NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Japanese Dormouse
Glirulus japonicus (Schinz, 1845)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Japanese dormouse (Glirulus japonicus) is a species of rodent in the family Gliridae endemic to Japan. It is the only extant species within the genus Glirulus. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. In Japanese, it is called yamane (やまね or 山鼠). Among dormice, it has the special ability of running at great speed upside down, suspended from branches. Its main food is fruit, insects, berries, nuts, and even flowers. It tends to inhabit arboreal nesting sites to avoid interspecific competition with the small Japanese field mouse (Apodemus argenteus) because of their sympatric relationship.
Wikipedia contributors, Japanese dormouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:02:41.585608+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Glirulus japonicus (Schinz, 1845)
- Name authority
- (Schinz, 1845)
- Common name
- Japanese Dormouse
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Gliridae
- Genus
- Glirulus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderSciuromorpha Brandt, 1855
- familyGliridae Muirhead, 1819
- subfamilyGlirinae Muirhead, 1819
- genusGlirulus Thomas, 1906
- speciesGlirulus japonicus (Schinz, 1845)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Myoxus javanicus Schinz, 1845 Schinz, 1845 | synonym |
| Myoxus elegans Temminck, 1844 Temminck, 1844 | synonym |
| Myoxus lasiotis Thomas, 1880 Thomas, 1880 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=584975 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3G9QJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.