Food habits of the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) in Oregon

Abstract
Digestive tracts of 91 northern flying squirrels (G. sabrinus) were analyzed for food items; 28 were from north-western Oregon and 63 from northeastern Oregon. Of the ingested materials .apprx. 90% were fungi and lichens, including 20 genera of hypogeous fungi. The northern flying squirrel, in using hypogeous fungi as a major food source, is an important nocturnal disperser of the spores. In Oregon coniferous forests, these fungi are obligatory ectomycorrhizal symbionts with the trees in which the squirrels live.