Wikipedia

Lemurs of Madagascar (book)

Lemurs of Madagascar is a 2010 reference work and field guide for the lemurs of Madagascar. The primary contributor is Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, and the cover art and illustrations were by Stephen D. Nash. Currently in its third edition, the book details all known lemur species, general information about lemurs and their history, and tips for identifying species. Four related pocket field guides have also been released, containing color illustrations of each species, miniature range maps, and species checklists.

Lemurs of Madagascar
Book cover with color illustrations of an indri, diademed sifaka, greater bamboo lemur (face only), mouse lemur, fork-marked lemur, and an aye-aye
Third edition cover
AuthorRussell Mittermeier
Edward E. Louis, Jr.
Matthew Richardson
Christoph Schwitzer
et al.
IllustratorStephen D. Nash
LanguageEnglish
SeriesTropical Field Guide Series
GenreField guide
Published
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages767 (Third edition)
ISBN978-1-934151-23-5

The first edition identified 50 lemur species and subspecies, compared to 71 in the second and 101 in the third. The taxonomy promoted by these books has been questioned by researchers, such as Ian Tattersall, who view these growing numbers of lemur species as insufficiently justified inflation of species numbers (taxonomic inflation).

Overview

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Lemurs of Madagascar is published by Conservation International (CI), and is intended as a field guide for identifying the lemur species from Madagascar.[1] The bulk of the book, including the "The Living Lemurs" chapter, provides sections on each taxonomic group and detailed accounts of all known lemur species, from the tiny mouse lemurs to the large indri and diademed sifaka. Each species subsection has a distribution map, an illustration or photo (if available), a list of common names in multiple languages (including Malagasy), and species information broken into five sections: "Identification", "Geographic Range", "Natural History", "Conservation Status", and "Where to See It".[2][3]

Chapters include:

  • "Origins of Lemurs" ("Origin of the Lemurs" in the third edition), which briefly summarizes the theories on how lemurs came to Madagascar and the difficulty in resolving the mystery.
  • "Discovery and Study of the Living Lemurs" reviews the history of exploration, field research, and taxonomic nomenclature of lemurs.
  • "The Extinct Lemurs" discusses the recently extinct subfossil lemurs, including the monkey lemurs, sloth lemurs, and koala lemurs.
  • "Conservation of Lemurs" details the threats lemurs face (habitat destruction, bushmeat hunting) and conservation efforts.
  • The third edition includes "Madagascar's Ancient Geological History", written by Maarten de Wit from the University of Cape Town.

Editions

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The first edition of Lemurs of Madagascar was published in 1994 and contained 356 pages. The 520-page second edition was published in 2006 and is now officially out of print, having been followed by the 767-page third edition in the fall of 2010.[4]

For all three editions, Stephen D. Nash has been the illustrator and front cover artist. The lead author is Russell A. Mittermeier, president of CI and a primatologist, herpetologist and biological anthropologist.[5] In the first edition, four additional authors were listed: Ian Tattersall, a curator in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History; William R. Konstant, the Director of Conservation and Science at the Houston Zoo; David M. Meyers, a researcher and conservationist; and Roderic B. Mast, the founding Director of CI's Madagascar Program.[6]

 
Babakotia radofilai, one of the extinct giant lemur species described in the chapter entitled "The Extinct Lemurs"

The second edition was authored by Mittermeier, Konstant, Tattersall, and Meyers, plus seven new authors: Frank Hawkins, the Technical Director for CI in Madagascar; Edward E. Louis, Jr., the conservation geneticist for Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo's Center for Conservation and Research; Olivier Langrand, CI's Senior Vice President for Africa and Madagascar; Jonah H. Ratsimbazafy, the Scientific Coordinator for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust - Madagascar Program; Rodin Rasoloarison, a field researcher and research coordinator at the German Primate Center; Jörg U. Ganzhorn, professor in the Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation at the University of Hamburg and Chairman for the Madagascar section of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) Primate Specialist Group since 1998; and Serge Rajaobelina, the President of Fanamby, a Malagasy non-governmental environmental organization.[5]

The list of authors changed again with the third edition. Returning authors included Mittermeier, Louis, Langrand, Hawkins, Rajaobelina, Ratsimbazafy, and Rasoloarison. New authors included Matthew Richardson, writer and member of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group; Christoph Schwitzer, the Head of Research at the Bristol Zoo Gardens; Anthony Rylands, a Senior Research Scientist at Conservation International and Deputy Chair of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group; Christian Roos, a geneticist at the German Primate Center; Peter M. Kappeler, a Professor of Sociobiology and Anthropology at the University of Göttingen in Germany; and James MacKinnon, the Senior Technical Director of Conservation International in Madagascar.

Four illustrated pocket field guides have also been published by CI, intended strictly to help identify lemurs in the field. Checklists for identifying lemur species are included with these guides, along with thumbnail range maps for each species. The four pocket guides include two editions of Lemurs of Madagascar Pocket Identification Guide (out of print), Nocturnal Lemurs, and Diurnal and Cathemeral Lemurs.[7] The Nocturnal Lemurs booklet contains 65 species from eight genera.[8] Diurnal and Cathemeral Lemurs hosts 34 species and subspecies from seven genera, along with illustrations to show male and female fur color differences in the genus Eulemur and color morphs for the indri and ruffed lemur species.[9]

Reception

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Favorable reviews of the first edition appeared in the International Journal of Primatology,[1] Lemur News,[10] and Conservation Biology.[11] Stacey Tecot wrote a detailed review of the second edition, also favorable, in the American Journal of Primatology.[12] Brief descriptions of second and third editions also appeared in Lemur News.[13][14]

