B34
Skeleton of Philippine flying lemur

The flying lemur belongs to Dermoptera which is the rare group of mammal. The number of species belonging of this group is low, and there is little diversity in Dermoptera. However, Dermoptera use membranes of skin between their limbs from the neck and the tail to be specialized to glide between trees in the forest. Philippine flying lemur (colugo) is named primates (saru) in Japanese, and lemur in English, but it is not primates. This species is distributed in Philippine Islands. The length is about 350 mm, however, the width is reached more than 600 mm. The contour is very large when they glide. This skeleton is one of the collections which were collected by Dr. Yoshikiyo Koganei. It is presumed that was introduced from the habitat in the early 1900s from the late 1800s, though the detail record of this specimen was not left. This valuable specimen shows that Dr. Koganei and the researchers of medical school were interested in such rare mammals, although it lives in Southeast Asia nearby Japan. Currently, the populations of this species are reduced, because in the Philippine Islands the habitats are destructed. Although this specimen is partially damaged, it is very rare complete skeleton of this species in Japan. This collection also hands down the history of anatomy and mammal studies of Japan and the University of Tokyo. (Hideki Endo & Mayu Kusumi)

References

遠藤秀紀（2002）『哺乳類の進化』東京大学出版会。