Dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel
species of mammal

The dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel (Anomalurus pusillus) is a species of rodent in the family Anomaluridae. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Uganda. The species is nocturnal and arboreal and lives in subtropical or tropical lowland rainforest. Membranes attached to its limbs and tail enable it to glide between trees. This squirrel is currently not considered to be threatened by habitat destruction; "much of the habitat within parts of the known range of this species is relatively intact, and the species is unlikely to be experiencing any significant declines."
Description
This is a small flying squirrel, with adults having a head-and-body length of 185 to 255 mm (7.3 to 10.0 in) with a tail length of 120 to 200 mm (4.7 to 7.9 in). This flying squirrel weighs between 170 and 300 g (6.0 and 10.6 oz). The head is grey, and there is no contrasting colour on the edges of the ears. The fur on the upper parts is very variable in colour, ranging from black, grizzled grey or olive brown to mottled tan. The upper side of the membranes are dark grey, with the membranes near the tail tinged with yellow. The underparts are creamy white or yellowish, without any hint of rufous.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel” is species of mammal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Dwarf, scaly-tailed and squirrel, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q306637. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.