Masoala Fork-crowned Lemur

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Eastern Fork-crowned Lemur[1]
A lithograph from Brehms Tierleben (1860)
A lithograph from Brehms Tierleben (1860)
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cheirogaleidae
Genus: Phaner
Species: P. furcifer
Binomial name
Phaner furcifer
Blainville, 1839

The Masoala Fork-crowned Lemur (Phaner furcifer), also known as the Eastern Fork-marked Lemur, is found in the coastal forests of northern and western Madagascar.

Phaner furcifer subsists on a diet consisting mainly of the gum of trees in temperate deciduous forests. It has become specialized for harvesting this substance. Like most prosimians, it has a "dental comb," which is used to scrape the gum that oozes from insect holes in a tree's surface. This structure consists of a row of lower teeth that are long and forward pointing.[3]

The female experiences estrous for only 3 to 4 days of the entire year, typically in June. She gives birth to a single offspring in November or December. The offspring initially lives in the tree hole of the parents, then is carried by the mother, first ventrally, then dorsally.[3]

[edit] References

Wikispecies has information related to:
  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. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. 
  2. ^ Ganzhorn, J. & Members of the Primate Specialist Group (2000). Phaner furcifer ssp. furcifer. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
  3. ^ a b Nowak, R. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 
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