Zenkerella (rodent) explained

Zenkerella is a genus of rodent, the only member of the family Zenkerellidae. It was formerly classified in Anomaluridae until phylogenetic studies made its distinctiveness clear.[1] While the Anomalurus of the family Anomaluridae has gliding membranes between its forelimb and hindlimb, the Zenkerella has no such adaptation.[2] It is estimated from fossil records that this divergence might have occurred in the middle of the Eocene.

There is a single extant, the Cameroon scaly-tail, and a single fossil representative. The fossil species Zenkerella wintoni is known from a single mandible from Songhor, Kenya dated to the Early Miocene.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Fabre. Pierre-Henri. Tilak. Marie-Ka. Denys. Christiane. Gaubert. Philippe. Nicolas. Violaine. Douzery. Emmanuel J. P.. Marivaux. Laurent. 2018. Flightless scaly-tailed squirrels never learned how to fly: A reappraisal of Anomaluridae phylogeny. Zoologica Scripta. en. 47. 4. 404–417. 10.1111/zsc.12286. 89754034 . 1463-6409.
  2. Heritage . S. . Fernández . D. . Sallam . H. M. . Cronin . D. T. . Esara Echube . J. M. . Seiffert . E. R. . Ancient phylogenetic divergence of the enigmatic African rodent Zenkerella and the origin of anomalurid gliding . PeerJ . August 16, 2016 . 4 . e2320 . 10.7717/peerj.2320 . 27602286 . 4991859 . free .
  3. Book: Werdelin . Lars . Sanders . William Joseph . Cenozoic Mammals of Africa . 2010 . University of California Press . 9780520257214 . 290.

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