Cynocephalus volans
Colugo
Flying lemur (Cynocephalus volans) and baby
Habitat
Colugos, commonly called the flying lemur, are arboreal gliding mammals that inhabit the jungle regions of Southeast Asia. The shy, nocturnal Colugo spends a majority of its life in the trees gliding from one tree to another in search of its primary food source, leaves, flowers and fruits. Two species of Colugo exist, Cynocephalus volans and Galeopterus variegatus, both are in danger of future extinction due to habitat destruction.
Biology
The tree-dwelling Colugo is distinctive for a thin membrane of skin, extended between limbs, which allows them to glide for long distances (up to 70 meters), although they cannot fly and are not classified as a lemur. Body size is typically up to 2 kg and torso length ranges from 30-40 cm.
The primary predator to the Colugo, aside from destruction of their habitat, is the endangered Phillipine eagle. Although the majority of life is spent in the trees the Colugo is not known as an avid climber. Little is known about their biology but some features identify them more as marsupial-like than as their placental mammal classification. Gestation length is just 60 days and when born the underdeveloped young reside in quasi-pouch.
Sequencing Plan
The Colugo species chosen for sequencing is Galeopterus variegatus, as part of an initiative to expand sequencing of mammalian genomes. These additional mammalian genomes were chosen to maximize evolutionary clade information and, where possible, to take advantage of known biological models. The additional mammalian genome sequencing initiative calls for 2X whole genome coverage of plasmids plus a low coverage of fosmid end sequences for each selected mammal. For more information on the mammalian genomes represented in this initiative please visit Genome Sequencing Proposal page. Funding for the sequence characterization of the Colugo genome is being provided by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Wes Warren | The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine |
Related Links
Sequence Data
