Taxonomy of lemurs
Lemurs were first classified in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, lemurs have become restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometers. The relationship between the aye-aye and the rest of the lemur has had the greatest impact on lemur taxonomy at the family rank and above.
About Taxonomy of lemurs in brief
Lemurs were first classified in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, and the taxonomy remains controversial today. Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, lemurs have become restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometers. The relationship between the aye-aye and the rest of the lemur has had the greatest impact on lemur taxonomy at the family rank and above. The recent rise in species numbers is due to both improved genetic analysis and a push in conservation to encourage the protection of isolated and distinct lemur populations. In 2008, 41 of all lemur species were threatened with extinction while 42% were classified as IUCN Red Lista Deficient. The name Lemur derives from the Latin lorises, which refers to the Malagasy primates, which have been known as endemic since the earliest times of recorded history. The term llemur is also used to refer to lemures, which were thought to have rafted to the island from other parts of the world in the late Plethodontic period. They are the smallest primates in the world, and once included some of the largest. Their diversity rivals that of the monkeys and apes found throughout the rest-of-the-world, especially when the recently extinct subfossil le murs are considered. Today, their collective range is restricted to about 60,00 square kilometers, and many face extinction due to habitat destruction and hunting.
They fill many ecological niches normally occupied by monkeys, squirrels, woodpeckers, and large grazing ungulates. They range in size from the 30 g Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, probably the world’s smallest primate, to the extinct 160–200 kg Archaeoindris fontoynonti, the largest known prosimian. They evolved diverse forms of locomotion, varying levels of social complexity, and unique adaptations to the local climate. In addition to the incredible diversity between lemur families, there has also been great diversification among closely related lemurring species. If the extinct sub fossils are included, three families, eight genera, and 17 species would be added to the count. In the first volume of the Naturae Natura Systema 10th edition of the binomial nomenclature, Carl Linneeus created the genus Lemur to include three species: Lemur tigrus, Lemur volatta, and Lemur catta. Although the term Lemurvolatta was intended for llemures, it was soon applied to the Lemurans, which are endemic to Madagascar and are known as lemur volorises. The word llemorises was first intended for the lormur, which was first used for lormorises at the first intended time in the 17th century, but it has since been used for all lemure species.
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This page is based on the article Taxonomy of lemurs published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
