Lemur taxa (after Mittermeier et al, The Lemurs of
Madagascar0)
(Extinct sub-fossil families, genera and species are marked
thus, some extinct taxa from Tattersall, The Primates
of Madagascar4, and
Garbutt13)
Order Primates, Suborder: Prosimii/Strepsirrhini, Infraorder: Lemuriformes
Subfamily Megaladapinae
Subgenus Peloriadapis
The taxonomy of the living and sub-fossil lemurs of Madagascar is in dispute. There are very few fossils available. More species are still being discovered.
Among the Lemuridae the genus Eulemur was recently created (before 1988 these species had been placed in the genus Lemur)1. Several subspecies (E.f. collaris & E.f. albocollaris) of Eulemur fulvus might be species in their own right2. Various people have suggested that Lemur and Hapalemur should be synonimized, there is a possibility that Lemur catta is actually more closely related to H. aureus & H. griseus than H. simus is3. H. simus has been synonimized with Prohapalemur gallieni. Earlier works claimed that Hapalemur belongs in the Lepilemuridae (now Megaladapidae)4. A new subspecies of H. griseus (H. g. meridionalis) has been reported near Fort Dauphin in the south5. The genus Varecia perhaps is sufficiently different from the other genera in Lemuridae to warrant its own family.3,7 There should perhaps be more than two subspecies of V. v. given the wide range of black and white color patterns that are now classed as V.v.v.4,6 At one point the extinct, sub-fossil genus of Pachylemur was placed within Varecia.4
Among the Megaladapidae, there is some dispute as to whether the genus Lepilemur should have one species with many subspecies or many species4,0. The full extent of the species/subspecies diversity of the one living genus in this family has probably not been determined.0 Ten years ago the genus Hapalemur was classified with Lepilemur and the extinct Megalapidae was not.4
The Cheirogaleidae have not been well studied and new taxa are being discovered8,17 (and old ones resurrected).9 Rowe10 divides both Cheirogaleus species into two subspecies each while Mittermeier does not.0 Rowe places Mizra coquereli in Microcebus.10 The various Microcebus ssp. have at one time been considered subspecies of Microcebus murinus.
New species of Indridae have recently been discovered.11,18 There is some question as to whether some of the subspecies of Propithecus diadema should be species in there own right. Rumpler12 suggests (and Thalmann et al18 supports) that Avahi should have two species (based on chromosomal studies), and Mitermeier follows him0, while Rowe10 and earlier works4 gives Avahi laniger two subspecies. Thalmann et al18 proposes a third species of the genus.
There is little doubt about the taxonomy of Daubentoniidae.
There is a question as to whether all the primates of Madagascar come from one radiation, as current molecular data suggest14, or that the Cheirogaleidae are a separate radiation and closer to African galagos and lorises than to the other Malagasy primates15,4,16.
0 Mittermeier, et al, 1994, Lemurs of Madagascar, Conservation International
1Simons & Rumpler, 1988, "Eulemur, a new generic name for species of Lemur other than Lemur catta", C. R. Academy of Science,
2 Wyner, Yeal, et al, 1999, "Species concepts and determination of historic gene flow patterns in Eulemur fulvus complex", Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 66:(1), 39-56
3 Macedonia et al, 1994, "Phylogeny of the Lemuridae", Folia Primatologica, 63(1):1-43
4 Tattersall, I. 1982. The Primates of Madagascar. Columbia University Press, New York.
5 Warter, S., Randrianasolo, G., Dutrillaux, B. and Rumpler, Y. 1987. "Cytogenetic study of a new subspecies of Hapalemur griseus". Folia Primatologica 48:50-55.
Warter, S. and Tattersall, I. 1994. Update to the article “Cytogenetic study of a new subspecies of Hapalemur griseus”. Folia Primatologica 63:170.
6 Groves CP, 1989, A Theory of Human and Primate Evolution, Oxford University Press, p: 89
7 Delpero, M., et al, 1995, "Phylogenetic Relationships among Malagasy Lemurs as revealed by Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Analysis", Primates, 36:(3) 431-440.
8 Zimmermann, E, 1998, "Sympatric mouse lemurs in northwestern Madagascar: a new rufous mouse lemur species (Microcebus ravelobensis)", Folia Primatologica, 69(2) 106-114
9 Schmid J, Kappeler PM, 1994, "Sympatric mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) in western Madagascar", Folia Primatologica, 63: 162-170
10 Rowe, N, 1996, The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates, Pogonias Press
11 Simons, EL, 1988, "A new species of Propithecus (Primates) from northeast Madagascar", Folia Primatologica, 50:143-151
12 Rumpler, Y, et al, 1990 "Chromosomal evolution in Malagasy lemurs, XII chromosomal banding study of Avahi laniger occidentalis (syn: Lichanotus laniger occidentalis) and cytogenetic data in favor of its classification in a species apart- Avahi occidentalis", American Journal of Primatology 21(4) 307-316
13 Garbutt, N. 1999, Mammals of Madagascar, Yale University Press
14 Yoder et al, 1996, "Ancient single origin for Malagasy primates", Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 93:5122-5126
15 Szalay FS, and Katz CC, 1973, "Phylogeny of lemurs, galagos, and lorises", Folia Primatologica, 19:88-103
16 Swartz JH, and Tattersal I, 1985, "Evolutionary relationships of living lemurs and lorises (Mammalia, Primates) and their potential affinities with European Eocene Adapidae.", Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 60:1-100
17 Rasoloarison RM, Goodman SM, Ganzhorn JU; 2000, "Taxonomic revision of mouse lemurs (Microcebus) in the western portions of Madagascar", International Journal of Primatology, 21:(6) 963-1019
18 Thalmann U, Geissmann T; 2000 "Distribution and geographic variation in western wooly lemur (Avahi occidentalis) with descripition of a new species (A. unicolor)", International Journal of Primatology, 21:(6) 915-941
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