New Records of the Distribution 
and the Intestinal Parasites of the 
Endangered Northern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus 
(Mammalia: Sciuridae), in Virginia 
John F. Pagels 
Department of Biology 
Virginia Commonwealth University 
Richmond, Virginia 23284 
Ralph P. Eckerlin 
Natural Sciences Division 
Northern Virginia Community College 
Annandale, Virginia 22003 
John R. Baker 
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries 
Marion, Virginia 24354 
AND 
Michael L. Fies 
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries 
Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 
ABSTRACT. — Three specimens of Glaucomys sabrinus are reported 
from localities in the mountains of Grayson and Highland counties, 
Virginia. Thirty-three other G. sabrinus were captured and released at 
or near these sites. Only one specimen had been previously recorded in 
Virginia, in Smyth Co. Five sites where we captured G. sabrinus had a 
mean elevation of 1,354 m (1,097-1,615 m), and the southernmost sites 
were at the greatest elevation. The typical habitat was a mixed forest 
of red spruce or other northern-type conifers and northern hardwoods. 
Three species of intestinal nematodes were recovered from the 
squirrels: Citellinema bifurcatum , Strongyloides robustus, and Syphacia 
thompsoni. 
The northern flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw), has an 
extensive distribution in the northern United States and Canada. In the 
southern Appalachian Mountains it is extremely rare and is considered 
a relict of the ice ages. It is known from only a few scattered populations 
in West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia (Wells- 
Gosling and Heaney 1984). In 1985, both subspecies of the northern 
flying squirrel that occur in the southern Appalachians, G. s. fuscus 
Brimleyana 16:73-78, July 1990 
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