Peleng tarsier

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Peleng tarsier [1]
Tarsius Peleng.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Family: Tarsiidae
Genus: Tarsius
Species:
T. pelengensis
Binomial name
Tarsius pelengensis
Sody  [ fr ], 1949
Tarsius pelengensis range.png
Range of the Peleng tarsier

The Peleng tarsier (Tarsius pelengensis), or the Peleng Island tarsier, is a nocturnal primate found on the island of Peleng, just east of Sulawesi, Indonesia. In western Peleng, the animal is called Lakasinding, while in the east, Siling. [3]

Contents

Description

Tarsiers are small, agile primates, adapted for climbing, leaping and foraging at night. They have long fingers and toes with gripping pads, large eyes, large ears and greyish fur. The body is about 12.5 cm (5 in) long, with a tail double this length. The adult weight is generally between 100 and 140 g (3.5 and 4.9 oz), with males tending to be slightly larger than females. [4]

Distribution and habitat

The Peleng tarsier is endemic to the island of Peleng, off the east coast of Sulawesi, and it may also be present on other smaller islands of the Banggai Archipelago. The natural habitat of this tarsier is primary forest; however, illegal logging and forest clearance has reduced the primary forest of the island to about 9% of its original extent. Little is known about the habitat requirement for this species, but other tarsier species have been found in secondary forest, or other non-primary habitat, so it seems likely that the Peleng tarsier can occupy similar habitat. Secondary forest occupies about 63% of the island, making 72% of the surface area potentially providing suitable habitat. [2]

Ecology

Tarsiers are social and tend to live in family groups with a home range. They are carnivorous, feeding on insects, spiders and other small arthropods as well as small vertebrates. [5] During the day they sleep in concealed locations in tangled vegetation a few metres off the ground, emerging at dusk to forage during the night. [5]

Like other tarsiers, this species can turn its head through almost 180 degrees in each direction, much like an owl. [5] [6] Breeding pairs communicate by making characteristic duetting calls. Due to the great similarity of these calls to those of Dian's tarsier (Tarsius dentatus), the two species are thought to be closely related. Studies of the calls of tarsiers on Sulawesi and the surrounding islands enable cryptic species to be distinguished from one another, and indicate that there may be four as yet undescribed species. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarsier</span> Family of dry nosed primates

Tarsiers are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is, itself, the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was, prehistorically, more globally widespread, all of the species living today are restricted to Maritime Southeast Asia, predominantly being found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine tarsier</span> Species of primate

The Philippine tarsier, known locally as mawumag in Cebuano and other Visayan languages, and magô in Waray, is a species of tarsier endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the southeastern part of the archipelago, particularly on the islands of Bohol, Samar and Leyte. It is a member of the approximately 45-million-year-old family Tarsiidae, whose name is derived from its elongated "tarsus" or ankle bone. Formerly a member of the genus Tarsius, it is now listed as the only member of the genus Carlito, a new genus named after the conservationist Carlito Pizarras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sangihe tarsier</span> Species of primate

The Sangihe tarsier, also known as Sangihe Island tarsier, is a small primate found on Sangir Island, which is located about 200 kilometers north-east of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. In 2008 a population of the Sangihe tarsier was determined to be a distinct species, the Siau Island tarsier. Locally in the Sangihe dialect of Sangir language, tarsiers are called Senggasi or Higo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horsfield's tarsier</span> Species of primate

Horsfeld's tarsier is the only species of tarsier in the genus Cephalopachus. Named by American naturalist Thomas Horsfield, it is also referred to as western tarsier. The species occurs on Borneo, Sumatra and nearby islands and is, like other members of the group, entirely nocturnal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dian's tarsier</span> Species of primate

Dian's tarsier, also known as the Diana tarsier, is a nocturnal primate endemic to central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Its head-body length is 11.5–12 centimetres (4.5–4.7 in) and it has a tail of 22 centimetres (8.7 in). Dian's tarsier lives in rainforests. It was formerly called T. dianae, but that has been shown to be a junior synonym.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy tarsier</span> Species of primate

The pygmy tarsier, also known as the mountain tarsier or the lesser spectral tarsier, is a nocturnal primate found in central Sulawesi, Indonesia, in an area with lower vegetative species diversity than the lowland tropical forests. The pygmy tarsier was believed to have become extinct in the early 20th century. Then, in 2000, Indonesian scientists accidentally killed one while trapping rats. The first pygmy tarsiers seen alive since the 1920s were found by a research team led by Dr. Sharon Gursky and Ph.D. student Nanda Grow from Texas A&M University on Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in August 2008. The two males and single female were captured using nets, and were radio collared to track their movements. As the first live pygmy tarsiers seen in 80-plus years, these captures dispelled the belief among some primatologists that the species was extinct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectral tarsier</span> Species of mammal

