Treeshrew

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The treeshrews are small mammals native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They make up the families Tupaiidae and Ptilocercidae and the entire order Scandentia. There are 20 species in 5 genera. Treeshrews have the highest brain to body mass ratio, even higher than humans.

Although called treeshrews, they are not shrews (although they were previously classified in the Insectivora), and are not all arboreal. Among other things, they eat Rafflesia fruit.

Classification

Treeshrews were moved from Insectivora to the Primates order, because of certain internal similarities to the latter, and classified as a primitive prosimian. However, recent molecular phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that treeshrews should be given the same rank (order) as the primates and, with the primates and the flying lemurs, belong to the clade Euarchonta. The Euarchonta are sister to the Glires (lagomorphs and rodents), and the two groups are combined into the clade Euarchontoglires.

Euarchontoglires
|--Glires
|    |--rodents (Rodentia)
|    |--rabbits, hares, pikas (Lagomorpha)
\--Euarchonta
|--tree shrews (Scandentia)
\--N.N.
|--flying lemurs (Dermoptera)
\--N.N.
|--Plesiadapiformes (extinct)
\--primates (Primates)

ORDER SCANDENTIA
* Family Tupaiidae
** Genus Anathana
*** Madras Treeshrew, Anathana ellioti
** Genus Dendrogale
*** Bornean Smooth-tailed Treeshrew, Dendrogale melanura
*** Northern Smooth-tailed Treeshrew, Dendrogale murina
** Genus Tupaia
*** Northern Treeshrew, Tupaia belangeri
*** Golden-bellied Treeshrew, Tupaia chrysogaster
*** Striped Treeshrew, Tupaia dorsalis
*** Common Treeshrew, Tupaia glis
*** Slender Treeshrew, Tupaia gracilis
*** Horsfield's Treeshrew, Tupaia javanica
*** Long-footed Treeshrew, Tupaia longipes
*** Pygmy Treeshrew, Tupaia minor
*** Calamian Treeshrew, Tupaia moellendorffi
*** Mountain Treeshrew, Tupaia montana
*** Nicobar Treeshrew, Tupaia nicobarica
*** Palawan Treeshrew, Tupaia palawanensis
*** Painted Treeshrew, Tupaia picta
*** Ruddy Treeshrew, Tupaia splendidula
*** Large Treeshrew, Tupaia tana
** Genus Urogale
*** Mindanao Treeshrew, Urogale evereti
* Family Ptilocercidae
** Genus Ptilocercus
*** Pen-tailed Treeshrew, Ptilocercus lowii

References

External links

http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/rforest/animals/shrew.htm
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/SmallMammals/fact-lessertreeshrew.cfm
http://www.hoglezoo.org/animals/view.php?id=183

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