Archaeolemur edwardsi Filhol, 1895
Greater monkey lemur
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 630 ± 50 14C age BP ± SD (Michielsen et al., 2023)
Distribution
Madagascar
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
USNM 447012
Media
References
Alcover, Josep Antoni et al. (1998). Mammal Species of the World: Additional Data on Insular Mammals. American Museum Novitates 3248, 29 pp., 1 table.
Burney DA, Burney LP, Godfrey LR, Jungers WL, Goodman SM, Wright HT, and Jull AJT (2004) A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. Journal of Human Evolution 47, 25–63.
Burney DA and Ramilisonina (1998) The kilopilopitsofy, kidoky and bokyboky: accounts of strange animals from Belo-sur-Mer, Madagascar, and the megafaunal “extinction window”. American Anthropologist 100, 957–966.
Burney, David A. et al. (2019). Subfossil lemur discoveries from the Beanka Protected Area in western Madagascar. Quaternary Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.54 [Abstract]
Crowley, B. E. A refined chronology of prehistoric Madagascar and the demise of the megafauna. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 2591–2603 (2010).
Crowley, Brooke Erin, Godfrey, Laurie Rohde and Samonds, Karen Elizabeth. (2023). What can hippopotamus isotopes tell us about past distributions of C4 grassy biomes on Madagascar? Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10402
Godfrey, Laurie R. et al. (2005). New Insights into Old Lemurs: The Trophic Adaptations of the Archaeolemuridae. International Journal of Primatology 26(4): 825-854.
Goodman, S. M. & Jungers, W. L. Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the island’s past. (University of Chicago Press, 2014).
Herrera, J. P. & Dávalos, L. M. Phylogeny and divergence times of lemurs inferred with recent and ancient fossils in the tree. Syst. Biol. 65, 772–91 (2016).
Joseph, Grant S. and Seymour, Colleen L. (2022). Are Madagascar's obligate grazing-lawns ancient and evolved with endemic herbivores, or recently selected by introduced cattle? Biology Letters 18: 20220212.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0212
Jungers, W.L., Demes, B. & Godfrey, L.R. 2008 How big were the "giant" extinct lemurs of Madagascar? In Elwyn Simons: a search for origins (ed. J.G. Fleagle & C.C. Gilbert), pp. 343-360. New York: Springer.
Jungers, W. L. et al. (2005). The hands and feet of Archaeolemur: metrical affinities and their functional significance. Journal of Human Evolution 49: 36-55.
Kouvari, M. & van der Geer, A. A. E. Biogeography of extinction: The demise of insular mammals from the Late Pleistocene till today. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 505, 295–304 (2018).
Lemoine, Rhys Taylor, Buitenwerf, Robert, Faurby, Sören and Svenning, Jens-Christian. (2025). Phylogenetic Evidence Supports the Effect of Traits on Late-Quaternary Megafauna Extinction in the Context of Human Activity. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34(7): e70078. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70078 [Supporting Information: Data S1]
Michielsen, Nathan M., Goodman, Steven M., Soarimalala, Voahangy, van der Geer, Alexandra A. E., Dávalos, Liliana M., Saville, Grace I., Upham, Nathan and Valente, Luis. (2023). The macroevolutionary impact of recent and imminent mammal extinctions on Madagascar. Nature Communications 14: 14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35215-3 [Supplementary Data 1 (mammal list); Supplementary Data 6 (references)]
Mittermeier, R. A. et al. Lemurs of madagascar. (Conservation International, 2010).
Orlando, L., Calvignac, S., Schnebelen, C., Douady, C.J., Godfrey, L.R. & Hänni, C. 2008 DNA from extinct giant lemurs links archaeolemurids to extant indriids. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8, 121.
Rafferty, K. L., Teaford, M. F. and Jungers, W. L. (2002). Molar microwear of subfossil lemurs: improving the resolution of dietary inferences. Journal of Human Evolution 43: 645-657.
Russo, Gabrielle A. (2016). Comparative sacral morphology and the reconstructed tail lengths of five extinct primates: Proconsul heseloni, Epipliopithecus vindobonensis, Archaeolemur edwardsi, Megaladapis grandidieri, and Palaeopropithecus kelyus. Journal of Human Evolution 90: 135-162. [Abstract]
Samonds, K. E., Parent, S. N., Muldoon, K. M., Crowley, B. E. and Godfrey, L. R. (2010). Rock matrix surrounding subfossil lemur skull yields diverse collection of mammalian subfossils: Implications for reconstructing Madagascar’s paleoenvironments. Malagasy Nature 4: 1-16.
Samonds, Karen E. et al. (2019). A new late Pleistocene subfossil site (Tsaramody, Sambaina basin, central Madagascar) with implications for the chronology of habitat and megafaunal community change on Madagascar’s Central Highlands. Journal of Quaternary Science 34(6): 379-392. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3096
Sivault, Elise et al. (2023). Can body mass and skull morphology predict seed and fruit ingestion potential for mammal species? A test using extant species and its application to extinct species. Functional Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14300
Towle, Ian, Constantino, Paul J., Borths, Matthew R. and Loch, Carolina. (2022). Tooth chipping patterns in Archaeolemur provide insight into diet and behavior. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180: 401-408. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24674
Turvey, Samuel T. (2009). Holocene mammal extinctions, pp. 41-61. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Turvey, Samuel T. and Fritz, Susanne A. (2011). The ghosts of mammals past: biological and geographical patterns of global mammalian extinction across the Holocene. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366(1577): 2564-2576. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0020 [Supplementary Information]
Upham, N. S., Esselstyn, J. A. & Jetz, W. Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution, and conservation. PLOS Biol. 17, e3000494 (2019).
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/6544/archaeolemur-edwardsi-greater-monkey-lemur