Spectral tarsier or Selayar tarsier is a species of tarsier found on the island of Selayar in Indonesia. It is apparently less specialized than the Philippine tarsier or Horsfield's tarsier; for example, it lacks adhesive toes. It is the type species for the genus Tarsius. While its range used to also include the population on nearby southwestern Sulawesi, this population has been reclassified as a separate species, Tarsius fuscus. Some of the earlier research published on Tarsius spectrum refers to the taxon that was recently reclassified and elevated to a separate species, the Gursky's spectral tarsier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lariang tarsier</span> Species of primate

The Lariang tarsier is a recently described tarsier occurring in the western part of the central core of Sulawesi. Six museum specimens of this species are known, two of which have been misidentified as the pygmy tarsier before their correct identity came out. This species has been named after the Lariang River, an important river in the part of Sulawesi where this species occurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulawesi masked owl</span> Species of owl

The Sulawesi masked owl is a species of owl in the family Tytonidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Sangihe and Peleng. It is listed by the IUCN as being of least concern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banggai cuscus</span> Species of marsupial

The Banggai cuscus is a species of cuscus, a type of possum. It is found in the Peleng and Sula Islands to the east of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

<i>Scotophilus</i> Genus of bats

Scotophilus is a genus of vespertilionid bats commonly called yellow bats. They are found in southern Asia and Africa. They are the only members of the tribe Scotophilini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siau Island tarsier</span> Species of primate

The Siau Island tarsier is a species of tarsier from the tiny volcanic island of Siau in Indonesia. The T. tumpara species is one of 14 species and 7 subspecies in the tarsier family called "Tarsiidae". They belong to the Haplorrhini suborder, known as the "dry-nosed" primates. The tarsier's eyes are so big that they do not move in its socket and they are almost as big as its brain. Locally in the Siau dialect of Sangir language, the tarsiers are called Tumpara. The name differs from the Sangihe dialect which called tarsiers, Senggasi or Higo, these names are used for the Sangihe tarsier instead.

<i>Tarsius</i> Genus of primates

Tarsius is a genus of tarsiers, small primates native to islands of Southeast Asia. Until 2010, all tarsier species were typically assigned to this genus, but a revision of the family Tarsiidae restored the generic status of Cephalopachus and created a new genus Carlito.

Wallace's tarsier, Tarsius wallacei, is a species of Sulawesi tarsier. It is found in the forests of what is referred to geologically as the neck of Sulawesi where there are two separate populations. It is a small brown arboreal primate of the infraorder Tarsiiformes less than 15 cm (6 in) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makassar tarsier</span> Species of primate

The Makassar tarsier, also known locally as Balao Cengke, is a species of tarsier. Its range is in Indonesia in the southwestern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, near Makassar. At one point the taxon was downgraded to a junior synonym of the spectral tarsier. However, when that species' range was restricted to the population on a single island near Sulawesi, this nomen was resurrected to contain the remainder of that species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gursky's spectral tarsier</span> Species of primate

Gursky's spectral tarsier, also known locally as Wusing, is a species of tarsier found in the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. A recent taxonomic revision split this species off from the spectral tarsier and other tarsier species based on difference in vocalisations and pelage. These tarsiers, like other species of primates, are able to communicate with other individuals of the same species through flexible call patterns, in which they output different note patterns based on their duet partner's calls.

The Jatna’s tarsier, also known locally as Mimito, is a species of tarsier endemic to the northern Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Indonesia. Previously classified together with the Spectral tarsier, this species was reclassified and elevated as a separate species in 2017 due to their distinct and separate acoustic duet calls between males and females.

Niemitz's tarsier is a species of tarsier. It was named in honor of the German evolutionary biologist Carsten Niemitz in 2019. The species is found on an archipelago off the coast of Sulawesi called the Togian Islands. In Indonesian it is called bunsing, tangkasi or podi while Niemitz's tarsier has been suggested as the English common name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulawesi lowland rain forests</span> Ecoregion in Sulawesi, Indonesia

The Sulawesi lowland rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion includes the lowlands of Sulawesi and neighboring islands.

References

  1. Groves, C. P. (2005). "Order Primates". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. 1 2 Shekelle, M (2020). "Tarsius pelengensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T21494A17977515. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T21494A17977515.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. "BAB II HEWAN LANGKA TARSIUS" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  4. Yustian, Indra (2007). Ecology and Conservation Status of Tarsius bancanus saltator on Belitung Island, Indonesia. Cuvillier Verlag. pp. 7–9. ISBN   978-3-86727-254-4.
  5. 1 2 3 Gron, K.J. (1 December 2010). "Tarsier". Primate Info Net. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  6. Wright, Patricia C.; Simons, Elwyn L.; Gursky, Sharon (2003). Tarsiers: Past, Present, and Future. Rutgers University Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-8135-3236-3.
  7. Burton, J.A. (November 19, 2010). "Geographical variation in duet songs of Sulawesi tarsiers: evidence for new cryptic species in south and southeast Sulawesi". International Journal of Primatology. 31 (6): 1123–1146. doi:10.1007/s10764-010-9449-8. ISSN   1573-8604. S2CID   32358378.