Museum Specimens Reveal the Taxonomic Distinctions Among South Asian Treeshrews.

ABSTRACT: South Asian treeshrews include the Madras Treeshrew Anathana ellioti, the Northern Treeshrew Tupaia belangeri, and the Nicobar Treeshrew Tupaia nicobarica, each occupying distinct and non-overlapping geographical areas in India and Southeast Asia. In this study, we investigated the morphological variation among these species using museum specimens collected over a wide spatial and temporal range of India and Myanmar and combined with existing published datasets. We analyzed 22 cranial measurements and four external traits to evaluate inter- and intraspecific morphological differentiation, employing distance-based morphometric approaches validated by multivariate analyses. Our findings revealed considerable heterogeneity in cranial morphology, with three species exhibit

SUBMITTER: Kamalakannan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12017894 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature