Old World flying squirrel
|Old World flying squirrels
Temporal range: Late Pliocene - Recent
|Japanese dwarf flying squirrel, Pteromys momonga|
G. Cuvier, 1800
Commonly referred to as simply the Old World flying squirrels, the genus Pteromys is distributed across temperate Eurasia, Korean Peninsula and Japan. Although there are a host of flying squirrel genera in Asia (particularly southern Asia), Pteromys is the only one present in Europe.
These large-eyed animals are nocturnal and use a membrane stretching from their wrists to ankles in order to glide from tree to tree. They can glide up to 443 feet (135 m) and have a long flat tail. They feed on nuts, seeds, fruit, buds, bark, and insects.
There are two species in this genus:
- Pteromys volans - Siberian Flying Squirrel - Found across northern Europe and northern Asia.
- Pteromys momonga - Japanese Flying Squirrel - Found in Japan.
- Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9