Claire's mouse lemur (''Microcebus mamiratra''), or the Nosy Be mouse lemur, is a newly described species of

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) 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 exist ...

from the genus of the mouse lemurs (''

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 ...

''). It lives on the island Nosy Bé in the

Antsiranana Antsiranana ( mg, Antsiran̈ana ), named Diego-Suárez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013. History The bay and city originally u ...

province of

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 ...

, and on the mainland near the village of Manehoka, including

Lokobe Reserve Lokobe National Park is a national park in northwestern Madagascar. It is located on southeastern side of Nosy Be, an island off the coast of Madagascar. It is known for its black lemurs and the beautiful Nosy Be panther chameleon. Black lemur (E ...

. The scientific type name, ''mamiratra'', comes from Malagasy and means "clear and bright"; this refers the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation, which has contributed to genetic research on Madagascar. This species is closely related to another new species, "M. species nova # 5"; which is related to the

Sambirano mouse lemur The Sambirano mouse lemur (''Microcebus sambiranensis'') is a small, recently discovered primate and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. The dorsal side is both cinnamon and rufous-cinnamon and is grey ventr ...

, ''Microcebus sambiranensis'', and the

northern rufous mouse lemur The northern rufous mouse lemur (''Microcebus tavaratra''), northern brown mouse lemur, or Tavaratra mouse lemur is found in northern Madagascar from the Ankarana Special Reserve in the west to the Manambato River in the northeast, and up to the ...

, ''Microcebus tavaratra''. This lemur is, with a weight of 60 g, average for its genus. The

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

of the upper part is reddish-brown and becomes darker in the middle of the back. The tail is also reddish-brown, but the underbelly is white or creamy. It has a total length of 26 to 28 centimeters, including 15 to 17 centimeters of tail. The species status of Claire's mouse lemur has been recently challenged by a broad study of

nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. It ...

and gene trees in mouse lemurs. Results showed that although the

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

differed from that of the Sambirano mouse lemur, its nuclear DNA did not. This is likely due to female

philopatry Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives ...

. Since females stay close to the home range in which they were born, mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited from the mother, is likely to remain similar within a small area while nuclear DNA within a species is likely to be similar over a much larger area. According to the study, this is the case for Claire's mouse lemur. For this reason, it was suggested that Claire's mouse lemur no longer be recognized as a distinct species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1094764 Mouse lemurs Endemic fauna of Madagascar Mammals of Madagascar Critically endangered fauna of Africa Mammals described in 2006