Home

Une nouvelle espèce de lémurien géant subfossile du Nord-Ouest de Madagascar ( Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Primates)

Dominique GOMMERY, Beby RAMANIVOSOA, Sabine TOMBOMIADANA-RAVELOSON, Hervé RANDRIANANTENAINA & Patrice KERLOC’H

fr Comptes Rendus Palevol 8 (5) - Pages 471-480

Published on 31 July 2009

A new species of giant subfossil lemur from the North-West of Madagascar ( Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Primates)

For more than 20 years, a species of Palaeopropithecus has been suspected in the North-West of Madagascar. New discoveries in breccia from the sites of Belobaka and Ambongonambakoa permit us to describe the dental morphology of a new species, with a very developed parastyle and a mesostyle. This morphology is close to that which is found in the genus Propithecus. This small sized Palaeopropithecus could probably chew little bits of harder food than the two larger species. The description of this new species occurs 100 years after the other two, and suggests a greater diversity of Palaeopropithecus, extinct lemurs of large size and moving in a suspended manner like the South-American sloth.


Keywords:

Madagascar, Subfossil, Lemurs, Palaeopropithecus, Karst

Download full article in PDF format Order a reprint