Loris is the
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...
for the
strepsirrhine mammals of the subfamily Lorinae
(sometimes spelled Lorisinae
) in the family
Lorisidae. ''Loris'' is one genus in this subfamily and includes the
slender lorises, ''Nycticebus'' is the genus containing the
slow lorises, and ''Xanthonycticebus'' is the genus name of the
pygmy slow loris.
Description
Lorises are
nocturnal and
arboreal.
They are found in
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
and woodland forests of
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and parts of
southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. Loris locomotion is a slow and cautious climbing form of
quadrupedalism. Some lorises are almost entirely
insectivorous, while others also include
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
s,
gum
Gum may refer to:
Types of gum
* Adhesive
* Bubble gum
* Chewing gum
* Gum (botany), sap or other resinous material associated with certain species of the plant kingdom
** Gum arabic, made from the sap of ''Acacia senegal'', an Old World tree s ...
s,
leaves, and
slugs in their diet.
Female lorises practice
infant parking, leaving their infants behind in trees or bushes. Before they do this, they bathe their young with
allergenic saliva that is acquired by licking patches on the insides of their elbows, which produce a mild toxin that discourages most
predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...
s,
[ though ]orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the gen ...
s occasionally eat lorises.
Taxonomic classification
The family Lorisidae is found within the infraorder Lemuriformes and superfamily Lorisoidea, along with the family Galagidae, the galagos. This superfamily is a sister taxon of Lemuroidea, the lemurs. Within Lorinae, there are ten species (and several more subspecies) of lorises across three genera:
* Family Lorisidae
** Subfamily Perodicticinae
** Subfamily Lorinae
*** Genus '' Loris''
**** Gray slender loris
The gray slender loris (''Loris lydekkerianus'') is a species of primate in the family Loridae. It is native to India and Sri Lanka and inhabits subtropical and tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threat ...
, ''Loris lydekkerianus''
***** Highland slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus grandis''
***** Mysore slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus lydekkerianus''
***** Malabar slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus malabaricus''
***** Northern Ceylonese slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus nordicus''
**** Red slender loris, ''L. tardigradus''
***** Dry Zone slender loris, ''L. tardigradus tardigradus''
***** Horton Plains slender loris, ''L. tardigradus nyctoceboides''
*** Genus '' Xanthonycticebus''Bangka slow loris
The Bangka slow loris (''Nycticebus bancanus'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to southwestern Borneo and the island of Bangka. Originally considered a subspecies or synonym of the Bornean slow loris ('' ...
, ''Nycticebus bancanus''
**** Bengal slow loris, ''N. bengalensis''
**** Bornean slow loris, ''N. borneanus''
**** Sunda slow loris, ''N. coucang''
**** Javan slow loris, ''N. javanicus''
**** Kayan River slow loris
The Kayan River slow loris (''Nycticebus kayan'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to the northern and central highland region of the island of Borneo. The species was originally thought to be a part of th ...
, ''N. kayan''
**** Philippine slow loris, ''N. menagensis''
**** Sumatran slow loris, ''N. hilleri''
**** † ? ''N. linglom'' (fossil, Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...
)
References
{{Authority control
*
Taxa named by John Edward Gray