Golden-bellied Tree Shrew

Open encyclopedia reference

The golden-bellied treeshrew (Tupaia chrysogaster) is a treeshrew species within the Tupaiidae. It is also called Mentawai treeshrew as it is endemic to the Indonesian Mentawai islands of Sipora, North and South Pagai. It lives in forests, and is considered endangered due to habitat loss since the islands' forests are continuously logged. The American zoologist Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. first described a golden-bellied treeshrew from North Pagai Island that was part of a zoological collection obtained by the United States National Museum. He considered it a distinct species as this type specimen differed from the common treeshrew by larger teeth and skull, darker coloured fur on the back and a more coarsely grizzled tail. The golden-bellied treeshrew has a restricted distribution that is limited to the Mentawai Islands of Western Indonesia. Due to the islands small geographic range and the continuous decline in the quality of the forest habitat, IUCN classifies this species as endangered. Habitat fragmentation, which is caused by logging and expansion of local agriculture,continuously threatens the habitat of golden-bellied treeshrews.

Wikipedia contributors, Golden-bellied treeshrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:04:18.635225+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tupaia chrysogaster Miller, 1903

Name authority

Miller, 1903

Common name

Golden-bellied Tree Shrew

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Scandentia

Family

Tupaiidae

Genus

Tupaia

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderScandentia Wagner, 1855
12. familyTupaiidae Gray, 1825
13. genusTupaia Raffles, 1821
14. speciesTupaia chrysogaster Miller, 1903

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Tupaia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 18 records assigned to Tupaiidae.

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.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=573218 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.

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:59LYD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.