Pachylemur insignis (Filhol, 1895)
Southern giant ruffed lemur
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Lemur insignis Filhol, 1895; Lemur intermedius Filhol, 1895
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 1215 ± 20 14C age BP ± SD (Michielsen et al., 2023)
Distribution
Madagascar
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
University of Antananarivo:
UA 3031 (Meador, 2017:38)
UA 3035 (Meador, 2017:38)
UA 3075 (Meador, 2017:38)
UA 3103 (Meador, 2017:38)
UA 3124 (Meador, 2017:38)
UA 5312 (Meador, 2017:37)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Filhol, H. (1895). Observations concernant les Mammifères contemporains des Æpyornis à Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. 1: 12–14.
Other 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.
Crovella S, Montagnon D, Rakotosamimanana B, Rumpler Y. (1994). Molecular biology and systematics of an extinct lemur: Pachylemur insignis. Primates 35: 519-522.
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, L. R. et al. A new interpretation of Madagascar’s megafaunal decline: The “Subsistence Shift Hypothesis”. J. Hum. Evol. 130, 126–140 (2019).
Goodman, S. M. & Jungers, W. L. Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the island’s past. (University of Chicago Press, 2014).
Hixon, Sean W. et al. (2018). Nitrogen isotope (δ15N) patterns for amino acids in lemur bones are inconsistent with aridity driving megafaunal extinction in south‐western Madagascar. Journal of Quaternary Science. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3073 [Abstract]
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.
Karanth, K.P., Delefosse, T., Rakotosamimanana, B., Parsons, T.J. & Yoder, A.D. 2005 Ancient DNA from giant extinct lemurs confirms single origin of Malagasy primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 102, 5090-5095.
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).
Meador, Lindsay Renee. (2017). Who Ate the Subfossil Lemurs? A Taphonomic and Community Study of Raptor, Crocodylian and Carnivoran Predation of the Extinct Quaternary Lemurs of Madagascar. Dissertation. xvii + 388 pp.
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)]
Muldoon, Kathleen M. et al. (2012). Early Holocene fauna from a new subfossil site: A first assessment from Christmas River, south central Madagascar. Madagascar Conservation & Development 7(1): 23-29.
Perez VR, Godfrey LR, Nowak-Kemp M, Burney DA, Ratsimbazafy J, Vasey N. (2005). Evidence of early butchery of giant lemurs in Madagascar. J. Hum. Evol. 49:722-742. [Abstract]
Rahantaharivao, Noromamy J., Godfrey, Laurie R., Schwartz, Gary T., King, Stephen and Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa. (2021). The growth and development of Pachylemur, a large-bodied lemurid. Malagasy Nature 15: 141-158.
Rosenberger, Alfred L. et al. (In Press, 2015). Giant subfossil lemur graveyard discovered, submerged, in Madagascar. Journal of Human Evolution. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.01.004
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
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]
Werdelin, L. & Sanders, W. J. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. (Univ of California Press, 2010).