Glide angle in the genus Petaurus and a review of gliding in mammals

The gliding angle of the Mahogany Glider Petaurus gracilis and the Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps was determined from field studies by measuring the height of launch and landing of glides and the distance travelled. This showed no significant difference between these two species in glide ratio, which averaged 1.91 and 1.82 m distance per 1 m loss in altitude, respectively, nor in glide angle which averaged 28.26° and 29.69° for the Mahogany Glider and Sugar Glider, respectively. Significant differences were found between them for height of launch (19.75 and 11.96 m, respectively), height of landing (4.48 and 1.95 m, respectively), diameter at breast height of landing tree (44.12 and 23.22 cm, respectively), and glide distance (29.71 and 20.42 m, respectively). An examination of the ratio of interorbital width to maximum skull width of gliding and nongliding possums was measured from museum skulls to examine whether gliders have eyes wider apart, to allow triangulation of distance in preparation for gliding. Gliding possums showed a trend toward having a larger interorbital width than nongliding possums, although there appear to be several factors acting on the interorbital width. Museum study skins of all gliding marsupials were measured to determine the relationship between patagium surface area and body mass which showed a clear relationship (r2 = 0.9688). A comparison of gliding behaviour, patagium, development of limbs, tail morphology and mass was also made between gliding marsupials and other gliding mammals.

[1]  T. Flannery.  Mammals of New Guinea , 1990 .

[2]  J. Thewissen,et al.  Distinctive cranial and cervical innervation of wing muscles: new evidence for bat monophyly , 1991, Science.

[3]  Ulla M. Norberg,et al.  Evolution of Vertebrate Flight: An Aerodynamic Model for the Transition from Gliding to Active Flight , 1985, The American Naturalist.

[4]  A. P. Smith.  Diet and feeding strategies of the marsupial sugar glider in temperate Australia. , 1982 .

[5]  B. Grzimek.  Grzimek's encyclopedia of mammals , 1990 .

[6]  Daryl E. Wilson,et al.  Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference , 1993 .

[7]  Jl Johnson-Murray.  The Comparative Myology of the Gliding Membranes of Acrobates, Petauroides and Petaurus Contrasted With the Cutaneous Myology of Hemibelideus and Pseudocheirus (Marsupialia, Phalangeridae) and With Selected Gliding Rodentia (Sciuridae and Anamoluridae) , 1987 .

[8]  A. Gentry,et al.  Tropical Forest Structure and the Distribution of Gliding and Prehensile-Tailed Vertebrates , 1983, The American Naturalist.

[9]  J. Downing,et al.  CRC Handbook of Mammalian Body Masses , 1995 .

[10]  E. H. Taylor.  Philippine land mammals , 1934 .

[11]  Russell P. Balda,et al.  The Physics of Leaping Animals and the Evolution of Preflight , 1983, The American Naturalist.

[12]  Jane L. Johnson-Murray.  Myology of the gliding membranes of some petauristine rodents genera glaucomys pteromys petinomys and petaurista , 1977 .

[13]  D. B. O. Savilk.  GLIDING AND FLIGHT IN THE VERTEBRATES , 1962 .

[14]  R. Goldingay.  The behavioural ecology of the gliding marsupial, Petaurus australis , 1989 .

[15]  James A. Oliver,et al.  "Gliding" in Amphibians and Reptiles, with a Remark on an Arboreal Adaptation in the Lizard, Anolis carolinensis carolinensis Voigt , 1951, The American Naturalist.

[16]  R. Manville,et al.  The Mammals of North America , 1959 .

[17]  L. Heaney,et al.  Body Proportions and Gliding Adaptations of Flying Squirrels (Petauristinae) , 1981 .

[18]  Satoshi Shiraishi,et al.  Gliding Flight in the Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista leucogenys , 1993 .

[19]  Karolyn Darrow,et al.  WING TIP ANATOMY AND AERODYNAMICS IN FLYING SQUIRRELS , 1998 .

[20]  C. Ruff,et al.  Structural adaptations for gliding in mammals with implications for locomotor behavior in paromomyids. , 1995, American journal of physical anthropology.

[21]  M. Hildebrand.  Analysis of Vertebrate Structure , 1974 .

[22]  S. Dyck.  The taxonomy and distribution of Petaurus gracilis (Marsupialia: Petauridae), with notes on its ecology and conservation status , 1993 .

[23]  T. Roberts.  The mammals of Pakistan , 1977 .

[24]  Werner Nachtigall.  Gleitflug des Flugbeutlers Petaurus breviceps papuanus II. Filmanalysen zur Einstellung von Gleitbahn und Rumpf sowie zur Steuerung des Gleitflugs , 1979 .

[25]  J. Hill,et al.  The Mammals of the Indomalayan Region: A Systematic Review , 1992 .

[26]  R. Nowak,et al.  Walker's mammals of the world , 1968 .

[27]  Kevin Padian.  Running, Leaping, Lifting Off , 1982 .