Loris is the
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
for the
strepsirrhine mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s of the subfamily Lorinae
(sometimes spelled Lorisinae
) in the family
Lorisidae. ''Loris'' is one genus in this subfamily and includes the
slender lorises, ''Nycticebus'' is the genus containing the
slow lorises, and ''Xanthonycticebus'' is the genus name of the
pygmy slow loris.
Description
Lorises are
nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
and
arboreal.
They are found in
tropical and woodland forests of
India,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and parts of
southeast Asia. Loris locomotion is a slow and cautious climbing form of
quadrupedalism. Some lorises are almost entirely
insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores were ...
, while others also include
fruits,
gum
Gum may refer to:
Types of gum
* Adhesive
* Bubble gum
* Chewing gum
* Gum (botany), sap or other resinous material associated with certain species of the plant kingdom
** Gum arabic, made from the sap of ''Acacia senegal'', an Old World tree s ...
s,
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
, and
slug
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...
s in their diet.
Female lorises practice
infant parking, leaving their infants behind in trees or bushes. Before they do this, they bathe their young with
allergenic saliva
Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can be ...
that is acquired by licking patches on the insides of their elbows, which produce a mild toxin that discourages most
predators,
[ though orangutans occasionally eat lorises.
]
Taxonomic classification
The family Lorisidae is found within the infraorder Lemuriformes and superfamily
SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...
Lorisoidea, along with the family Galagidae, the galagos. This superfamily is a sister taxon of Lemuroidea, the lemurs. Within Lorinae, there are ten species (and several more subspecies) of lorises across three genera:
* Family Lorisidae
** Subfamily Perodicticinae
** Subfamily Lorinae
*** Genus '' Loris''
**** Gray slender loris
The gray slender loris (''Loris lydekkerianus'') is a species of primate in the family Loridae. It is native to India and Sri Lanka and inhabits subtropical and tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threa ...
, ''Loris lydekkerianus''
***** Highland slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus grandis''
***** Mysore slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus lydekkerianus''
***** Malabar slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus malabaricus''
***** Northern Ceylonese slender loris, ''L. lydekkerianus nordicus''
**** Red slender loris, ''L. tardigradus''
***** Dry Zone slender loris, ''L. tardigradus tardigradus''
***** Horton Plains slender loris, ''L. tardigradus nyctoceboides''
*** Genus '' Xanthonycticebus''Bangka slow loris
The Bangka slow loris (''Nycticebus bancanus'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to southwestern Borneo and the island of Bangka. Originally considered a subspecies or synonym of the Bornean slow loris ('' ...
, ''Nycticebus bancanus''
**** Bengal slow loris, ''N. bengalensis''
**** Bornean slow loris
''Nycticebus borneanus'', the Bornean slow loris, is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to central south Borneo in Indonesia. Formerly considered a subspecies or synonym of '' N. menagensis'', it was promot ...
, ''N. borneanus''
**** Sunda slow loris, ''N. coucang''
**** Javan slow loris
The Javan slow loris (''Nycticebus javanicus'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to the western and central portions of the island of Java, in Indonesia. Although originally described as a separate species, it was co ...
, ''N. javanicus''
**** Kayan River slow loris
The Kayan River slow loris (''Nycticebus kayan'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to the northern and central highland region of the island of Borneo. The species was originally thought to be a part of th ...
, ''N. kayan''
**** Philippine slow loris
The Philippine slow loris (''Nycticebus menagensis'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to the north and east coastal areas of the island of Borneo, as well as the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. The sp ...
, ''N. menagensis''
**** Sumatran slow loris
The Sumatran slow loris (''Nycticebus hilleri'') is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to Sumatra.
While this species used to be considered a junior synonym of the Sunda slow loris, it is now recognized by the ...
, ''N. hilleri''
**** † ? ''N. linglom'' (fossil, Miocene)
References
{{Authority control
*
Taxa named by John Edward Gray