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Ringtail Lemur
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Verreaux's Sifaka
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Black Lemurs
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Lemurs
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Madagascar lacks the dominant form of primate distributed worldwide, those of the suborder Haplorhini (monkeys, chimps, gorillas, and Homo sapiens). Instead, their niche has been filled by an older groups of primates, the lemurs. Lemurs belong to the sub-order Strepsirhini together with bushbabies, lorises, and pottos which -- like the original lemurs -- are nocturnal, insectivorous primates characterized by a small body, a long nose, and large eyes. Lemurs have an interesting evolutionary history and the only reason they still exist today is because of Madagascar's isolation.
Until around 160 million years ago, Madagascar was attached to the African mainland as part of the super continent Gondwanaland (formed of Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, India, and Madagascar). As Gondwanaland broke apart, Madgascar moved away from Africa. The first lemur-like primates on the fossil record appeared roughly 60 million years ago in mainland Africa and crossed over to Madagascar shortly thereafter.
The island continued to drift eastward and by the time monkeys appeared on the scene 17-23 million years ago, Madagascar was isolated from their arrival. As highly intelligent and adaptive primates, Monkeys quickly drove the lemur lineage elsewhere in the world toward extinction (a few Strepsirhines -- including bushbabies, lorises, and pottos -- managed to hang on by retaining their nocturnal, solitary, and insectivorous traits).
Madagascar's lemurs -- isolated from evolutionary changes of the world -- radiated into the large island's many niches without much competition or predation. Today lemurs are found in virtually all of Madagascar's ecosystems and share some of the social and behavioral characteristics of monkeys (i.e. forming social groups, eating fruit and vegetation, and being active during the day).
Upper primates did not reach Madagascar until about they learned to navigate the high seas and arrived on boats roughly two thousand years ago. Humans quickly went to work on the island's lemurs, reducing the number of species found in Madagascar by at least 15. The largest species suffered the most and the largest remaining lemur is the Indri which would have been dwarfed by the gorilla-sized species once found on the island.
Today Madagascar is home to roughly 51 "taxa" of lemurs (species, sub-species, and populations from 33 species across 5 families and 14 genera) ranging in size from the 25-gram pygmy mouse lemur to the indri. All these species are endemic to Madagascar (2 lemur species were introduced to the Comoros) giving the country the second highest number of primate species after Brazil, which has with 77 species (only 2 endemic genera and 0 endemic families). And new species are still being discovered -- primate researchers speculate that 10-20 new species of lemurs may be described over the next generation.
Global Importance
According to Russell Mittermeier in The Eighth Continent, although Madagascar "is only one of 92 countries with wild primate populations, it is alone responsible for 21% (14 of 65) of all primate genera and 36% (5 of 14) of all primate families, making it the single highest priority" for primate conservation. "Madagascar is so important for primattes that primatologists divide the world into four major regions: the whole of South and Central America, all of southern and southeast Asia, mainland Africa, and Madagascar, which ranks as a full-fledged region all by itself."
Lemur Varieties
Indriidae -- Indris
| Eastern sifaka | | sifaka laniger |
| Western sifaka | | sifaka occidentalis |
| Diademed sifaka | | Propithecus diadema diadema |
| Milne-Edward's sifaka | | Propithecus diadema edwardsi |
| Silky sifaka | | Propithecus diadema candidus |
| Perrier's sifaka | | Propithecus diadema perrieri |
| Verreaux's sifaka | | Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi |
| Coquerel's sifaka | | Propithecus verreauxi coquereli |
| Decken's sifaka | | Propithecus verreauxi deckeni |
| Crowned sifaka | | Propithecus verreauxi coronatus |
| Golden-crowned sifaka | | Propithecus tattersalli |
| Indri | | Indri indri |
Lemuridae -- True Lemurs
| Eastern grey bamboo lemur | | Hapalemur griseus griseus |
| Western grey bamboo lemur | | Hapalemur griseus ocddentalis |
| Lake Alaotra reed lemur | | Hapalemur griseus alaotrensis |
| Golden bamboo lemur | | Hapalemur aureus |
| Greater bamboo lemur | | Hapalemur simus |
| Ring-tailed lemur | | Lemur catta |
| Mongoose lemur | | Eulemur mongoz |
| Crowned lemur | | Eulemur coronatus |
| Red-bellied lemur | | Eulemur rubriventer |
| Common brown lemur | | Eulemurfulvus fulvus |
| Sanford's brown | | Eulemur fulvus sandfordi |
| White-fronted brown lemur | | Eulemur fulvus albifrons |
| Red-fronted brown lemur | | Eulemurfulvus rufus |
| White-collared brown lemur | | Eulemur fulvus albocollaris |
| Collared brown lemur | | Eulemur fulvus collaris |
| Black lemur | | Eulemur macaco macaco |
| Blue-eyed black lemur | | Eulemur macaco flavifrons |
| Black-and-white ruffed lemur | | Varecia variegata variegata |
| Red ruffed lemur | | Varecia variegata rubra |
Cheirogaleidae -- Mouse lemurs and dwarf lemurs
| Grey mouse lemur | | Microcebus murinus |
| Brown mouse lemur | | Microcebus rufus |
| Pygmy mouse lemur | | Microcebus myoxinus |
| Golden-brown mouse lemur | | Microcebus ravelobensis |
| Hairy-eared dwarf lemur | | Allocebus trichotis |
| Greater dwarf lemur | | Cheirogaleus major |
| Fat-tailed dwarf lemur | | Cheirogaleus medius |
| Coquerel's dwarf lemur | | Mirza coquereli |
| Eastern fork-marked lemur | | Phanerfurdfer furdfer |
| Pariente's fork-marked lemur | | Phanerfurcifer parienti |
| Pale fork-marked lemur | | Phanerfurdfer pallescens |
| Amber Mountain fork-marked lemur | | Phanerfurdfer electromontis |
Megaladapidae -- Weasel or Sportive Lemurs
| Weasel sportive lemur | | Lepilemur mustelinus |
| Small-toothed sportive lemur | | Lepilemur microdon |
| Northern sportive lemur | | Lepilemur septentrionalis |
| Grey-backed sportive lemur | | Lepilemur dorsalis |
| Milne-Edwards sportive lemur | | Lepilemur edwardsi |
| Red-tailed sportive lemur | | Lepilemur ruficaudatus |
| White-footed sportive lemur | | Lepilemur leucopus |
Dauebntoniidae -- Aye-aye
| Aye-aye | | Daubentonia madagascariensis |
Duke University's Lemur taxa - includes extinct lemur species
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