Madagascar lemurs descended from single primate ancestor, finds study

Madagascar lemurs descended from single primate ancestor, finds study
YALE News Release
July 11, 2005

Yale biologists have managed to extract and analyze DNA from giant, extinct lemurs, according to a Yale study published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lemurs of Madagascar

Madagascar is world famous for its lemurs -- primates that look something like a cat crossed with a squirrel and a dog. Lemurs belong to a group of primates known as prosimians that were once distributed worldwide but today have been largely replaced by monkeys. It is only because of Madagascar's isolation that lemurs have managed to survive and flourish. Currently about 60 kinds of lemurs are recognized by scientists, a number that has grown in recent years with the discovery of several new species including two this year. Despite these findings, Madagascar's lemur diversity is considerably poorer than when humans first set foot on the island about 2000 years ago. Since then, the island's largest lemurs species have been hunted to extinction and suffered from habitat loss induced by climate change and human activities (especially land-clearing with fire).

Even with these losses, Madagascar's lemurs display a range of interesting behaviors from singing like a whale (the indri) to extracting insects from tree bark using a long twig-shaped finger (the aye-aye).

more on lemurs

Lepilemur

Ring-tailed lemur

Indri

More lemur photos

Radiocarbon dating of the bones and teeth from which the DNA was obtained reveal that each of the individuals analyzed died well over 1,000 years ago, according to the senior author, Anne Yoder, associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Living lemurs comprise more than 50 species, all of which are unique to the island of Madagascar, which is the world’s fourth largest island and east of Africa. Evolutionary analysis of the DNA obtained from the extinct giants reveals that they, like the living lemurs, are descended from a single primate ancestor that colonized Madagascar more than 60 million years ago, Yoder said.

The biologists extracted DNA from nine subfossil individuals in two of the more bizarre extinct species, Palaeopropithecus and Megaladapis. The first has been likened to tree sloths and the second compared to koala bears. Both ranged in body weights from 100 to 150 pounds, as compared to the largest living lemur, Indri indri, which weighs in at fewer than 15 to 17 pounds.

“The most important conclusion to be drawn from our study is that the phylogenetic placement of subfossil lemurs adds additional support to the hypothesis that non–human primates colonized Madagascar only once,” Yoder said. “However, the limited taxonomic success of our study leaves open the possibility that data from additional taxa will overturn this increasingly robust hypothesis.”

Yoder said the researchers’ results support the close relationship of sloth lemurs (Palaeopropithecus) to living indriids, but Megaladapis does not show a sister–group relationship with the living genus Lepilemur. “The classification of the latter in the family Megaladapidae is misleading,” she said.

Yoder said that damaging effects of moisture, ultraviolet irradiation, and tropical heat on DNA survival likely contributed to the inability to obtain DNA from some species. The only samples to yield DNA from tropical localities were the two individuals that were used as positive controls, Yoder said.

“The results of our study contribute to the mountain evidence that suggests that prospects for ancient DNA studies from the tropics are less promising than those from higher latitudes, but when the results are potentially of such compelling interest, it’s always worth a try,” she said.

YALE News Release

CONTACT: Jacqueline Weaver, 203-432-8555 or jacqueline.weaver -AT- yale.edu
Ancient DNA Confirms Single Origin of Malagasy Primates
Citation: PNAS 10: 5090–5095 (April 2005)

This release originally appeared at www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/05-05-27-02.all.html on June 7th, 2005

Lemur species:

Common name	Scientific name	Local name	Active

Cheirogaleidae	Mouse and Dwarf lemurs		Nocturnal
Hairy-eared Dwarf Mouse-lemur	Allocebus trichotis		Nocturnal
Southern Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus adipicaudatus	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Furry-eared Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus crossleyi	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Greater Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus major	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Western Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus medius	Matavirambo, Kely Be-ohy, Tsidy, Tsidihy	Nocturnal
Lesser Iron Gray Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus minusculus	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Greater Iron Gray Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus ravus	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Sibree's Dwarf Lemur	Cheirogaleus sibreei	Matavirambo	Nocturnal
Gray Mouse-lemur	Microcebus murinus	Tsidy, Koitsiky, Titilivaha, Vakiandri, Pondiky
Pygmy Mouse-lemur	Microcebus myoxinus	Tsidy	Nocturnal
Golden Mouse-lemur	Microcebus ravelobensis	Tsidy	Nocturnal
Red Mouse-lemur	Microcebus rufus	Anakatsidina, Tsidy, Tsitsidy, Tistsihy	Nocturnal
Giant Mouse-lemur or Coquerel's Mouse-lemur	Mirza coquereli	Tsiba, Tilitilivaha, Siba, Setohy, Fitily
Amber Mountain Fork-crowned Lemur	Phaner electromontis	Tanta, Tantaraolana	Nocturnal
Masoala Fork-crowned Lemur	Phaner furcifer	Tanta, Tantaraolana	Nocturnal
Western Fork-crowned Lemur	Phaner pallescens	Tanta, Tantaraolana, Vakivoho	Nocturnal
Sambirano Fork-crowned Lemur	Phaner parienti	Tanta, Tantaraolana	Nocturnal

