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They are found exclusively on the island of Madagascar, primarily in forests but with some species also in savannas, shrublands, or wetlands. They range in size from the Margot Marsh's mouse lemur , at 8 cm (3 in) plus a 11 cm (4 in) tail, to the indri , at 90 cm (35 in) plus a 6 cm (2 in) tail.
Lemurs share resemblance with other primates, but evolved independently from monkeys and apes. Due to Madagascar's highly seasonal climate, lemur evolution has produced a level of species diversity rivaling that of any other primate group. Living lemurs range in weight from the 30-gram (1.1 oz) mouse lemur to the 9-kilogram (20 lb) indri.
The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow [3] and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs and larvae out of tree trunks. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate. [4]
The monkey lemurs [3] or baboon lemurs [4] (Archaeolemuridae) are a recently extinct family of lemurs known from skeletal remains from sites on Madagascar dated to 1000 to 3000 years ago. [ 4 ] The monkey lemur family is divided into two genera, Hadropithecus and Archaeolemur , and three species.
Mouse lemurs, the smallest primates in the world, evolved in isolation along with other lemurs on the island of Madagascar.. Lemurs, primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini which branched off from other primates less than 63 million years ago, evolved on the island of Madagascar, for at least 40 million years.
Subfossil lemurs are lemurs from Madagascar that are represented by recent remains dating from nearly 26,000 years ago to approximately 560 years ago (from the late Pleistocene until the Holocene). They include both extant and extinct species, although the term more frequently refers to the extinct giant lemurs. The diversity of subfossil lemur ...
They are represented by the Lemuriformes in Madagascar with one of the highest concentration of the lemurs. One of five families commonly known as lemurs , these animals were once thought to be the evolutionary predecessors of monkeys and apes , but this is no longer considered correct. [ 3 ]
In isolation, the lemurs diversified and filled the niches often filled by monkeys and apes today. [14] In Africa, the lorises and galagos diverged during the Eocene, approximately 40 mya. [11] Unlike the lemurs in Madagascar, they have had to compete with monkeys and apes, as well as other mammals. [15]