The northern treeshrew (''Tupaia belangeri'') is a

treeshrew The treeshrews (also called tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia (from Latin ''scandere'', "to climb"), which split into two families: the ...

species native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. In 1841, the German zoologist

Johann Andreas Wagner Johann Andreas Wagner (21 March 1797 – 17 December 1861) was a German palaeontologist, zoologist and archaeologist who wrote several important works on palaeontology. He was also a pioneer of biogeographical theory. Career Wagner was born ...

first used the specific name ''Cladobates belangeri'' for treeshrews that had been collected in

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

during a French expedition to Southeast Asia. These specimens were described by

Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (; 16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology). Biography He was born in Paris, the ...

in 1834 in whose opinion they did not differ sufficiently from '' Tupaia tana'' to assign a specific rank.

Characteristics

Tupaia belangeri Skull Planckendael 06112015 2

Results of a

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

study involving northern treeshrews showed that their body temperature varies from during the night to during the day. This difference is larger than in other

endotherms An endotherm (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἔνδον ''endon'' "within" and θέρμη ''thermē'' "heat") is an organism that maintains its body at a metabolically favorable temperature, largely by the use of heat released by its internal bodily ...

, and indicates that the

circadian rhythm A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural oscillation that repeats roughly every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., Endogeny (biology), endogenous) and responds to the env ...

s of body temperature and

locomotor activity Locomotor activity is a measure of animal behavior which is employed in scientific research. Hyperlocomotion, also known as locomotor hyperactivity, hyperactivity, or increased locomotor activity, is an effect of certain drugs in animals in whi ...

are synchronized. Adults weigh . The maximum longevity of the northern treeshrew is 11 years. Besides humans, the northern treeshrew is the only mammal known to willingly consume

spicy Pungency ( ) is the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy ( ) is sometimes applied to foods with a lower ...

food. This is due to a genetic mutation rendering it much less sensitive to the effects of capsaicin.

Phylogeny

Complete

mitochondrial genome Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

data support the hypothesis of a closer

phylogenetic relationship In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organ ...

of ''Tupaia'' to rabbits than to primates. This is however disputed by the more recent full genome sequencing data that places the species closer to primates (divergence ~90.9 million years ago) than to

lagomorph The lagomorphs () are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (rabbits and hares) and the Ochotonidae ( pikas). There are 110 recent species of lagomorph, of which 109 species in t ...

s and

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s (~96.4 Million years ago).

In medical research

The northern treeshrew has attained growing interest for use as a medical model. In 2002, an article was published describing that its primary

hepatocytes A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver. Hepatocytes make up 80% of the liver's mass. These cells are involved in: * Protein synthesis * Protein storage * Transformation of carbohydrates * Synthesis of cholesterol, bile ...

could be used as a model for studying the

Hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

virus, which is a major cause of chronic

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

worldwide. It was also used in studies on the development of photo reception, investigation of retinal cones, and refractive state and ocular component dimensions of the eye. Many studies have been conducted regarding eye structure, development, and vision using the northern treeshrew model because of the similarity to human eye structure and sight that is uncharacteristic of conventional small lab animals, such as

s.Shriver, J .G., Noback, C. R. (1967). "Color Vision in the Tree Shrew (Tupaia glis)". Folia Primatologia 6: 161−169.

References

External links

*View th
tree shrew genome
in

Ensembl Ensembl genome database project is a scientific project at the European Bioinformatics Institute, which provides a centralized resource for geneticists, molecular biologists and other researchers studying the genomes of our own species and other v ...

*
Data of the genome of ''Tupaia belangeri''
via

NCBI The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is loca ...

Data of the genome assembly of ''Tupaia belangeri'' (version ASM18137v1)
via

{{Authority control Treeshrews Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of Bhutan Mammals of India Mammals of Bangladesh Mammals of China Mammals of Cambodia Mammals of Laos Mammals of Vietnam Mammals of Thailand Mammals described in 1841 Taxa named by Johann Andreas Wagner