Chinese pygmy dormouse

Musser and Carleton (2005) recognized five subspecies.Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

The northwest Vietnamese form Typhlomys cinereus chapensis is often treated as falling within the normal variance of Chinese T. cinereus, but is now seen as a distinct species. In 2014, Typhlomys cinereus chapens (also known as the Chapa pygmy dormouse) was recognised by Abramov et al as an individual species and separate from T. cinereus.{{cite web |url= https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/98/3/731/3072268 |title= Chapa pygmy dormouse |last= Chen |first= Feng |date= May 29, 2017 |website= Oxford University Press |publisher= Journal of Mammalogy Volume 98, Issue 3, page 731 |access-date= April 28, 2025 |quote=}}

• Pygmy dormouse or soft-furred tree mouse Typhlomys cinereus Milne-Edwards, 1877
• T. c. cinereus Milne-Edwards, 1877
• T. c. chapensis Osgood, 1932
• T. c. daloushanensis Wang & Li, 1996
• T. c. guangxiensis Wang & Chen, 1996
• T. c. jingdongensis Wu & Wang, 1984

The Chinese pygmy dormouse grows to a head-and-body length of about {{convert|67|to|90|mm|1|abbr=on}} with a tail of one and half times its body-length. It has prominent, nearly hairless ears and white whiskers. The dorsal fur is dark greyish-brown and the underparts are grey with white-tipped hairs. The tail has whorls of scales near its base while the hindermost two-thirds are bushy with a tufted white tail-tip.{{cite book|author1=Andrew T. Smith|author2=Yan Xie|title=A guide to the mammals of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka-9f68nPT4C&pg=PA207|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-09984-2|pages=208–209}}

The Chinese pygmy dormouse is native to Vietnam and the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang.

The Chinese pygmy dormouse lives in mountain forests, including bamboo forests, where it climbs in trees. It can also burrow, but is not blind (a fact that might have been deduced from the genus name Typhlomys). It feeds on parts of plants including leaves, stems, fruit, and seeds. Little is known about the reproduction of this species, but the females have four nipples and pregnant females containing two to four embryos have been found. It may use echolocation for its nocturnal activities.{{cite news|last1=Bittel|first1=Jason|title=This Echolocating Dormouse Could Reveal the Origins of One of Nature's Coolest Superpowers|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/echolocating-dormouse-shows-how-much-learn-about-one-natures-coolest-superpowers-180962647/|access-date=31 March 2017|work=Smithsonian|date=23 March 2017}}

The Chinese pygmy dormouse is retiring and seldom seen, so may be more abundant than is apparent. It is present in primary forest and the edge of degraded forest, but does not seem to inhabit secondary forest. A number of national parks and other protected areas are within its range, and no particular threats have been identified, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed it as being of "least concern".

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Category:Oriental dormice

Category:Mammals described in 1877

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot