The southern lesser bamboo lemur (''Hapalemur meridionalis''), also known as the southern bamboo lemur, rusty-gray lesser bamboo lemur, and southern gentle lemur, is a species of bamboo lemur

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to southern

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 ...

Taxonomy

It was originally considered to be a subspecies of the

eastern lesser bamboo lemur The eastern lesser bamboo lemur (''Hapalemur griseus''), also known as the gray bamboo lemur, the gray gentle lemur, and the Mahajanga lemur is a small lemur endemic to Madagascar, with three known subspecies. As its name suggests, the eastern le ...

(''Hapalemur griseus''), and is of similar size, but is darker and redder than the eastern lesser bamboo lemur, with a shorter tail and different vocalizations. The type locality is the forestry station of Mandena, and it is further supported as a separate species by recent mitochondrial DNA research. It is possible that hybridisation with ''H griseus'' occurs on the

Andringitra Massif The Andringitra Massif ("desert of rocks") is a granite massif located within Andringitra National Park in Madagascar. The range is approximately long. In its central area, the range is almost wide, though it is much narrower on either end. Pic ...

at altitudes of .

Distribution

The precise distribution is not known but it is found in south-eastern Madagascar from the

Mananara River The Mananara River is one of the main rivers in eastern Madagascar. Its mouth is located at the Indian Ocean near the city of Vangaindrano in the Atsimo-Atsinanana Atsimo-Atsinanana (South East) is a region in Madagascar. Its capital is Far ...

south to

Andohahela Andohahela National Park, in south-east Madagascar, is remarkable for the extremes of habitats that are represented within it. The park covers of the Anosy mountain range, the southernmost spur of the Malagasy Highlands and contains the last hu ...

and up to an altitude of . This species is found in three national parks; (

, Andringitra and Midongy du Sud), three special reserves (

Kalambatritra Kalambatritra Special Reserve is a wildlife reserve in southern Madagascar. It is to the north of Andohahela National Park, south-west of the Manombo Special Reserve and contains many endemic species, including forty-five endemic bird species. Geo ...

Manombo : ''For the town in Atsimo-Andrefana Region in Madagascar, see Manombo Sud'' Manombo is a village of the commune of Nosifeno in the district of Midongy-Atsimo in the region of Atsimo-Atsinanana in south-eastern Madagascar. See also *Manombo Sp ...

and Pic d' Ivohibe), Tsitongambarika Protected Area, and in the Mandena Conservation Zone.

Ecology

It is thought that this species is

cathemeral Cathemerality, sometimes called metaturnality, is an organismal activity pattern of irregular intervals during the day or night in which food is acquired, socializing with other organisms occurs, and any other activities necessary for livelihood ar ...

, (i.e. it has sporadic and random intervals of activity during the day or night) and inhabits subtropical moist lowland and

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucia ...

s up to . They live in groups of four to seven and sometimes there is more than one breeding female. Latrine behaviour has been observed where adults urinate, in turn, at specific sites followed by juveniles – it is thought this behaviour could be territorial or has some other communication function. In Madena forest groups forage on the ground eating various grasses in areas of sparse tree cover and swamps, and have also been observed in reed beds along the

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

of Evahtra.

Conservation

The southern lesser bamboo lemu is listed by the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on Appendix 1 and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

(IUCN) categorise this species as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q571320 Bamboo lemurs Mammals described in 1987 Endemic fauna of Madagascar