Short note on pen-tailed treeshrew (Ptilocercus Lowii Gray, 1848) captured at Tengku Hassanal Wildlife Reserve (THWR), Lanchang, Pahang
2026
Pejalis, Suhainah | Mohd Kulaimi, Noor Azleen | Mohd Noor, Mohd Happy | Mohamed, Khairul Amirin | Rusni, Norfaziatun Diana
The pen-tailed tree shrew, Ptilocercus lowii Gray, 1848 is a unique small mammal with a distinctive feature of a long and hairless tail ending in a feather-like tuft. This species can be found in lowland areas, up to 1,200 m in the rainforests of southern Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, and select regions of the Indonesian archipelago (Helgen, 2005). Formerly classified as a subfamily within the Tupaiidae, P. lowii exhibits notable distinctions in both morphological and genetic traits when compared to other tree shrews, leading to its reclassification as the solitary tree shrew species within the family Ptilocercidae (Francis, 2008). Two subspecies have been recognized based on the morphometric analysis conducted by Juman et al. (2021), encompassing 42 specimens and unveiling significant morphological divergence between two subspecies of P. lowii. The study revealed distinct differences in morphology between P. l. continentis, found in the Malay Peninsula, and P. l. lowii, found in Borneo. Subspecies P. l. lowii's toes display no difference in colour from the rest of the hindfoot; muzzle and palate are slightly broader, whilst P. l. continentis toes display distinctly lighter colour than the rest of the hindfoot; the muzzle and palate are slightly narrower.
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