Black-striped Squirrel (Callosciurus nigrovittatus)
HB: 170-240: T; 145-230: HF:40-50.
The under parts and tail are olive brown, the underpants are grey, and there is a black stripe on the side bordered above by a parallel buff stripe. The female has 3 pairs of mammae. Medway describes the voice as a rattling chatter or chuckle. Also a repeated bird like chirp and now and again a bird like shrill call "twist"
This species is found in the southern part of Malaysia, on
Sumatra and Java, and on the islands of Tioman and Tambelan (Oshida et al.
2001). It is also found in Southern Thailand
(Lekagul and McNeely 1988).
Indonesia (Jawa, Kalimantan, Sumatera); Malaysia; Thailand
The population of this species is stable. This species was
rarely found in a survey conducted by Saiful and Nordin (2004) in Peninsular
Malaysia (Weng River sub-catchment).
Population Trend: Decreasing
Habitat and Ecology:
It is an arboreal squirrel, living in primary and
secondary forest, from lowlands to montane areas; occurring also in mixed areas with cropland and tree cover. This is a diurnal and arboreal species
(Saiful and Nordin 2004). It has been suggested that one of the reasons for low
densities of this species in Malaysian tropical rain forest is competition from
the great variety of other arboreal vertebrates (such as birds, and especially
primates) for food, especially fruits and leaves, which are among the food items
preferred by squirrels (Saiful and Nordin 2004).
There are no major threats to this species.
Saiful and Nordin (2004) state the need for further comparative study on this species' abundance, density and distribution and its relationship to forest structure or habitat quality, spatially and temporally, in hill dipterocarp forest of Malaysia.