A new squirrel from Tenggol Island, east coast of the Malay Peninsula. Records of the Raffles Museum, No. 23
C. Boden Kloss describes a new subspecies of coconut squirrel, Sciurus notatus guillemardi, collected from Pulau Tenggol on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula (p. 260).
Summary
The new subspecies is named in honour of Sir Laurence Guillemard. It is a small squirrel of the vittatus section of notatus, approximately the size of S. scotti from Little Redang and S. famulus from Pulau Dayang, but distinguished by its darker rufous underparts and tail tip, a richer buff in the pale elements of the upper parts, and a broader lateral stripe (p. 260). Cranially it resembles S. famulus in rostrum length and in the posterior extent of the nasals relative to the premaxillaries (p. 260).
The type is an adult female collected by Kloss on 18 June 1926; three additional adult specimens (two males, one female) from the same locality and date were examined. Kloss notes that one specimen shows reduced dark lateral stripes obscured with rufous, suggesting a possible parallel with colour tendencies observed in races from the more northern Trengganu islands (p. 260). The note includes collector’s measurements and a table of skull dimensions for all four specimens (pp. 260–261).