Abstract
The slow loris described asmenagensis (genusNycticebus), which was collected as part of the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippines in the early 1890s by Frank S. Bourns and Dean C. Worcester, has had a wide variety of problems associated with the authorship of the description, the lack of a type specimen, and the lack of a type locality. Herein we review the published and unpublished field notes from the collectors, all subsequent publications, and all extant specimens. We (1) reconfirm that the correct name for the Philippine slow loris isNycticebus coucang menagensis (Lydekker, 1893); (2) designate the type locality as the vicinity of Tataan, Tawitawi Island, Republic of the Philippines, and the date of collection between 5 October and 5 November 1891; (3) conclude that the specimen upon which the name menagensis is based no longer exists; and (4) report a series of 17 additional specimens from the vicinity of Tataan (topotypes) collected in late October and early November 1892, which are deposited at the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Most of these extant specimens are adults with crania in excellent condition; some include postcranial elements. We provide cranial measurements for them.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bourns, F. S., and Worcester, D. C. (1894). Preliminary notes on the birds and mammals collected by the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippine Islands.Occas. Papers Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1(1): 1–64.
Fooden, J. (1991). Eastern limit of distribution of the slow loris,Nycticebus coucang.Int. J. Primatol. 12: 287–290.
Groves, C. P. (1971) Systematics of the genus Nycticebus. In Biegert, J., and Leutenegger, W. (eds.),Taxonomy, anatomy, reproduction. Proc. 3rd Int. Congr. Primatol. 1: 44–53.
Jenkins, P. D. (1987)Catalogue of Primates in the British Museum (Natural History) and Elsewhere in the British Isles. Part IV: Suborder Strepsirrhini, Including the Subfossil Madagascan Lemurs and Family Tarsiidae, British Museum (Natural History), London.
Lydekker, R. (1893 [1892]). Mammalia.Zool Record 29: 24–25.
Lyon, M. W., Jr. (1906). Notes on the slow lemurs.Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 31 (1494): 527–539.
Lyon, M. W., Jr. (1909). The authority for the name Nycticebus menagensis.Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 22: 89.
Nachtrieb, H. F. (1892). A new lemur (Menagensis).Zool. Anzeiger 15: 147–148.
Thomas, O. (1908). The nomenclature of certain lorises.Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 8(1): 467–469.
Timm, R. M., and Birney, E. C. (1980). Mammals collected by the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippine Islands and Borneo, 1890–1893.J. Mammal. 61: 566–571
Trouessart, E.-L. (1898–1899).Catalogus mammalium tam viventium quam fossilium, R. Friedlander & Sohn, Berolini.
Worcester, D. C. (1898).The Philippine Islands and Their People, Macmillan, New York.
Worcester, D. C., and Bourns, F. S. (1905). Letters from the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippine Islands.Bull. Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci. 4: 131–172. [For date of publication, see Ruch, T. C. (1941).Bibliographica Primatologica, Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Ill., p. 196.]
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Timm, R.M., Birney, E.C. Systematic notes on the philippine slow loris,Nycticebus coucang menagensis (Lydekker, 1893) (Primates: Lorisidae). International Journal of Primatology 13, 679–686 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02551259
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02551259