Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis: A new species of Flying Squirrel from western Yunnan Province, China.

The ability to glide has evolved several times in different Mammal groups, but only one group, the Flying Squirrels, Pteromyini, have a wide distribution, with a high diversity in the tropical regions of South and Southeast Asia and species scattered across cooler regions of Asia, Europe, and North America, hinting at a more diverse and widespread population during warmer climates in the past. There are currently 52 described species of living Flying Squirrels, divided into fifteen genera, with a further thirteen genera known only from fossils. The group reach their maximum diversity in Southeast Asia, the area with the greatest number of described species, though many of these species are very poorly known. The genus Biswamoyopterus currently comprises two species of large Flying Squirrels, both of which were described from a single specimen, one collected in the Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, and the other from central Laos, with the two sites where members of the genus were found being 1250 km apart.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 18 July 2019, Quan Li of the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, and the Kunming College of Life Science of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xue-You Li, also of the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Stephen Jackson of Biosecurity New South Wales, the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales, the Division of Mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, and the Australian Museum Research Institute, Fei Li of the Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, Ming Jiang and Wei Zhao of the Baoshan Management Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Wen-Yu Song, again of the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, and the Kunming College of Life Science of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xue-Long Jiang, once again of the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, describe a third species of Biswamoyopterus from western Yunnan Province, China, a location approximately half way between the two sites where the genus has previously been observed.

The new species is named Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis, which means 'from Gaoligong', as the area where the species was discovered is on the eastern slope of the southern Mount Gaoligong. The species is described from two specimens, an adult male collected by the scientists and a second skin and skull of indeterminate sex collected by a local villager. This species is large for a Flying Squirrel, with the adult male having a body length of 44 cm, plus a 52 cm tail, and weighing 1.37 kg. The species is reddish brown, with a yellowish white underside. The ears are white with black tips, and the end of the tail is black.

A specimen of Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis in the branches of a Daphniphyllum tree at Linjiapu, 10 km to the west of the area where the specimens from which the species is described were collected. Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden.

The conservation status of Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis is unclear, but the species appears to have a low population density and live in a lowland forest close to Human settlements, were it is vulnerable to forest clearance for agriculture and hunting.

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