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

primate Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...

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 less than , making them the smallest primates (the smallest spe ...

s can only be found on the island of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

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

vibrissae Vibrissae (; singular: vibrissa; ), more generally called Whiskers, are a type of stiff, functional hair used by mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarse ...

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

Ankarana Special Reserve Ankarana Special Reserve in northern Madagascar was 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 rocks have been e ...

, 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 The northern rufous mouse lemur (''Microcebus tavaratra''), northern brown mouse lemur, or Tavaratra mouse lemur is found in northern Madagascar from the Ankarana Special Reserve in the west to the Manambato River in the northeast, and up to th ...

(''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 (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands ( forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debat ...

in northwestern Madagascar may facilitate the conservation of this species.

References

Mammals described in 2000 Mouse lemurs {{lemur-stub