rekordy: Evolution of lemurs

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Lemurs, primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini which branched off from other primates less than 63 million years ago, evolved on the island of Madagascar, for at least 40 million years. They share some traits with the most basal primates, and thus are often confused as being ancestral to modern monkeys, apes, and humans. Instead, they merely resemble ancestral primates. Lemurs are thought to have evolved during the Eocene or earlier, sharing a closest common ancestor with lorises, pottos, and galagos (lorisoids). Fossils from Africa and some tests of nuclear DNA suggest that lemurs made their way to Madagascar between 40 and 52 mya. Other mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence com…

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Lemurs were first classified in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, and the taxonomy remains controversial today, with approximately 70 to 100 species and subspecies recognized, depending on how the term "species" is defined. Having undergone their own independent evolution on Madagascar, lemurs have diversified to fill many ecological niches normally filled by other types of mammals. They include the smallest primates in the world, and once included some of the largest. Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, lemurs have become restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 sq mi), and many face extinction. Concerns over lemur conservation have aff…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus Microcebus. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar. Mouse lemurs have a combined head, body and tail length of 20–30 centimetres (7.9–11.8 in) and weigh 30–65 grams (1.1–2.3 oz), making them the smallest primates (the smallest species being Madame Berthe's mouse lemur); however, their weight fluctuates in response to daylight duration. Lemurs and mouse lemurs were announced by the IUCN as the most endangered of all vertebrates. There were two known mouse lemur species in 1992; by 2016, there were 24. It was estimated that the 24 mouse lemur species evolved from a common ancestor 18–11 million years ago. They can live for abo…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), grey mouse lemur or lesser mouse lemur is a small lemur, a type of strepsirrhine primate, found only on the island of Madagascar. Weighing 58 to 67 grams (2.0 to 2.4 oz), it is the largest of the mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus), a group that includes the smallest primates in the world. The species is named for its mouse-like size and coloration and is known locally (in Malagasy) as tsidy, koitsiky, titilivaha, pondiky, and vakiandry. The gray mouse lemur and all other mouse lemurs are considered cryptic species, as they are nearly indistinguishable from each other by appearance. For this reason, the gray mouse lemur was considered the only mouse le…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The evolutionary history of the primates can be traced back 57-90 million years. One of the oldest known primate-like mammal species, Plesiadapis, came from North America; another, Archicebus, came from China. Other such early primates include Altiatlasius and Algeripithecus, which were found in Northern Africa. Other similar basal primates were widespread in Eurasia and Africa during the tropical conditions of the Paleocene and Eocene. Purgatorius is the genus of the four extinct species believed to be among the earliest example of a primate or a proto-primate, a primatomorph precursor to the Plesiadapiformes, dating to as old as 66 million years ago. The surviving tropical population of p…

Evidence: — • authority: 92

The locomotor behavior of subfossil Malagasy sloth-lemurs (Strepsirrhini: Palaeopropithecidae) and koala-lemurs (Strepsirrhini: Megaladapidae): new insights from limb trabecular bone. The locomotion of Malagasy Quaternary subfossil lemurs—including palaeopropithecids (‘sloth-lemurs’) and megaladapids (‘koala-lemurs’)—has been investigated on abundant postcranial remains. Proposed strategies include some without living primate parallels, including sloth-like suspensory arboreality in palaeopropithecids, although the degree of suspensory behaviour in palaeopropithecids, or locomotor diversity in koala-lemurs are poorly understood. Differently from external morphology, internal bone structure…