Impact on lemur taxonomy

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Further information: Taxonomy of lemurs
 
Collared brown lemurs were treated as a subspecies in the first edition,[15] but elevated to full species status in the second.[16]

While the first edition recognized 50 lemur taxa (32 species and 25 subspecies), the second edition recognized 71 lemur taxa (68 species and 5 subspecies) 12 years later.[17] The second edition followed the recommendations of Colin Groves in the third edition of Mammal Species of the World from 2005 by recognizing newly identified nocturnal species and raising many former subspecies to species status.[18] For comparison, Tattersall's book Primates of Madagascar from 1982 listed only 20 species and 29 subspecies.[19] Following the publication of the second edition, Nick Garbutt recognized 87 species and 5 subspecies in his book Mammals of Madagascar.[20]

Not all lemur researchers agree with the species promotions supported by these books. Researchers such as Tattersall and Anne D. Yoder, director of the Duke Lemur Center, have raised concerns about taxonomic inflation.[18][21] In particular, Tattersall has noted a steep decline in polytypic lemur species, or species with defined subspecies, starting with the first edition of Lemurs of Madagascar and becoming more pronounced in the second edition. He noted that more than half of the new species added in the second edition were promoted subspecies and questioned whether Madagascar could produce so many monotypic species.[18]

Before the release of the third edition of Lemurs of Madagascar, many of the major contributors, as well as Colin Groves, teamed up in 2008 to compile an updated lemur species list, published under the title "Lemur diversity in Madagascar" in the International Journal of Primatology. In it, 99 lemur taxa were recognized (97 species and 3 subspecies).[22] The third edition went on to recognize 101 lemur taxa (97 species and 6 subspecies) and suggested that future research could reveal as many as 110 to 125 taxa.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b Gould, L. (1996). "Book review: Lemurs of Madagascar". International Journal of Primatology. 17 (2): 299–300. doi:10.1007/BF02735455. S2CID 413904.
  2. ^ Mittermeier et al. 1994, pp. 77–268
  3. ^ Mittermeier et al. 2006, pp. 85–415
  4. ^ "Publications: Lemurs of Madagascar". Conservation International. Archived from the original on 2011-03-19. Retrieved 13 Nov 2010.
  5. ^ a b Mittermeier et al. 2006, pp. 5–8
  6. ^ Mittermeier et al. 1994, pp. 6–7
  7. ^ "Publications: Lemurs of Madagascar Pocket Identification Guide". Conservation International. Archived from the original on 2011-03-09. Retrieved 13 Nov 2010.
  8. ^ "Publications: Lemurs of Madagascar Pocket Identification Guide – Nocturnal Lemurs". Conservation International. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. Retrieved 13 Nov 2010.
  9. ^ "Publications: Lemurs of Madagascar Pocket Identification Guide – Diurnal and Cathemeral Lemurs". Conservation International. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 13 Nov 2010.
  10. ^ Jolly, A. (1996). "How to see lemurs — A review of Lemurs of Madagascar, Conservation International Tropical Field Guide Series, by Russell A. Mittermeier, Ian Tattersall, William R. Konstant, David M. Meyers, and Roderic B. Mast; illustrated by Stephen D. Nash" (PDF). Lemur News. 2: 24–25.
  11. ^ Ratsirarson, J. (1997). "Lemurs: a field guide". Conservation Biology. 11 (1): 293. JSTOR 2387311.
  12. ^ Tecot, S. (2007). "In reference to lemurs: a comprehensive field guide and call to action on behalf of the unique primates of Madagascar". American Journal of Primatology. 70 (2): 204–206. doi:10.1002/ajp.20472. S2CID 86588793.
  13. ^ "Recent publications" (PDF). Lemur News. 11: 49–50. 2006.
  14. ^ Dunkel, A. (2010). "[Review of] Lemurs of Madagascar" (PDF). Lemur News. 15: 70–71.
  15. ^ Mittermeier et al. 1994, pp. 191–192
  16. ^ Mittermeier et al. 2006, pp. 278–279
  17. ^ Rylands, A.B. (2007). "Lemur diversity: A recent efflorescence of species" (PDF). Lemur News. 12: 12–17.
  18. ^ a b c Tattersall, I. (2007). "Madagascar's lemurs: Cryptic diversity or taxonomic inflation?". Evolutionary Anthropology. 16: 12–23. doi:10.1002/evan.20126. S2CID 54727842.
  19. ^ Tattersall, I. (1982). Primates of Madagascar. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04704-3.
  20. ^ Garbutt, N. (2007). Mammals of Madagascar, A Complete Guide. A&C Black Publishers. pp. 28–30. ISBN 978-0-300-12550-4.
  21. ^ Yoder, A.D. (2007). "Lemurs: a quick guide" (PDF). Current Biology. 17 (20): 866–868. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.07.050. PMID 17956741. S2CID 235311897.
  22. ^ Mittermeier, R.; Ganzhorn, J.; Konstant, W.; Glander, K.; Tattersall, I.; Groves, C.; Rylands, A.; Hapke, A.; Ratsimbazafy, J.; Mayor, Mireya I.; Louis, Edward E.; Rumpler, Yves; Schwitzer, Christoph; Rasoloarison, Rodin M. (2008). "Lemur diversity in Madagascar". International Journal of Primatology. 29 (6): 1607–1656. doi:10.1007/s10764-008-9317-y. hdl:10161/6237. S2CID 17614597.
  23. ^ Mittermeier et al. 2010, pp. 1–4
Books cited

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