no contrasting colour on the edges of the ears. The fur on the upper parts is very variable in colour, ranging from black, grizzled grey or olive brown to mottled tan. The upper side of the membranes are dark grey, with the membranes near the tail tinged with yellow. The underparts are creamy white or yellowish, without any hint of rufous. The tufts of bristles surrounding the hind claws are also white. As with other scaly-tailed flying squirrels in the genus '' Anomalurus'', a membrane is attached between the thighs and the more basal part of the tail. This part of the tail bears a patch of large cornified scales on the underside, the rest of the tail being plume-like.

Distribution and habitat

The dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel is native to tropical western and central Africa. As far as is known, there are two or more separate populations; one is in West Africa in Liberia, where one specimen was collected in the Du River Valley in the west of the country and two other specimens from Mount Richard-Molard in the north of the country; the other population is in Central Africa, the range including southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, southwestern Central African Republic and eastern Uganda. It is possible that this rather unobtrusive species occurs in the intervening countries, with a single larger population. Although generally an animal of lowland primary rainforest, one specimen was collected at in Mugaba in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is generally found in the interior of forests and not around the edges or in mosaic woodland.

Ecology

The species is arboreal and nocturnal, and like other members of its genus, is able to launch itself from a tree and glide through the air to a lower branch. During the day it remains concealed in its nest, usually a crevice or hole in a tree or a hollow tree, or it may cling to a trunk or branch where its

cryptic Cryptic may refer to: In science: * Cryptic species complex, a group of species that are very difficult to distinguish from one another * Crypsis, the ability of animals to blend in to avoid observation * Cryptic era, earliest period of the Earth ...

colourations makes it inconspicuous. It usually occurs in pairs or small groups. Nothing is known about its reproductive habits. It is

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

and the diet includes fruits, including the fleshy fruits of the umbrella tree (''Musanga cecropioides''). A morphological resemblance of the teeth and jaws with those of Lord Derby's Anomalure ('' Anomalurus derbianus'') suggests that ''A. pusillus'' may also eat bark.

Status

The tropical forests where this flying squirrel lives are under threat from timber extraction and the conversion of the land to agricultural use. However the forests are much less threatened than are similar forests in western Africa. This squirrel is also under threat from hunting for bushmeat, but this is unlikely to pose much of a threat, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q306637 dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel Mammals of Central Africa Mammals of Gabon Mammals of Equatorial Guinea Mammals of Cameroon Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel Taxonomy articles created by Polbot