Vol. 15 - Deutsches Primatenzentrum

Lemur News Vol. 15, 2010 Page 67
Fenn, M.D. 2003. The spiny forest ecoregion. Pp. 1525-1530.
In: S.M. Goodman; J.P. Benstead (eds.). The Natural History
of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ganzhorn, J.U.; Goodman, S.M.; Dehgan, A. 2003. Effects of
forest fragmentation on small mammals and lemurs. Pp.
1228-1234. In: S.M. Goodman; J.P. Benstead (eds.). The
Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.
Jolly, A. 2009a. Coat conditions of ringtailed lemurs, Lemur
catta, at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar: I. Differences by
age, sex, density and tourism, 1996-2006. Am. J. Primatol.
71: 191-198.
Jolly, A. 2009b. Coat conditions of ringtailed lemurs, Lemur
catta, at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar: II. Coat and tail
alopecia associated with Leucaena leucocephala. Am. J.
Primatol. 71: 199-205.
Jolly, A; Koyama, N; Rasamimanana, H; Crowley, H; Williams,
G.2006.Berenty Reserve:a research site in southern Madagascar.Pp.32-42.In:A.Jolly,R.W.Sussman,N.Koyama,H.
Rasamimanana (eds.). Ringtailed Lemur Biology: Lemur
catta in Madagascar. Springer Verlag, New York.
Kenagy, G.J.; Pearson, O.P. 2000. Life with fur and without:
experimental field energetics and survival of naked meadow
voles. Oecologia 122: 220-224.
Ling, J.K. 1970. Pelage and molting in wild mammals with
special reference to aquatic forms.Q.Rev.Biol.45:16-54.
Mundry, R; Fischer, J. 1998. Use of statistical programs for
nonparametric tests of small samples often leads to
incorrect P values: examples from Animal Behaviour.
Anim. Behav. 56: 256-259.
Norscia, I.; Palagi, E. 2010. Fragment quality and distribution
of the arboreal primate Propithecus verreauxi in the spiny
forest of south Madagascar. J. Trop. Ecol. DOI:
10.1017/S0266467410000519.
Norscia,I.;Palagi E.2008.Berenty 2006:census of Propithecus
verreauxi and possible evidence of population stress. Int. J.
Primatol. 29: 1099-1115.
Scott, D.W.; Miller, W.H.; Griffin, C.E. 2001. Structure and
function of skin.Muller and Kirk’s Small Animal Dermatology,
6th ed. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia.
Seddon, N.; Tobias, J; Yount, J; Ramanampamonjy, J.M.;
Butchart,S;Randrianizahana H.2000.Conservation issues
and priorities in the Mikea forest of south-western Madagascar.
Oryx 34: 287-304.
Siegel,S.;Castellan,N.J.Jr.1988.Nonparametric Statistics for
the Behavioral Sciences, Second edition. MacGraw-Hill,
New York.
Rediscovery of Sibree’s dwarf lemur in
the fragmented forests of Tsinjoarivo,
central-eastern Madagascar
Marina B. Blanco
Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts,
240 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA,
mbblanco@anthro.umass.edu
The recent genetic confirmation of a rare dwarf lemur
species, C. sibreei, at Tsinjoarivo is bitter-sweet. The excitement
of reporting the first known living population of this
species is tainted by conservation concerns, as the forest
fragment in which Sibree’s dwarf lemurs were captured is
highly disturbed and targeted for illicit logging. This species,
like many others inhabiting rapidly degrading forests, faces
the serious threat of extinction.
Taxonomic background of the genus, first field discovery,
and subsequent recognition of C. sibreei
During the 19th century,the small nocturnal lemurs of Madagascar
were clumped in a chaotic array of species and genera.
For most of the 20th century,however,dwarf lemurs (Cheirogaleus)
were classified in only two species: the eastern C.
major and the western C.medius (Schwarz,1931).Around the
turn of the century, Groves (2000) conducted a taxonomic
revision of the genus on the basis of morphological analysis
of museum specimens and increased the species number to
seven: C.medius,C.adipicaudatus,C.major,C.ravus,C.crossleyi,
C. minusculus and C. sibreei. This last species, in fact, had been
originally described by the Swiss naturalist Forsyth Major in
1896 during one of his expeditions to Madagascar (Forsyth
Major, 1896). He had named it Chirogale sibreei in honor of
fellow naturalist James Sibree,who had spent more than fifty
years in Madagascar and had written extensively about its
people, fauna, flora and geology. Forsyth Major published
measurements of an individual "obtained from the neighbourhood
of Ankeramadinika," a locality vaguely described
by its discoverer as "one day’s journey to the east of Antananarivo",but
in fact a well-known village at the time,located in
the central high plateau on the road that connected Antananarivo
to Mahatsara on the east coast (Capitaine "X",
1901). In his taxonomic revision, Groves (2000) included as
Cheirogaleus sibreei not only the holotype from Ankeramadinika
(currently housed at the Natural History Museum in
London) but also three additional specimens (3 skins and 1
skull), two of which came from Ampasindava, northwestern
Madagascar, and one from an unclear provenance (Imerina,
which refers to a region of the central highlands around
Antananarivo).
The taxonomic shrinkage of Cheirogaleus
The increase in the number of species within the genus
Cheirogaleus was not surprising because dwarf lemurs occupy
a wide variety of habitats in Madagascar,and their close relatives,the
mouse lemurs (Microcebus), had undergone a taxonomic
explosion of their own with more than 10 species
described during the past 15 years (Louis et al.,2008;Olivieri
et al., 2007; Radespiel et al., 2008). However, Groves’ 2000
revision of dwarf lemur taxonomy did not escape criticism,
not least of which had to do with the criteria that he used to
define species, the lack of reliable locality information from
museum specimens, and the absence of on-the-ground surveys
to assess geographic boundaries and variation among
species (Blanco et al., 2009; Tattersall, 2007). A recent and
more comprehensive revision of dwarf lemur taxonomy was
carried out by Groeneveld and colleagues, who compiled
genetic and morphometric data from field as well as museum
specimens from a variety of localities across Madagascar,
including some of the specimens studied by Groves (Groeneveld
et al., 2009; 2011). This research showed overall consistency
between morphological and genetic data in recognizing
only three Cheirogaleus species: C. medius, C. major
and C. crossleyi. Individuals that previously had been assigned
to C. adipicaudatus fell within the C. medius clade, and those
named as C.ravus grouped with C.major.Results were inconclusive
for C.minusculus and C.sibreei because holotype specimens
were not available for sampling and their genetic affiliation
could not be determined. Genetic data from one of the
C. sibreei museum specimens from Ampasindava linked this
specimen to C. medius. Nevertheless, the C. sibreei holotype
from Ankeramadinika was larger and did not group morphologically
with other C. medius. This suggested that the individuals
from Ampasindava may have been misclassified by
Groves as C. sibreei (Groeneveld et al., 2010). The status of
this species remained equivocal.
Second field discovery of C. sibreei, at last
The story of a dwarf lemur named "May" told by Mitchell
Irwin (2002) turned out to be rather prophetic. Irwin’s
research team rescued this dwarf lemur badly burned in a