The species-level diversity of Madagascar's lemurs has increased hugely over the last two decades, growing from 32 species in 1994 to 102 species in 2014. This growth is primarily due to the application of molecular phylogenetic analyses and the phylogenetic species concept to known populations, and few previously unknown lemur populations have been discovered during this time. We report on a new population of dwarf lemurs (Cheirogaleus sp.) from Nosy Hara, a 312-ha island in far northern Madagascar, which constitutes the northernmost distribution record for the genus. The dwarf lemurs appeared to show two characteristics of island populations-insular dwarfism and predator naïveté-that suggest a long isolation, and may thus represent an undescribed taxon. If this is the case, the dwarf lemurs of Nosy Hara are probably one of the rarest primate taxa on Earth.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0479-x | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
December 2024
Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, South Korea.
The gray mouse lemur (), one of the smallest living primates, emerges as a promising model organism for neuroscience research. This is due to its genetic similarity to humans, its evolutionary position between rodents and humans, and its primate-like features encapsulated within a rodent-sized brain. Despite its potential, the absence of a comprehensive reference brain atlas impedes the progress of research endeavors in this species, particularly at the microscopic level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Comp Pathol
November 2024
Pathology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.
Mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp) are small Madagascan strepsirrhine primates increasingly used as an animal model in ageing research. During a period of 10 years, neoplastic disease occurred in 47 grey (Microcebus murinus) and Goodman's (Microcebus lehilahtsara) mouse lemurs from a captive colony in Germany. Approximately half of these tumours appeared histologically as soft tissue tumours (STTs) with a significantly higher proportion of STTs in Goodman's mouse lemurs (87.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Ecol Evol
January 2025
Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (CRBE), UMR5300 Université Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France.
J Exp Biol
November 2024
Unité Ḿécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS UMR 7179, 91800 Brunoy, France.
Ann N Y Acad Sci
October 2024
Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
The dwarf lemurs (Cheirogaleus spp.) of Madagascar are the only obligate hibernators among primates. Despite century-old field accounts of seasonal lethargy, and more recent evidence of hibernation in the western fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius), inducing hibernation in captivity remained elusive for decades.
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