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Appearance of the Siberian Flying Squirrel, Pteromys volans L., 1785 (Sciuridae, Mammalia), in the Lake Glubokoe Nature Reserve, Moscow Region

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Abstract

The list of mammals of the Lake Glubokoe Nature Reserve (Ruza district, Moscow region, Russia) was supplemented with the flying squirrel (Pteromys volans). The contemporary border of the native range of the flying squirrel goes through the northeastern part of Moscow region (oblast). No individuals of this species had been recorded in the western parts of the region until the end of the 20th century. However, a flying squirrel population has recently appeared in the vicinity of the Zvenigorod Biological Station, Moscow State University. This population originates from several animals transported to the biological station for scientific purposes. As genetic studies have shown, individuals from this population belong to the endemic Far Eastern phylogenetic lineage. This lineage includes individuals recently recorded in other places in the western part of Moscow region. The sequence of the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA from a tissue sample of a flying squirrel individual found on the territory of the Lake Glubokoe Nature Reserve in July 2013 is identical to that known for animals from the Zvenigorod Biological Station, as well as to those from other places of the western part of Moscow region. The new record is the westernmost one among all other previous records, which confirms the enlarging of the Zvenigorod subrange of this species. Despite the Pteromys volans population in the vicinities of Glubokoe Lake appearing as a consequence of introduction, it is protected by the Red Data Book of Moscow region.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to M. Maksimov, who found the dead flying squirrel.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. 41 “Biodiversity of Natural Systems and Biological Resources of Russia”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    A. N. Reshetnikov & I. G. Meschersky

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  1. A. N. Reshetnikov
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  2. I. G. Meschersky
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Correspondence to A. N. Reshetnikov.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies involving animals or human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Translated by T. Kuznetsova

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Reshetnikov, A.N., Meschersky, I.G. Appearance of the Siberian Flying Squirrel, Pteromys volans L., 1785 (Sciuridae, Mammalia), in the Lake Glubokoe Nature Reserve, Moscow Region. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 47, 1281–1284 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359020100192

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359020100192

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