38|0}}| image = AnomalurusBeecroftiWolf.jpg| image_caption = Anomalurus beecrofti, Beecroft’s flying squirrelArtist: Joseph Wolf, 1851| taxon = Anomaluridae

Paul Gervais>Gervais in d’Orbigny, 1849| type_genus = Anomalurus

George Robert Waterhouse>Waterhouse, 1843| subdivision_ranks = Genera| subdivision = *Anomalurus

Idiurus

}}The Anomaluridae are a family of rodents found in central Africa.{{MSW3 Anomaluridae | id = 13100010 | page = 1533}} They are known as anomalures or scaly-tailed squirrels. The six extant species are classified into two genera.All anomalurids have membranes between their front and hind legs like those of a flying squirrel, but they are not closely related to the flying squirrels that form the tribe Petauristini of the family Sciuridae. They are distinguished by two rows of pointed, raised scales on the undersides of their tails.BOOK, Macdonald, D., Fleming, Theodore, 1984, The Encyclopedia of Mammals, Facts on File, New York, 632, 0-87196-871-1, registration,archive.org/details/encyclopediaofma00mals_0/page/632, The anatomy of their heads is quite different from that of the sciurid flying squirrels. By extending their limbs, anomalures transform themselves into a gliding platform that they control by manipulating the membranes and tail.WEB,www.britannica.com/animal/anomalure, Anomalure | rodent | Britannica, Like flying squirrels, these species have a cartilaginous rod that aids them in maintaining the extension of the patagium when in flight; unlike flying squirrels, their cartilage originates at the elbow joint rather than at the wrist.JOURNAL, Waterhouse, George Robert, Descriptions of New Species of Quadrupeds collected by Mr. Fraser at Fernando Po, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 27 September 1842, 10, 125,www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96442#page/277/mode/1up, 9 December 2023, Most anomalurid species roost during the day in hollow trees, with up to several dozen animals per tree. They are primarily herbivorous, and may travel up to {{convert|6|km|mi|abbr=on}} from their roosting tree in search of leaves, flowers, or fruit, although they also eat a small amount of insects. They give birth to litters up to three young, which are born already furred and active.Anomalurids represent one of several independent evolutions of gliding ability in mammals, having evolved from climbing animals.JOURNAL, Fabre, Pierre-Henri, Tilak, Marie-Ka, etal, June 2018, Flightless scaly-tailed squirrels never learned how to fly: a reappraisal of Anomaluridae phylogeny, Zoologica Scripta, 47, 4, 404â€“417, 10.1111/zsc.12286, 89754034, JOURNAL, 10.3389/feart.2015.00056, free, New fossils from the Paleogene of central Libya illuminate the evolutionary history of endemic African anomaluroid rodents, 2015, Coster, Pauline M. C., Beard, K. Christopher, Salem, Mustafa J., Chaimanee, Yaowalak, Jaeger, Jean-Jacques, Frontiers in Earth Science, 3, 56, 2015FrEaS...3...56C, 1808/22093, free, The others include the true flying squirrels of Eurasia and North America, colugos or flying lemurs of Southeast Asia, and the marsupial gliding possums of Australia.

Taxonomy

Taxonomy follows Fabre et al. 2018.JOURNAL, Fabre, Pierre-Henri, Tilak, Marie-Ka, Denys, Christiane, Gaubert, Philippe, Nicolas, Violaine, Douzery, Emmanuel J. P., Marivaux, Laurent, Flightless scaly-tailed squirrels never learned how to fly: A reappraisal of Anomaluridae phylogeny, Zoologica Scripta, July 2018, 47, 4, 404â€“417, 10.1111/zsc.12286, 89754034, JOURNAL, 4991859, 2016, Heritage, S., FernÃ¡ndez, D., Sallam, H. M., Cronin, D. T., Esara Echube, J. M., Seiffert, E. R., Ancient phylogenetic divergence of the enigmatic African rodent Zenkerella and the origin of anomalurid gliding, PeerJ, 4, e2320, 10.7717/peerj.2320, 27602286, free,

Family Anomaluridae
- Genus Anomalurus
  - Beecroft’s flying squirrel, Anomalurus beecrofti
  - Lord Derby’s scaly-tailed flying squirrel, Anomalurus derbianus
  - Pel’s flying squirrel, Anomalurus pelii
  - Dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel, Anomalurus pusillus
- Genus Idiurus
  - Long-eared flying mouse, Idiurus macrotis
  - Pygmy scaly-tailed flying squirrel, Idiurus zenkeri

Fossil genera

Several fossil genera are also known:

Genus â€ Argouburus
Genus â€ KabirmysSallam, Hesham M; Seiffert, Erik R.; Simons, Elwyn L., Brindley, Chloe. A Large-bodied Anomaluroid rodent from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt: Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(5):1579â€“1593, September 2010.
Genus â€ Oromys
Genus â€ Paranomalurus
Genus â€ Pondaungimys
Genus â€ Prozenkerella
Genus â€ Shazurus

References

External links

Meet the Scaly-tail Gliders Among the weirdest and most fascinating of rodents are the scalytails/scaly-tails, scaly-tailed squirrels or anomalures, properly termed Anomaluridae.

- content above as imported from Wikipedia
- "Anomalure" does not exist on GetWiki (yet)
- time: 7:01am EDT - Wed, May 22 2024

[ this remote article is provided by Wikipedia ]

CONNECT