''Microcebus jonahi'', or Jonah's mouse lemur, is tiny species of
primate
Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...
. It weighs 60 g and has a body length of around 13 cm and its tail measures around 13 cm as well. It is the 25th recognized 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 ...
and the 108th recognized species of
lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madaga ...
.
Description
Jonah's mouse lemur has small ears and the characteristic huge eyes of lemurs with a distinct white stripe between the eyes. It has short, dense fur with a white with slightly yellowish belly and a brownish back. It weighs 60 g and has a body length of around 13 cm and its tail measures around 13 cm as well.
Distribution
Jonah's mouse lemur lives in northeastern
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 ...
, including within the protected
Mananara National Park. The species was named after Malagasy primatologist Dr.
Jonah Ratsimbazafy
Jonah Ratsimbazafy is a Malagasy primatologist. In 2020, he was appointed President of the International Primatological Society.
Life and research
Ratsimbazafy received his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in Physical ...
.
Conservation status
The forested area in the region where the Jonah's mouse lemur is found is undergoing massive
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then land conversion, converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban area, urban ...
. In northeast Madagascar, forest cover declined from in the early 1990s to in 2018. Once an uninterrupted stretch of
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...
, it has been whittled down to fragments. The fragmentation is expected to intensify, stranding the mouse lemurs, curtailing their access to
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...
, and narrowing their
genetic diversity
Genetic diversity is the total number of Genetics, genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species, it ranges widely from the number of species to differences within species and can be attributed to the span of survival for a species. ...
.
See also
*
List of primates described in the 2020s
This is a list of primates described in the 2020s. As primates are a well-studied group, species that are unknown to science are rare. However, recent advances in DNA sequencing have allowed scientists to compare populations and test for distinct ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q97961729
Mammals described in 2020
Mouse lemurs