The mountain treeshrew (''Tupaia montana'') is a

treeshrew The treeshrews (also called tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia (from Latin ''scandere'', "to climb"), which split into two families: the ...

species within the

Tupaiidae Tupaiidae is one of two families of treeshrews, the other family being Ptilocercidae. The family contains three living genera and 19 living species. The family name derives from ''tupai'', the Malay word for treeshrew and also for squirrel which ...

. It is

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 ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and inhabits

montane forests Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

, Malaysia, and

Kalimantan Kalimantan (; ) is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area, and consists of the provinces of Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The non-Ind ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The first specimen was described by

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

and was part of a zoological collection from northern Borneo obtained by the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

.Thomas, O. (1892)
''On some new Mammalia from the East-Indian Archipelago''.
The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6 (9): 250–254.

Characteristics

The mountain treeshrew is dark grizzled rufous above with an indistinct black line along the back. Its tail is rather short and grizzled rufous above, but below more olivaceous yellow with a black tip. The lateral tail hairs are ringed. The head and body length measures 15–33 cm and the tail length measures 13–19 cm.

Distribution and habitat

Charles Hose collected the first specimen at about on Mount Dulit. Mountain treeshrews have mostly been recorded in montane outcrops above .

Ecology and behaviour

In their natural habitat, mountain treeshrews were observed being active during the day. They forage on the ground among fallen logs and branches where they feed mostly on

arthropods Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

. They also consume large quantities of wild fruits and berries, eating them in short bursts. It is assumed that they extract sugar laden juices and in this way supplement any dietary deficiencies of an arthropod diet. Results of a behavioral study of a group of 12 wild-caught captive mountain treeshrews indicate that they are more social than groups of other treeshrew species. Two males tended to dominate the group. Females had an

estrous cycle The estrous cycle (, originally ) is a set of recurring physiological changes induced by reproductive hormones in females of mammalian subclass Theria. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous phase ...

lasting nine to 12 days.

Gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

lasted 49 to 51 days. They did not display a distinct reproductive season. Litters comprised one to two young.Sorenson, M. W., Conaway, C. H. (1968). ''The social and reproductive behavior of Tupaia montana in captivity''. Journal of Mammalogy: 502–512. Mountain treeshrews have a mutualistic relationship with several

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

s species such as ''

Nepenthes lowii ''Nepenthes lowii'' (), commonly called Low's pitcher plant,Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. ''Pitcher-Plants of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo. It is named after Hugh L ...

'', '' Nepenthes macrophylla'', and ''

Nepenthes rajah ''Nepenthes rajah'' is a carnivorous plant, carnivorous pitcher plant species of the family (biology), family Nepenthes, Nepenthaceae. It is endemic (ecology), endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Born ...

''. They defecate into the plants' pitchers while visiting them to feed on sweet, fruity secretions from glands on the pitcher lids.Chin, L., Moran, J. A., Clarke, C. (2010). ''Trap geometry in three giant montane pitcher plant species from Borneo is a function of tree shrew body size''. New Phytologist 186 (2): 461–470.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q774635 Treeshrews Mammals of Borneo Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Malaysia Endemic fauna of Borneo Fauna of the Borneo montane rain forests Mammals described in 1892 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot