The Marohita mouse lemur (''Microcebus marohita'') is a species of

mouse lemur The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus ''Microcebus''. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar. Mouse lemurs have a combined head, body and tail length of less than , making them the smallest primates (the smallest spe ...

known only from the Marohita Forest in eastern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, near the village of

Marolambo Marolambo is a village and commune (kaominina) located in the Atsinanana region of eastern Madagascar. It is along the Nosivolo River near the junction with the Sandranamby River, and is also the capital of the Marolambo District. Overview T ...

. Specimens were first collected in December 2003, and its discovery was announced in 2013 along with the

Anosy mouse lemur The Anosy mouse lemur (''Microcebus tanosi'') is a species of mouse lemur known only from the Manantantely Forest and Ivorona Forest in southeastern Madagascar, near Tôlanaro. Specimens were first collected in April 2007, and its discovery wa ...

(''Microcebus tanosi''). It is a large mouse lemur, weighing up to , and lives within the same area as the

Goodman's mouse lemur Goodman's mouse lemur (''Microcebus lehilahytsara'') is a species of mouse lemur from the region near Andasibe in eastern Madagascar. The species is named in honor of primatologist Steven M. Goodman. "Lehilahytsara" is a combination of the Mal ...

(''M. lehilahytsara''), Simmons' mouse lemur (''M. simmonsi''), and the

brown mouse lemur The brown mouse lemur (''Microcebus rufus'') is a small primate, and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. They are known also as the rufous mouse lemur, eastern rufous mouse lemur, red mouse lemur, or russet ...

(''M. rufus''), all four of which are nearly identical in appearance. Its fur is

rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

on its back and grayish-beige on its underside. Nothing is known about its behavior. Its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

was evaluated as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) in 2012, before it was formally described, because its only known habitat had severely degraded between 2003 and 2012.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

The first specimens of Marohita mouse lemur (''Microcebus marohita'') were collected by biologist Rodin Rasoloarison during field work in December 2003. At the time, he captured three mouse lemurs at Marohita Forest in the

Toamasina Province The Toamasina Province is a former province of Madagascar with an area of 71,911 km². It had a population of 2,855,600 (2004). Its capital was Toamasina, the most important seaport of the country. The province was also known as Tamatave Provi ...

of eastern Madagascar, near the village of

. These were prepared as

biological specimen A biological specimen (also called a biospecimen) is a biological laboratory specimen held by a biorepository for research. Such a specimen would be taken by sampling so as to be representative of any other specimen taken from the source of t ...

s, including skins, skulls, and tissue samples, with the required permits from the

government of Madagascar Politics of Madagascar takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Madagascar is head of state and the Prime Minister of Madagascar is head of government, and of a pluriform mult ...

. The Marohita mouse lemur was described concurrently with the

(''Microcebus tanosi'') in 2013 by Rasoloarison and researchers David Weisrock,

Anne Yoder Anne Daphne Yoder is an American biologist, researcher, and professor in the Department of Biology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Yoder's work includes the study, preservation, and conservation of the multifarious bi ...

, Daniel Rakotondravony, and Peter M. Kappeler using molecular analysis. The Marohita mouse lemur belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Microcebus The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus ''Microcebus''. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar. Mouse lemurs have a combined head, body and tail length of less than , making them the smallest primates (the smallest spe ...

'' within the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cheirogaleidae The Cheirogaleidae are the family of strepsirrhine primates containing the various dwarf and mouse lemurs. Like all other lemurs, cheirogaleids live exclusively on the island of Madagascar. Characteristics Cheirogaleids are smaller than the othe ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

was collected on 2 December 2003 at Marohita Forest. Its species name, ''marohita'', refers to the forest in which it was found and means "many views" in the

Malagasy language Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th ce ...

. Despite living near the

(''M. lehilahytsara''), Simmons' mouse lemur (''M. simmonsi''), and the

(''M. rufus''), Rasoloarison ''et al.'' reported no indications of

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...

between these four

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

species. The population at Marohita Forest is considered a distinct species using the metapopulation lineage concept of species. It is nearly identical in appearance to the other eastern mouse lemurs, which are known for being

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

Physical description

The back

coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

of the Marohita mouse lemur is

and has a mid-dorsal stripe that is difficult to discern. The fur on the underside is grayish-beige, while the underfur is dark gray. Its total body length averages with the tail measuring , roughly half of its body length. It has short ears, measuring , and long hind feet, measuring . The Marohita mouse lemur is an exceptionally large mouse lemur, weighing up to . The

subadult A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles can look very different from the adult form, particularly in colour, and may not fill the same niche as the adult form. In many org ...

male Marohita mouse lemur that was collected was as large as the largest known male mouse lemur, a

Gerp's mouse lemur Gerp's mouse lemur (''Microcebus gerpi'') is a species of mouse lemur known only from the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, near Mantadia National Park. Its discovery was announced in 2012 by a German and Malagasy research team. The Saha ...

(''M. gerpi'') adult male. The female Marohita mouse lemurs were 20% heavier than the heaviest female mouse lemurs, which belonged to the Simmons' mouse lemur and Gerp's mouse lemur species.

Behavior

No data are available concerning the behavior, communication, ecology, or reproduction of the Marohita mouse lemur.

Distribution and habitat

The Marohita mouse lemur has only been found in the Marohita Forest, located within the more extensive Marolambo Forest. Its distribution outside of Marohita Forest is unknown. Four other mouse lemur species have been found nearby: the highland species, Goodman's mouse lemur, and the lowland species, Gerp's mouse lemur, both described less than ten years earlier, are found north of the

Mangoro River The Mangoro River is the largest river on the east coast of Madagascar by basin size and water volume, and is 300 km in length. Overview The Mangoro begins northeast of the town of Anjozorobe in the Analamanga region, at approximately 1,1 ...

, while

Jolly's mouse lemur Jolly's mouse lemur (''Microcebus jollyae'') is a species of mouse lemur from Mananjary and Kianjavato in Madagascar. The species is named in honor of primatologist Alison Jolly. Jolly's mouse lemur is uniformly reddish-brown with a small whi ...

(''M. jollyae'') and the brown mouse lemur are found south of Marolambo.

Conservation status

Due to extensive

habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

within Marohita Forest between 2003 and 2012, the

(IUCN) evaluated the Marohita mouse lemur as

at a workshop for the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

held at Madagascar's capital,

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

, in July 2012, nearly a year prior to the publication of its formal description. This was updated to Critically Endangered in 2014.

References

Literature cited

* ** {{Taxonbar, from=Q13481572 Mouse lemurs Endemic fauna of Madagascar Mammals of Madagascar Critically endangered fauna of Africa Mammals described in 2013