Madagascar is a large island in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of southern Africa, east of Mozambique. It has a total area of 587,040 square kilometres (226,660 sq mi) with 581,540 square kilometres (224,530 sq mi) of land and 5,500 square kilometres (2,100 sq mi) of water. Madagascar is the fourth largest island and the 2nd largest island country in the world. The highest point is Maromokotro, in the Tsaratanana Massif region in the north of the island, at 2,876 metres (9,436 ft). The capital Antananarivo is in the Central Highlands near the centre of the island. It has the 25th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,225,259 km2 (473,075 sq mi). Madagascar is 400 kilometres east of mainland Africa.
Lavanify is a mammalian genus from the late Cretaceous of Madagascar. The only species, L. miolaka, is known from two isolated teeth, one of which is damaged. The teeth were collected in 1995–1996 and described in 1997. The animal is classified as a member of Gondwanatheria, an enigmatic extinct group with unclear phylogenetic relationships, and within Gondwanatheria as a member of the family Sudamericidae. Lavanify is most closely related to the Indian Bharattherium; the South American Sudamerica and Gondwanatherium are more distantly related. Gondwanatheres probably ate hard plant material.
Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. They resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for several key differences. Wolf spiders have two very prominent eyes in addition to the other six, while a nursery web spider's eyes are all about the same size. Additionally, female nursery web spiders carry their egg sacs with their jaws and pedipalps instead of attaching them to their spinnerets as wolf spiders do. When the eggs are about to hatch, a female spider builds a nursery "tent", places her egg sac inside, and stands guard outside, hence the family's common name. Like the wolf spiders, however, the nursery web spiders are roaming hunters that don't use webs for catching prey. They have a wide variety of prey, and larger species may prey upon vertebrates, particularly amphibians and fish.
Kittlitz's plover is a small shorebird in the family Charadriidae that breeds near coastal and inland saltmarshes, sandy or muddy riverbanks or alkaline grasslands with short vegetation. It is native to much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Nile Delta and Madagascar. It is thought to be mainly monogamous and has monomorphic plumage.
Androstachys johnsonii, the Lebombo ironwood, is a medium-sized Afrotropical tree species, and the sole member of the genus Androstachys in the Picrodendraceae. It is slow-growing, evergreen to deciduous, and dioecious, with flowers that are wind-pollinated. It is native to southeastern Africa and Madagascar, where it generally occurs gregariously on rocky hillsides, particularly in hot and dry situations. It produces a hard, durable wood which is of economic interest. Its specific name commemorates W. H. Johnson, a 19th-century Director of Agriculture in Mozambique. Four related species which are native to Madagascar, are usually placed in genus Stachyandra.
The Mauritian tomb bat is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae that is found in central and southern Africa and Madagascar. It was discovered in 1818 by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and is characterized by an all-white ventral surface, grizzled dorsal coloration, and conical face. It has exceptionally good eyesight, a trait which is common in old world bats and enables it to find roosting locations. It has adapted itself to a wide range of habitats including subarid scrub to semi-tropical savanna and can be found throughout much of Africa south of the Sahara, including many of the surrounding islands. They often seek out refuge in cool dry areas. Mauritian tomb bats help control pest populations, including insects that carry human diseases. These bats tend to be nocturnal hunters and their normal prey consists of moths, butterflies, and termites. Not prone to large scale roosting, T. mauritianus is most often spotted on the sides of buildings or on the trunks of trees in groups of around five individuals. They breed on average once or twice a year and rear usually one pup, though twins are occasionally reported. They usually deposit their hungry offspring in areas where they can feed ferociously, most often in berry bushes. This species is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List due their wide distribution and stable population.Apart from Mauritius.
The Madagascar cuckoo-hawk, also known as the Madagascar baza or the Madagascan cuckoo falcon, is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to Madagascar.
The Malagasy sacred ibis is a relatively large, heavily built ibis endemic to the west coast of Madagascar, and Aldabra on the Seychelles.
Archbold's newtonia is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. The birds have a greyish brown back and tail, with a rufous forecrown and a buffy white belly, throat, and undertail coverts. They have a conspicuous rufous eye-ring, accompanied with a black bill and pale yellow eyes. The species is sexually monomorphic, and there is no major difference between the sexes. There is no breeding plumage for the males.
Junonia oenone, the blue pansy or dark blue pansy, is a Nymphalid butterfly native to Africa. "Blue pansy" is also used in India to describe Junonia orithya.
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.
Ravensara is a genus of trees and shrubs of the family Lauraceae and endemic to the island of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. The bark, leaves and fruit of the various species are rich in aromatic essential oils. In a recent generic classification of Lauraceae based on DNA sequence data by Chanderbali et al. in 2001, it was found to be part of a strongly supported clade that also includes Beilschmiedia, Potameia, Cryptocarya, Endiandra and Aspidostemon.
Durrell's vontsira is a Madagascan mammal in the family Eupleridae of the order Carnivora. It is most closely related to the brown-tailed mongoose, with which it forms the genus Salanoia. The two are genetically similar, but morphologically distinct, leading scientists to recognize them as separate species. After an individual was observed in 2004, the animal became known to science and S. durrelli was described as a new species in 2010. It is found only in the Lac Alaotra area.
Bharattherium is a mammal that lived in India during the Maastrichtian and possibly the Paleocene. The genus has a single species, Bharattherium bonapartei. It is part of the gondwanathere family Sudamericidae, which is also found in Madagascar and South America during the latest Cretaceous. The first fossil of Bharattherium was discovered in 1989 and published in 1997, but the animal was not named until 2007, when two teams independently named the animal Bharattherium bonapartei and Dakshina jederi. The latter name is now a synonym. Bharattherium is known from a total of eight isolated fossil teeth, including one incisor and seven molariforms.
Petter's big-footed mouse, is a Madagascan rodent in the genus Macrotarsomys. With a head and body length of 150 mm (5.9 in) and body mass of 105 g (3.7 oz), It is the largest species of its genus. The upperparts are brown, darkest in the middle of the back, and the underparts are white to yellowish. The animal has long whiskers, short forelimbs, and long hindfeet. The tail ends in a prominent tuft of long, light hairs. The skull is robust and the molars are low-crowned and cuspidate.
Daniel's tufted-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It was discovered in 2003 in the Parc National de l’Isalo in south-central Madagascar. It is named for Daniel Rakotondravony, professor of animal biology at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Petter's tufted-tailed rat is a rodent in the genus Eliurus found in lowland eastern Madagascar. First described in 1994, it is most closely related to the smaller Eliurus grandidieri. Virtually nothing is known of its natural history, except that it occurs in rainforest and is nocturnal and solitary. It is threatened by destruction and fragmentation of its habitat and is listed as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List.
Fragum fragum is a species of cockle, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae. It is commonly known as the white strawberry cockle and is found in the western Indo-Pacific Ocean. It is the type species of the genus Fragum.
Diodora rueppellii, common name the Rüppell's keyhole limpet, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fissurellidae, the keyhole limpets.
The Madagascar sheath-tailed bat is a species of sac-winged bat found in Madagascar.