Daubentoniidae	Aye-aye		Nocturnal
Aye-aye	Daubentonia madagascariensis	Aye-aye, Ahay, Itay-hay, Aiay	Nocturnal

Indridae	Woolly lemurs and allies		Diurnal
Eastern Avahi	Avahi laniger	Avahina, Avahy, Ampongy, Fotsifaka	Nocturnal
Western Avahi	Avahi occidentalis	Fotsife, Tsarafangitra	Nocturnal
Indri lemur	Indri indri indri	Babakoto, Amboanala	Diurnal
Indri lemur	Indri indri variegatus	Babakoto, Amboanala	Diurnal
Coquerel's Sifaka	Propithecus coquereli	Ankomba malandy, Sifaka, Tsibahaka
Crowned Sifaka	Propithecus deckenii coronatus	Tsibahaka, Sifaka	Diurnal
Decken's Sifaka	Propithecus deckenii dekenii	Tsibahaka, Sifaka	Diurnal
Silky Sifaka	Propithecus diadema candidus	Simpona, Simpony	Diurnal
Diademed Sifaka	Propithecus diadema diadema	Simpona, Simpony	Diurnal
Milne-Edwards's Sifaka	Propithecus edwardsi	Simpona, Simpony	Diurnal
Perrier's Sifaka	Propithecus perrieri	Radjako, Ankomba Job	Diurnal
Tattersall's Sifaka	Propithecus tattersalli	Ankomba malandy, Simpona	Diurnal
Verreaux's Sifaka	Propithecus verreauxi	Sifaka	Diurnal

Lemuridae	True lemurs		Diurnal
White-fronted Lemur	Eulemur albifrons	Varika	Diurnal
White-collared Lemur	Eulemur albocollaris	Varika	Diurnal
Red-collared Lemur	Eulemur collaris	Varika	Diurnal
Crowned Lemur	Eulemur coronatus	Varika	Diurnal
Brown Lemur	Eulemur fulvus	Varikamavo, Komba	Diurnal
Black Lemur	Eulemur macaco	Ankomba, Komba	Diurnal
Blue-eyed Black Lemur	Eulemur macaco flavifrons	Ankomba, Komba	Diurnal
Mongoose Lemur	Eulemur mongoz	Komba	Diurnal
Red-bellied Lemur	Eulemur rubriventer	Varikamena	Diurnal
Red-fronted Lemur	Eulemur rufus	Varika, Varikamavo	Diurnal
Sanford's Lemur	Eulemur sanfordi	Ankomba, Beharavoaka	Diurnal
Alaotran Gentle Lemur	Hapalemur alaotrensis	Bandro	Diurnal
Golden Gentle Lemur	Hapalemur aureus	Varibolomena, Bokombolomena	Diurnal
Gray Gentle Lemur	Hapalemur griseus	Varibolomadinika	Diurnal
Sambriano Gentle Lemur	Hapalemur occidentalis	Bekola, Kofi, Ankomba valiha	Diurnal
Ring-tailed Lemur	Lemur catta	Maki, Hira	Diurnal
Broad-nosed Gentle Lemur	Prolemur simus	Varibolomavo, Vari, Varikandra	Diurnal
Red Ruffed Lemur	Varecia rubra	Varimena	Diurnal
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur	Varecia variegata	Varijatsy	Diurnal

Megaladapidae	Sportive lemurs		Nocturnal
Back-striped Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur dorsalis	Apongy	Nocturnal
Milne-Edwards's Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur edwardsi	Boenga, Boengy, Repahaka	Nocturnal
White-footed Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur leucopus	Songiky	Nocturnal
Small-toothed Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur microdon	Trangalavaka, Kotrika or Kotreka, Fitiliky, Itataka, Varikosy	Nocturnal
Mitsinjo Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur mitsinjonensis	Kotrika, Varikosy	Nocturnal
Weasel Lemur	Lepilemur mustelinus	Trangalavaka, Kotrika, Fitiliky, Itataka, Varikosy	Nocturnal
Red-tailed Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur ruficaudatus	Boenga, Boengy	Nocturnal
Ankarana Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur septentrionalis ankaranensis	Mahiabeala, Songiky	Nocturnal
Seal's Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur seali	Songiky	Nocturnal
Northern Sportive Lemur	Lepilemur septentrionalis septentrionalis	Mahiabeala, Songiky	Nocturnal