Abstract
The number of Malagasy lemur species recognized has skyrocketed over the past quarter-century, from 22 in 1982 to almost 100 today. This is largely a result of the wholesale application of phylogenetic species concepts and the elimination of subspecies from the lemur fauna. I argue that “silver-bullet” approaches to species recognition ignore real biological complexity, and that species are best recognized through weighing all available evidence including that furnished by morphology, molecules, behavior, communication, demography, and distributions. Only about 50 lemur species are fully justified by current evidence, although this is certainly a conservative estimate.
Resume
Le nombre d’espèces de Lémuriens reconnus à Madagascar a explosé au cours du dernier quart de siècle, passant de 22 en 1982 à presque 100 aujourd’hui. Ceci découle de l’application sans limite du concept “d’espèce phylogénétique”, et de l’élimination de toutes les sous-espèces de lémuriens. Je conteste cette approche réductrice de l’espèce, qui ignore la complexité du vivant, et j’affirme que les espèces sont mieux reconnues si tous les caractères identifiés sont pris en compte, combinant les approches morphologiques, moléculaires, comportementales (incluant les systèmes de communication), démographiques et géographiques. Une cinquantaine d’espèces de lémuriens seulement apparaît clairement justifiée, bien que cette estimation soit presque certainement conservatrice.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cracraft J (1989) Speciation and its ontology. In: Otte D, Endler J (eds) Speciation and its consequences. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, pp 28–59
Ghiselin MT (1974) A radical solution to the species problem. Syst Zool 23:536–544
Godfrey LR, Jungers WL, Schwartz GT (2006) Ecology and extinction of Madagascar’s subfossil lemurs. In: Gould L, Sauther ML (eds) Lemurs: ecology and adaptation. Springer, New York, pp 41–64
Masters J (1988) Speciation in the greater galagos (Prosimii: Galaginae): review and synthesis. Biol J Linn Soc 34:149–174
Masters JC, Spencer HG (1989) Why we need a new species concept. Syst Zool 38:270–279
Mittermeier RA, Konstant WR, Hawkins F, Louis EE, Langrand O, Ratsimbazafy J, Rasoloarison R, Ganzhorn JU, Rajaobelina S, Tattersall I, Meyers DM, Nash SD (2006) Lemurs of Madagascar, 2nd edn. Conservation International, Washington, DC
Mittermeier RA, Louis EE, Richardson M, Schwitzer C, Langrand O, Rylands AB, Hawkins F, Rajaobelina S, Ratsimbazafy J, Rasoloarison R, Roos C, Kappeler PM, Mackinnon J, Nash SD (2010) Lemurs of Madagascar, 3rd edn. Conservation International, Washington, DC
Paterson HEH (1980) A comment on “mate recognition systems”. Evolution 34:330–331
Paterson HEH (1985) The recognition concept of species. In: Vrba ES (ed) Species and speciation. Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, pp 21–29
Schmid J, Kappeler PM (1994) Sympatric mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) in western Madagascar. Folia Primatol 63:162–170
Schwarz E (1931) A revision of the genera and species of Madagascar Lemuridae. Proc Zool Soc Lond 1931:399–428
Tattersall I (1982) The primates of Madagascar. Columbia University Press, New York
Tattersall I (1994) How does evolution work? Evol Anthropol 3:2–3
Tattersall I (2007) Madagascar’s lemurs: cryptic diversity or taxonomic inflation? Evol Anthropol 16:12–23
Trémaux P (1865) Origine et Transformations de I’Homme et des Autres Etres. Hachette, Paris
Zimmermann E, Cepok S, Rakotoarison N, Zietemann V, Radespiel U (1998) Sympatric mouse lemurs in North-West Madagascar: a new rufous mouse lemur species (Microcebus ravelobensis). Folia Primatol 69:106–114
Acknowledgments
My appreciation to Judith Masters for her energy and initiative in maintaining the important tradition of reviewing the state of lemur biology each decade and for her temperate commentary on this piece. Thanks also to Stephen Nash for (among many other things) keeping score on the roster of lemur species.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tattersall, I. (2012). Species-Level Diversity Among Malagasy Lemurs. In: Masters, J., Gamba, M., Génin, F. (eds) Leaping Ahead. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4511-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4511-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4510-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4511-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)