Archaeoindris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Archaeoindris | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Fossil
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||
| †Archaeoindris fontoynonti Standing, 1909 |
Archaeoindris fontoynonti is an extinct species of Malagasy lemur that was the largest primate to evolve on Madagascar. It weighed about 200kg,[1] more than a silverback gorilla. Archaeoindris is one of five known members of the Palaeopropithecinae subfamily, a part of the Indriidae family. Archaeoindris belongs to a lineage of lemurs called "sloth lemurs" because they are built similarly to modern South American tree sloths. Due to its weight, Archaeoindris was believed to be exclusively or near-exclusively terrestrial. As more fossil material has come to light, however, it turned out that its arms and legs were better adapted for slow, ponderous climbing.
[edit] References
- ^ William L. Jungers, Laurie R. Godfrey, Elwyn L. Simons, and Prithijit S. Chatrath (1997 October 28). "Phalangeal curvature and positional behavior in extinct sloth lemurs (Primates, Palaeopropithecidae)". PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 94(22): 11998–12001.
[edit] External links
 |
This primate-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
