Coquerel's giant mouse lemur (''Mirza coquereli''), also known as Coquerel's dwarf lemur or the southern giant mouse lemur, is a small

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) 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 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. This species can be found in parts of the

Madagascar dry deciduous forests The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of Endemism, endemic plant and anima ...

Behaviour

This lemur is active throughout the year; unlike

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 and weigh , making them the smallest primates (the smallest sp ...

s (''Microcebus''), it does not

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most ...

. It feeds on the larvae of

hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from ...

(the true bugs) to sustain itself. It is an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

species, and feeds on fruit, flowers, and small animals such as insects and spiders. Coquerel's giant mouse lemur is heavily preyed upon by

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

Taxonomy

Coquerel's giant mouse lemur was named after the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

entomologist

Charles Coquerel Jean Charles Coquerel (2 December 1822 – 12 April 1867) was a French navy surgeon, algae, algologist, and entomologist. Coquerel collected insects in Madagascar and neighbouring islands. A number of these were described after his death by Léon ...

. It was the only member of the genus '' Mirza'' until 2005, when a second species, the northern giant mouse lemur (''M. zaza'') was described.

References

External links

* * * ARKive
images and movies of the Coquerel's mouse lemur ''(Mirza coquereli)''
Lemurs Mammals described in 1867 Taxa named by Alfred Grandidier {{Lemur-stub