74 
Pagels, Eckerlin, Baker, and Fies 
Miller and G. s. coloratus Handley, were listed as federally endangered 
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Weigl (1987) summarized factors 
considered as major threats to survival of these subspecies. Among these 
are loss of habitat, competition with the southern flying squirrel, G. 
volans (L.), and a parasitic nematode ( Strongyloides sp.), a form that is 
harbored by the southern flying squirrel without apparent harm but that 
may be lethal or debilitating when transferred to G. sabrinus. 
The present report on G. sabrinus in Virginia updates distributional 
data and provides information on its intestinal parasites. Some 
ecological data are included herein. Payne et al. (1989) provide a more 
extensive description of plant communities associated with G. sabrinus 
in the southern Appalachians, including Virginia. 
The only previously recorded specimen of G. sabrinus in Virginia 
was trapped in 1959 by Handley at 1,615 m on Whitetop Mountain in 
Smyth Co. (Handley 1980). The animal was captured in a snap trap 
attached to a red spruce bole in a mixed forest of red spruce ( Picea 
rubens), yellow birch ( Betula lutea), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) 
within a few hundred meters of an almost pure stand of red spruce. 
In December 1985, one of us (J.R.B.) found the remains of a 
female northern flying squirrel along the headwaters of a creek at 1,478 
m in Grayson Co., 7.6 km E of the Smyth Co. site. The remains were 
under the edge of a large rock and partially covered with leaves. Tracks 
of a mink, Mustela vison Schreber, leading to and from the spot were 
evident in the snow around the carcass and indicated predation as the 
cause of death. The vegetation was a mixed forest of Fraser fir (Abies 
fraseri ) and red spruce, with American beech (Fagus grandifolia ), yellow 
birch, and red maple (Acer rubrum) the most prevalent canopy 
hardwoods and with rhododendron an important understory component. 
In April 1986, two specimens were taken about 336 km NE of the 
Smyth Co. site, in the Laurel Fork area of Highland Co. These 
specimens were also taken along a headwater stream. They were 
accidentally trapped in Museum Special mouse traps during a study of 
the fleas of Virginia by one of the authors (R.P.E.). These specimens 
were captured in a northern hardwood forest dominated by yellow 
birch, American beech, and sugar maple. An almost pure stand of 
young red spruce was within 10 m of the capture site. Mountain laurel 
(Kalmia latifolia ) was the dominant understory plant. This locality, at 
1,158 m, is about 19 km E of Cheat Bridge, the nearest locality from 
which G. 5. fuscus has been taken in West Virginia (C. W. Stihler, 
personal communication). Several irregularly oriented mountain ridges 
separate the two sites. 
In addition to the specimen records, 33 northern flying squirrels 
were captured and released at 4 of 22 nest-box locations in Virginia 
