🦕 Prehistoric World Map

Pteromys fossil map

Where fossils of Pteromys have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 0 million years ago and on today’s map.

Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 0 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →

Old World flying squirrel
Image: Takashi Hososhima from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
GroupEarly mammals
Lived2.58–0.0117 million years ago (Gelasian to Late Pleistocene)
PeriodsQuaternary
FamilySciuridae
Named byCuvier 1800
Fossil records4 occurrences at 2 locations (PBDB)
Found inJapan, China
Rock formationstxn:41486

About Pteromys

Commonly referred to as the Old World flying squirrels, the genus Pteromys is distributed across temperate Eurasia, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Although there are a host of flying squirrel genera in Asia (particularly southern Asia), Pteromys is the only one present in Europe.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Old World flying squirrel (revision 1285849533), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q949021.

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