Glaucomys sabrinus
| Northern Flying Squirrel
(Glaucomys sabrinus) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Sciurinae |
| Tribe: | Pteromyini |
| Genus: | Glaucomys |
| Binomial details | |
| Glaucomys sabrinus (G. K. Shaw, 1801) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) is a nocturnal, gliding squirrel that inhabits forested regions over most of northern North America.
Description
From Wells-Gosling and Heaney (1984): "Color of pelage varies widely according to subspecies and season (Howell, 1918). Hall (1981:450) described it as, "upper parts varying from cinnamon to pecan brown according to subspecies; tail above from cinnamon to fuscous or even blackish, usually darkest near tip; tail below varying from pinkish cinnamon to nearly black; underparts white or creamy white often washed with some shade of buffy or yellowish; sides of head and sometimes face gray, often with wash of buff, cinnamon, or fuscous." The tail is long, about 80% of the length of head and body, and densely furred."
External measurements
Length measurements are in millimeters (mm) and weight measurements are in grams (g), unless stated otherwise. If available, the sample size (n=) is provided. If a range is not provided and n= is not given, then the listed measurement represents an average.
| Part of range | Reference | Total length | Tail length | Hindfoot length | Ear length | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Naughton (2012) | 275–358 | 120–164 | 36–50 | 16–26 | 99.5–207.5 |
| Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland | Webster et al. (1985) | 260–310 | 95–140 | |||
| Colorado | Armstrong et al. (2010) | 310–340 | 145–160 | 40–45 | 25–30 | up to 190 |
| Minnesota | Hazard (1982) | 248–300 | 109–148 | 34–41 | 19–27 | 74.8–109.8 |
| North Dakota | Seabloom et al. (2020) | 273 | 128 | 37 | 22 | 90 |
| Virginia | Linzey (1998) | 255–275 | 100–130 | 95–140 |
Skull
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Holotype: 83152. Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis. Adult female. Hunter Mountain, Catskills (Catskill Mountains), Greene County, New York. Collected 31 August 1896. Dorsal view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 83152. Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis. Adult female. Hunter Mountain, Catskills (Catskill Mountains), Greene County, New York. Collected 31 August 1896. Ventral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 83152. Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis. Adult female. Hunter Mountain, Catskills (Catskill Mountains), Greene County, New York. Collected 31 August 1896. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 83152. Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis. Adult female. Hunter Mountain, Catskills (Catskill Mountains), Greene County, New York. Collected 31 August 1896. Dorsal view of the mandible. -
Holotype: USNM 83152. Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis. Adult female. Hunter Mountain, Catskills (Catskill Mountains), Greene County, New York. Collected 31 August 1896. Lateral view of the left mandible.
Taxonomy notes
From Arbogast et al. (2017): "Glaucomys sabrinus, as currently recognized, is actually composed of 2 separate, apparently non-hybridizing species. Control region mtDNA data from 185 individuals across North America revealed 2 distinct clades embedded within G. sabrinus: a widespread “Continental” lineage and a more geographically restricted “Pacific Coastal” lineage. The geographic distributions of these 2 lineages are largely mutually exclusive, with sympatry observed at only 3 sites in the Pacific Northwest. Analysis of 8 microsatellite loci showed no evidence of hybridization between the 2 lineages of G. sabrinus in the region of sympatry. This lack of gene flow is noteworthy given that populations of the Continental lineage of G. sabrinus have been shown to hybridize with G. volans in southeastern Canada. Finally, phylogenetic analyses and estimates of divergence times show that G. volans and Continental G. sabrinus are actually sister taxa that diverged from one another more recently than either did from Pacific Coastal G. sabrinus. We propose that these observations provide strong evidence for a third, previously unrecognized species of North American flying squirrel, whose geographic range extends along the Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia to southern California. Glaucomys oregonensis (Bachman, 1839), whose type locality is in Oregon, is the senior available name for this taxon."
Similar species
Comparison with Glaucomys oregonensis
The Humboldt's Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis) was split from Glaucomys sabrinus by Arbogast et al. (2017).
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Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) -
Humboldt's Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis) -
Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus). Hairs on the venter are lead gray (plumbeous) at the base. -
Humboldt's Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis). Hairs on the venter are lead gray (plumbeous) at the base. -
Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) -
Humboldt's Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis)
Comparison with Glaucomys volans
Glaucomys sabrinus is larger than the Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) with total length more than 260 mm (Hall, 1981). From Wells-Gosling and Heaney (1984): "This species is distinguished from G. volans by hairs on the venter being grayish-white at the tips and lead gray (plumbeous) at the base, rather than white at the base. Greatest length of skull is 36 mm or more (less than 36 mm in G. volans; Jackson, 1961). The tail is uniform grayish buff and dark apically, whereas in G. volans it is paler below without a dark tip (Jackson, 1961). The hindfoot is 34 mm or more (32 mm or less in G. volans; Howell, 1918)."
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Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) -
Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) -
Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus). Hairs on the venter are lead gray (plumbeous) at the base. -
Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans). Hairs on the venter are white at the base. -
Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) -
Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
References
Armstrong DM, Fitzgerald JP, Meaney CA. 2010. Mammals of Colorado, Second Edition. Denver (CO, USA): University Press of Colorado.
Hall ER. 1981. The mammals of North America. Second ed. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1:1-600+9.
Hazard EB. 1982. The mammals of Minnesota. Minneapolis (MN, USA): University of Minnesota Press.
Howell AH. 1918. Revision of the American flying squirrels. American Fauna (44):1.
Jackson HHT. 1961. Mammals of Wisconsin. Univ. Madison (Wisconsin, USA): University of Wisconsin Press.
Linzey DW. 1998. The mammals of Virginia. McDonald & Woodward Publishing.
Naughton D. 2012. The natural history of Canadian mammals. Toronto (ON, CA): University of Toronto Press.
Seabloom R, Hoganson JW, Jensen WF. 2020. The mammals of North Dakota. Fargo (ND, USA): North Dakota State University Press.
Webster WD, Parnell JF, Biggs WC. 1985. Mammals of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Chapel Hill (NC, USA): University of North Carolina Press.
Wells-Gosling N, Heaney LR. 1984. Glaucomys sabrinus. Mammalian species (229): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2307/3503926