The sportive lemurs are the medium-sized

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 ...

s that make up the family Lepilemuridae. The family consists of only one extant genus, ''Lepilemur''. They are closely related to the other

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

s and exclusively live 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 ...

. For a time, this family was named Megaladapidae, but the current name was given precedence since the

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus '' Megaladapis'' was removed from the family.

Etymology

French zoologist

Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (; 16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology). Biography He was born in Paris, the ...

first described the genus ''Lepilemur'' in 1851, prefixing the existing genus ''Lemur'' with the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''lepidus'' ("pleasant" or "pretty"). However, it was erroneously spelled—a mistake later authors unsuccessfully attempted to correct to ''Lepidolemur''. Members of the monogeneric family Lepilemuridae are referred to as either sportive or weasel lemurs. "Sportive lemur", which is more commonly used, was coined by Henry Ogg Forbes in 1894. Though he did not explain the name choice, he did mention the agility of ''Lepilemur''. "Weasel lemur" is an older common name, dating to the 1863 publication of ''Cassell's Popular National History''. Dunkel ''et al.'' speculated that was inspired by the species name ''L. mustelinus'', which means "weasel-like" in Latin. They were named ''weasel lemurs'' for their swiftness like that of

mustelid The Mustelidae (; from Latin , weasel) are a diverse family of carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, polecats, martens, grisons, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the suborde ...

Classification

* Family Lepilemuridae: sportive lemurs ** Genus ''Lepilemur'' *** AEECL's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur aeeclis'') *** Ahmanson's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur ahmansonorum'') *** Ankarana sportive lemur (''Lepilemur ankaranensis'') *** Betsileo sportive lemur (''Lepilemur betsileo'') *** Gray-backed sportive lemur (''Lepilemur dorsalis'') *** Milne-Edwards' sportive lemur (''Lepilemur edwardsi'') *** Fleurete's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur fleuretae'') *** Grewcock's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur grewcockorum'') *** Holland's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur hollandorum'') *** Hubbard's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur hubbardorum'') *** James' sportive lemur (''Lepilemur jamesorum'') *** White-footed sportive lemur (''Lepilemur leucopus'') *** Small-toothed sportive lemur (''Lepilemur microdon'') *** Daraina sportive lemur (''Lepilemur milanoii'') *** Mittermeier's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur mittermeieri'') *** Weasel sportive lemur (''Lepilemur mustelinus'') *** Otto's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur otto'') *** Petter's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur petteri'') *** Randrianasolo's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur randrianasoloi'') *** Red-tailed sportive lemur (''Lepilemur ruficaudatus'') *** Sahamalaza sportive lemur (''Lepilemur sahamalazensis'') *** Scott's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur scottorum'') *** Seal's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur seali'') *** Northern sportive lemur (''Lepilemur septentrionalis'') *** Hawks' sportive lemur (''Lepilemur tymerlachsoni'') *** Wright's sportive lemur (''Lepilemur wrightae'')

Physical characteristics

Their fur is grey brown or reddish colored on the top and whitish yellow underneath. They typically have a short head with large, round ears. They grow to a length of (with a tail just about as long as their body) and weigh up to . Their eyes have a

tapetum lucidum The ; ; : tapeta lucida) is a layer of tissue in the eye of many vertebrates and some other animals. Lying immediately behind the retina, it is a retroreflector. It Reflection (physics), reflects visible light back through the retina, increas ...

behind the retina, hence they have eyeshine.

Behaviour and ecology

Sportive lemurs are strictly

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

and predominantly

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, moving among the trees with long jumps powered by their strong hind legs. On the ground, they hop similarly to the

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

. During the day they hide in leafy covering or tree hollows. Sportive lemurs are mostly solitary and defend their territory against same sex intruders. The territories of males and females can overlap. They are mainly

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

s and their diet consists predominantly of leaves. Birthing happens between September and December after a gestation of 120 to 150 days, and is usually of a single young which is often reared in a nest in a tree hollow. At about four months the juveniles are weaned but remain with their mother up to an age of one year. At about 18 months they are fully mature, and live to be about eight years old.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q834470 Folivores Sportive lemurs