The Cheirogaleidae are the family of strepsirrhine primates containing the various dwarf and mouse lemurs. Like all other lemurs, cheirogaleids live exclusively on the island of Madagascar.
The gray mouse lemur, grey mouse lemur or lesser mouse lemur, is a small lemur, a type of strepsirrhine primate, found only on the island of Madagascar. Weighing 58 to 67 grams, it is the largest of the mouse lemurs, a group that includes the smallest primates in the world. The species is named for its mouse-like size and coloration and is known locally as tsidy, koitsiky, titilivaha, pondiky, and vakiandry. The gray mouse lemur and all other mouse lemurs are considered cryptic species, as they are nearly indistinguishable from each other by appearance. For this reason, the gray mouse lemur was considered the only mouse lemur species for decades until more recent studies began to distinguish between the species.
The pygmy mouse lemur, also known as Peters' mouse lemur or dormouse lemur, is a primate weighing only 43–55 g (1.5–1.9 oz); it is the second smallest of the mouse lemurs. Its dorsal side is a rufous-brown colour, and creamy-white ventrally. It lives in dry deciduous forests.
The golden-brown mouse lemur, also known as the Lac Ravelobe mouse lemur or the Ravelobe mouse lemur, is part of the family, Cheirogaleidae. These are the smallest species of lemur and are all arboreal, nocturnal, and typically social. All species of Lemur are native to the island of Madagascar. The golden-brown mouse lemur, Microcebus ravelobensis, was first discovered in 1994.
The Sambirano mouse lemur is a small, recently discovered primate and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. The dorsal side is both cinnamon and rufous-cinnamon and is grey ventrally. It has vibrissae that are dark in color.
The giant mouse lemurs are members of the strepsirrhine primate genus Mirza. Two species have been formally described; the northern giant mouse lemur and Coquerel's giant mouse lemur. Like all other lemurs, they are native to Madagascar, where they are found in the western dry deciduous forests and further to the north in the Sambirano Valley and Sahamalaza Peninsula. First described in 1867 as a single species, they were grouped with mouse lemurs and dwarf lemurs. In 1870, British zoologist John Edward Gray assigned them to their own genus, Mirza. The classification was not widely accepted until the 1990s, which followed the revival of the genus by American paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall in 1982. In 2005, the northern population was declared a new species, and in 2010, the World Wide Fund for Nature announced that a southwestern population might also be a new species.
The northern giant mouse lemur, or northern dwarf lemur, is a species of lemur discovered in 2005. They are part of the primate order, and classified in the family Cheirogaleidae. Previously, both populations of giant mouse lemurs were believed to belong to one species. The northern giant mouse lemurs are small nocturnal lemurs endemic to Madagascar. They weigh about 300 grams (11 oz), and have long, bushy tails and relatively small ears. Their large testicles are an indication of their promiscuous copulation system. These lemurs have been found to use communal sleeping nests including multiple males, which is an uncommon behaviour in lemurs.
The crowned lemur is a lemur that is 31–36 cm (12–14 in) long and weighs 2 kg (4.4 lb). Its tail is about 42–51 cm (17–20 in) long.
Claire's mouse lemur, or the Nosy Be mouse lemur, is a newly described species of lemur from the genus of the mouse lemurs (Microcebus). It lives on the island Nosy Bé in the Antsiranana province of Madagascar, and on the mainland near the village of Manehoka, including Lokobe Reserve. The scientific type name, mamiratra, comes from Malagasy and means "clear and bright"; this refers the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation, which has contributed to genetic research on Madagascar. This species is closely related to another new species, "M. species nova # 5"; which is related to the Sambirano mouse lemur, Microcebus sambiranensis, and the northern rufous mouse lemur, Microcebus tavaratra.
The northern rufous mouse lemur, northern brown mouse lemur, or Tavaratra mouse lemur is found in Northern Madagascar from the Ankarana National Park in the West to the river Manambato in Northeast and up to the Irodo river in the North of the Analamerana Special Reserve. The complete distribution range of M. tavaratra is still to be defined as some areas surrounding the described distribution have not been visited yet. For example, M.tavaratra has been reported to possibly occur from the Irodo up to the Montagne des Francais by Louis and collaborators in. Its known distribution cover four protected areas the Ankarana National Park, and the Analamerana Special Reserve both managed by Madagascar National Parks, the Loky-Manambato Region (Daraina) and the Andavakoeira-Andrafiamena protected area, both Managed by the NGO Fanamby
The reddish-gray mouse lemur also known as the gray-brown mouse lemur or rufous-gray mouse lemur, is found in Western Madagascar in the region around Beza Mahafaly Reserve, north to Lamboharana.
Madame Berthe's mouse lemur or Berthe's mouse lemur is the smallest of the mouse lemurs and the smallest primate in the world; the average body length is 9.2 cm (3.6 in) and seasonal weight is around 30 g (1.1 oz). Microcebus berthae is one of many species of Malagasy lemurs that came about through extensive speciation, caused by unknown environmental mechanisms and conditions.
The Amber Mountain fork-marked lemur, also known as the Montagne d'Ambre fork-crowned lemur or Tanta, is a small primate, and like the other lemurs, can only be found on the island of Madagascar. The species is named after the Amber Mountain National Park where they are found.
The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus Microcebus. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar.
Margot Marsh's mouse lemur or the Antafondro mouse lemur is a species of mouse lemur endemic to Madagascar. Its holotype was first collected on 21 May 2006, proposed in 2006 by Andriantompohavana et al., and was formally described in 2008 by E. Lewis, Jr., et al. According to genetic tests, it is genetically distinct from its closest sister taxon, Claire's mouse lemur.
Gerp's mouse lemur is a species of mouse lemur known only from the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, near Mantadia National Park. Its discovery was announced in 2012 by a German and Malagasy research team. The Sahafina Forest had not been studied until 2008 and 2009, when Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP)—a Malagasy-based research and conservation group for which the lemur is named—inventoried the forest's lemurs.
The Marohita mouse lemur is a species of mouse lemur known only from the Marohita Forest in eastern Madagascar, near the village of Marolambo. Specimens were first collected in December 2003, and its discovery was announced in 2013 along with the Anosy mouse lemur. It is a large mouse lemur, weighing up to 89 g (3.1 oz), and lives within the same area as the Goodman's mouse lemur (M. lehilahytsara), Simmons' mouse lemur (M. simmonsi), and the brown mouse lemur (M. rufus), all four of which are nearly identical in appearance. Its fur is rufous on its back and grayish-beige on its underside. Nothing is known about its behavior. Its conservation status was evaluated as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2012, before it was formally described, because its only known habitat had severely degraded between 2003 and 2012.
Primate Conservation is a journal published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group about the world's primates. First published as a mimeographed newsletter in 1981, the journal today publishes conservation research and papers on primate species, particularly status surveys and studies on distribution and ecology. Besides these regular papers, the journal has also been a significant place for primatologists to publish descriptions of new primate species in Primate Conservation.
