The hairy-footed flying squirrel (''Belomys pearsonii'') is a

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they ar ...

found in the mountains of the eastern

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and the

island of Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, News media, press and Western literature, literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of ...

. It lives at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

is red-brown on the top and white at the bottom. Characteristic are the long hair at the feet, which even covers the claws to protect against the cold in the higher altitudes. The body has a length of about 22 cm; the tail is another 13 cm long.

Taxonomy and systematics

As hairy-footed flying squirrel is related to the

complex-toothed flying squirrel The complex-toothed flying squirrel (''Trogopterus xanthipes'') occurs in the southern Chinese provinces Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan. The common name refers to the teeth, which differ from those of other species of flying squirrel ...

, some taxonomists have included the species to the genus ''

Trogopterus The complex-toothed flying squirrel (''Trogopterus xanthipes'') occurs in the southern Chinese provinces Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan. The common name refers to the teeth, which differ from those of other species of flying squirrels ...

''. However, its status as distinct genus is now generally accepted. The species is named after

John Thomas Pearson John Thomas Pearson (22 August 1801 – 5 March 1851) was a British surgeon who worked in the East India Company in India. He was also briefly the curator of the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Pearson received his MRCS in 1825 and beca ...

. There are four

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: ''Belomys pearsonii pearsonii'', ''B. m. blandus'', ''B. m. kaleensis'', and ''B. m. trichotis''. ''B. m. kaleensis'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to Taiwan. It appears to be genetically distinct from Vietnamese specimens, which themselves represented two distinct lineages (of unknown subspecies). All three lineages are distinct enough to be recognized as separate species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1360095 Flying squirrels Rodents of Asia Mammals of Bhutan Rodents of China Rodents of India Rodents of Laos Rodents of Myanmar Mammals of Nepal Mammals of Taiwan Rodents of Thailand Rodents of Vietnam Mammals described in 1842 Taxa named by John Edward Gray