Arboreal activity of Glirulus japonicus ( Rodentia: Myoxidae ) confirmed by use of bryophytes as nest materials

The structural materials of twenty one nests of the Japanese dormouse Glirulus japonicus (Schinz, 1845) collected at Mt Fuji and Mt Akadake in 1988, were analyzed. Fifty seven species of bryophytes were found: 42 species of Musci and 15 of Hepaticae which constituted the major portion of the materials sampled. Most of these species were epiphytes on tree trunks, and this confirms the supposition that the Japanese dormouse uses aboreal space.