Lemuroidea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lemuroidea[1]
Indri (Indri indri)
Indri (Indri indri)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirhini
Infraorder: Lemuriformes
Superfamily: Lemuroidea
Gray, 1873

Lemuroidea is the superfamily of strepsirrhine primates that contains many of the lemur species, including true lemurs, sportive lemurs, bamboo lemurs, woolly lemurs, and sifakas. All lemuroids live exclusively on the island of Madagascar and the smaller nearby islands.

There are three families in the Lemuroidea family; Lemuridae, Lepilemuridae and Indriidae. Their distinctive characteristics are a dental tooth comb, a grooming claw on the second digit of their feet, a postorbital bar, no postorbital closure and a primitive nasal region with ethmoid recess.[2]

[edit] Classification

The three families of lemuroids contain 58 species in 9 genera.

* New species according to molecular analysis[3]
** New species according to molecular analysis[4]
*** New species according to molecular analysis[5]
**** New species according to molecular analysis[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 114-121. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. 
  2. ^ Superfamily Lemuroidea (2008-04-14).
  3. ^ Andriaholinirina, N., Fausser, J., Roos, C., Rumpler, Y., et al (2006 February 23). "Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the sportive lemurs (Lepilemur, Primates)". BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: 17. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-6-17. 
  4. ^ Edward E. Louis, Jr., Shannon E. Engberg, Runhua Lei, Huimin Geng, Julie A. Sommer, Richard Randriamampionona, Jean C. Randriamanana, John R. Zaonarivelo, Rambinintsoa Andriantompohavana, Gisele Randria, Prosper, Boromé Ramaromilanto, Gilbert Rakotoarisoa, Alejandro Rooney, and Rick A. Brenneman (2006). "Molecular and morphological analyses of the sportive lemurs (Family Megaladapidae: Genus Lepilemur) reveals 11 previously unrecognized species" (PDF). Texas Tech University Special Publications (49): 1-49. 
  5. ^ Mathias Craul, Elke Zimmermann, Solofo Rasoloharijaona, Blanchard Randrianambinina and Ute Radespiel (2007-05-31). "Unexpected species diversity of Malagasy primates (Lepilemur spp.) in the same biogeographical zone: a morphological and molecular approach with the description of two new species". BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: 83. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-83. 
  6. ^ Palmer, Jane (2008-02-21). Henry Doorly Zoo scientists identify two new lemur species. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.