Cryptic New Species of Flying Squirrel Identified in North America

Scientists reporting in the Journal of Mammalogy on May 30 have identified a new species of flying squirrel living in the Pacific Coast region of North America.

The Humboldt’s flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis), the third-known species of flying squirrel in North America and the 45th known species of flying squirrel in the world. Image credit: Nick Kerhoulas.

The Humboldt’s flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis), the third-known species of flying squirrel in North America and the 45th known species of flying squirrel in the world. Image credit: Nick Kerhoulas.

New World flying squirrels (genus Glaucomys) are small, nocturnally-active, gliding squirrels. They are distributed from Alaska to Honduras.

These animals don’t actually fly like bats or birds. Instead, they glide from tree to tree by extending furred membranes of skin that stretch from the wrist of the forearm to the ankle on the hind leg. Their feather-like tail provides extra lift and also aids in steering.

The gliding ability of flying squirrels is remarkable: they are capable of gliding for up to 100 m and can make sharp, midair turns by using their tail as a rudder and moving their limbs to manipulate the shape and tautness of their gliding membranes.

Scientists had thought that there were only two species of Glaucomys: the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus).

However, genetic data now show that the Glaucomys genus consists of three, rather than two species, and that the northern flying squirrel is actually composed of two separate, non-hybridizing species.

The newly-identified species is called the Humboldt’s flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis).

It inhabits the Pacific Coast region of North America, from southern British Columbia to the mountains of southern California.

“For 200 years we thought we had only one species of flying squirrel in the Northwest — until we looked at the nuclear genome, in addition to mitochondrial DNA, for the first time,” said co-author Prof. Jim Kenagy, from the University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History Culture.

“The results of the DNA analyses were striking: they indicated that no gene flow was occurring between the Pacific Coastal form and the widespread, inland, continental form of the northern flying squirrel, even when two occurred together.”

Because the new study shows that Humboldt’s and northern flying squirrels both occur together at the same places within some parts of Western Washington and southern British Columbia, it is possible that future studies might reveal hybridization between these two species, even though this study did not find the two species interbreeding in the areas the authors examined.

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Brian S. Arbogast et al. Genetic data reveal a cryptic species of New World flying squirrel: Glaucomys oregonensis. Journal of Mammalogy, published online May 30, 2017; doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyx055

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