The southern needle-clawed bushbaby (''Euoticus elegantulus'') is a species of

strepsirrhine Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (; ) is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and Southeast Asia. Colle ...

primate in the family

Galagidae Galagos , also known as bush babies or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They ar ...

. Found in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

, and possibly

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is tropical moist forests. While the species is not threatened or endangered, some local populations may be threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Description

This species is medium-sized, with a head-and-body length of and a tail of . The sexes are similar in appearance, but there is considerable geographical variation in this species; animals from near the coast are larger and paler than those from inland. The upper parts of the body are bright orange, often darker on the shoulders, contrasting with the silvery-grey of the underparts and inner sides of the limbs. The tip of the tail is whitish in many individuals. In common with the northern needle-clawed bushbaby (''Euoticus pallidus''), the nails have strong ridges and end in sharp points, an adaptation for climbing about on large tree limbs. The southern species differs from the northern in having a narrow gap between the upper two central incisors, and the nasal bones being wider at the front. Both species differ from other galagos in having a single pair of nipples.

Distribution and habitat

The southern needle-clawed bushbaby is found in western Central Africa where it is present in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and possibly also in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its range extends from the Sanaga River to the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

and the

Ubangi River The Ubangi River (; ; ; ), also spelled Oubangui, is a river in Central Africa, and the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou River, Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mea ...

. It inhabits both primary and secondary forests, but is more common in secondary growth where there are larger numbers of gum and resin-producing trees.

Ecology

Bushbabies in this genus are specialist consumers of gum. The distinctive teeth, with fan-like lower incisors with sharp-cutting edges, are probably used to enlarge wounds in tree limbs so that gum is exuded more freely. It is unlikely that these teeth are capable of making gashes in large limbs with thick bark, so the animal is probably reliant on wounds made by

anomalure The Anomaluridae are a family of rodents found in central Africa. They are known as anomalures or scaly-tailed squirrels or African flying squirrels. The six extant species are classified into two genera. All anomalurids have membranes between ...

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s and wood-boring beetles. Trees on which this species likes to feed include ''

Albizia ''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...

'', '' Entada'' and '' Newtonia'' species. Other features which it shares with other specialised gum-eating primates, such as the Masoala fork-marked lemur, include a long, extensible tongue, an enlarged upper first premolar, a large caecum and sharp nails for climbing and gripping. A solitary, nocturnal animal, the southern needle-clawed bushbaby communicates with other individuals by voice and by

urine marking In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. ...

Status

''E. elegantulus'' has a wide range and is a common species. No specific threats have been recognised but in places it is locally threatened by deforestation. The population is steady and the range includes a number of protected areas, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1365863 southern needle-clawed bushbaby Mammals of Cameroon Mammals of the Central African Republic Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Mammals of Equatorial Guinea Mammals of Gabon southern needle-clawed bushbaby Taxa named by John Eatton Le Conte Taxonomy articles created by Polbot