The Sambirano mouse lemur (''Microcebus sambiranensis'') is a small, recently discovered

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

and like the other

mouse lemur The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus ''Microcebus''. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar. Mouse lemurs have a combined head, body and tail length of and weigh , making them the smallest primates (the smallest sp ...

s can only be found on the island of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The dorsal side is both cinnamon and rufous-cinnamon and is grey ventrally. It has

vibrissae Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; vibrissa; ) are a type of stiff, functional hair used by most therian mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarser as t ...

that are dark in color. The species was discovered in northwestern Madagascar, in the

Ankarana Special Reserve Ankarana Special Reserve is a protected area in northern Madagascar created in 1956. It is a small, partially vegetated plateau composed of 150-million-year-old middle Jurassic limestone. With an average annual rainfall of about , the underlying r ...

, where vegetation remains dense, after a survey was completed of the area. It was named as a separate species at the same time as the

Madame Berthe's mouse lemur Madame Berthe's mouse lemur (''Microcebus berthae'') or Berthe's mouse lemur is the smallest of the mouse lemurs and the smallest primate in the world; the average body length is and seasonal weight is around . ''Microcebus berthae'' is one of ...

(''Microcebus berthae'') and northern rufous mouse lemur (''Microcebus tavaratra''). Foliage tree sleeping sites prevent predatorial species interaction with Sambirano Mouse Lemurs. Sambirano mouse lemurs are endemic to Madagascar and are currently prone to extinction. Long term

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

in northwestern Madagascar may facilitate the conservation of this species.

References

Mammals described in 2000 Mouse lemurs {{lemur-stub