Open AccessPhylogenetic and functional affinities of Babakotia (primates), a fossil lemur from northern Madagascar.
Author(s) -
William L. Jungers,
Laurie R. Godfrey,
Elwyn L. Simons,
Prithijit S. Chatrath,
Berthe Rakotosamimanana
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.88.20.9082
Subject(s) - postcrania , lemur , biology , clade , zoology , sister group , theria , evolutionary biology , phylogenetic tree , taxon , primate , ecology , paleontology , biochemistry , phanerozoic , structural basin , gene , cenozoic
Recent paleontological expeditions to the Ankarana range of northern Madagascar have recovered the partial remains of four individuals of a newly recognized extinct lemur, Babakotia radofilai. Craniodental and postcranial material serve to identify Babakotia as a member of the palaeopropithecids (also including the extinct genera Palaeopropithecus, Archaeoindris, and Mesopropithecus). Living indrids form the sister group to this fossil clade. The postcranial anatomy indicates that Babakotia was a medium-sized (approximately 15 kg) indroid whose inferred positional behaviors were primarily slow climbing and hanging. Although it is probable that a leaping component typified the ancestral positional repertoire of all Malagasy lemurs, the mosaic nature of the locomotor skeleton of Babakotia further suggests that vertical climbing and hang-feeding rather than ricochetal leaping were primitive for indrids and palaeopropithecids and that the dramatic saltatory adaptations of the living indrids postdate the divergence of these two lineages.