Mammals of Madagascar

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 68. Chapters: Lemurs, Lemuridae, Indriidae, Aye-aye, Cheirogaleidae, List of lemur species, Ring-tailed lemur, Ruffed lemur, Taxonomy of lemurs, Evolutionary history of lemurs, Lemurs of Madagascar, Triaenops menamena, Monticolomys, Macrotarsomys petteri, Fork-marked lemur, Black-and-white ruffed lemur, Ring-tailed lemur vocalizations, Paratriaenops auritus, Voalavo antsahabensis, Red ruffed lemur, Brown-tailed Mongoose, Asian House Shrew, Greater bamboo lemur, Giant mouse lemur, Masoala fork-marked lemur, Madagascar Sucker-footed Bat, Coquerel's giant mouse lemur, Northern giant mouse lemur, Daniel's Tufted-Tailed Rat, Pariente's fork-marked lemur, Hairy-eared dwarf lemur, Greater Hedgehog Tenrec, Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec, Large-eared Tenrec, Amber Mountain fork-marked lemur, Four-toed Rice Tenrec, Mole-like Rice Tenrec, Pale fork-marked lemur, Major's Tufted-Tailed Rat, Betsileo Short-Tailed Rat, Gregarious Short-Tailed Rat, Short-tailed Shrew Tenrec, Naked-nosed Shrew Tenrec, Lesser Long-tailed Shrew Tenrec, Least Shrew Tenrec, Drouhard's Shrew Tenrec, Pale Shrew Tenrec, Voalavoanala, Pygmy Shrew Tenrec, Major's long-tailed tenrec, Greater Long-tailed Shrew Tenrec, Shrew-toothed Shrew Tenrec, Talazac's Shrew Tenrec, Cowan's Shrew Tenrec, Dobson's Shrew Tenrec, Webb's Tufted-Tailed Rat, Nasolo's Shrew Tenrec, Taiva Shrew Tenrec, Dryad Shrew Tenrec, Madagascan Rousette, Tanala Tufted-Tailed Rat, Dormouse Tufted-Tailed Rat, Northern shrew tenrec, Thomas's Shrew Tenrec, Lesser Tufted-Tailed Rat, Gracile Shrew Tenrec, Madagascan Flying Fox, Montane Shrew Tenrec, Jenkins' Shrew Tenrec, Madagascan Fruit Bat, White-tailed Antsangy, Grandidier's Free-tailed Bat, Peters's Sheath-Tailed Bat, Microgale grandidieri, Malagasy Mouse-eared Bat, Mops leucostigma. Excerpt: Lemurs (pronounced US dict: ) are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures (ghosts or spirits) of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species. Although lemurs often are confused with ancestral primates, the anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) did not evolve from them; instead, lemurs merely share morphological and behavioral traits with basal primates. Lemurs arrived in Madagascar around 62 to 65 mya by rafting on mats of vegetation at a time when ocean currents favored oceanic dispersal to the island. Since that time, lemurs have evolved to cope with an extremely seasonal environment and their adaptations give them a level of diversity that rivals that of all other primate groups. Until shortly after humans arrived on the island around 2,000 years ago, there were lemurs as large as a male gorilla. Today, there are nearly 100 species of lemurs, and most of those species have been discovered or promoted to full species status since the 1990s; however, lemur taxonomic classification is controversial and depends on which species concept is used. Even the higher-level taxonomy is disputed, with some experts preferring to place most lemurs within the infraorder Lemuriformes, while others prefer Lemuriformes to contain all living strepsirrhines, placing all lemurs in superfamily Lemuroidea and all lorises and galagos in superfamily Lorisoidea. Ranging in size from 30 g (1.1 oz) to 9 kg (20 lb), lemurs share many common, basal primate traits, such as divergent digits on their hands and feet and nails instead of claws (in most spe...