A couple of years ago, after studying the DNA of more than 200lemursa team of scientists traced the evolutionary tree of this large family of endemic primates in Madagascar.
Lemurs are concentrated on the African island of Madagascar and are consideredprosimios, predecessors of the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the orangutan and the human being. Their evolutionary antiquity makes these mammals with long tails and pointed snouts a key piece in understanding what distinguishes apes from other animals, according to Julie Horvath, a co-author of the study.
Among other things, genetic analyzes carried out by Horvarth and his colleagues have confirmed that the first branch that separated from the rest of the lemurs 66 million years ago was theaye-aye, a nocturnal primate that strikes trees with its long fingers to search for holes with insects inside, making it a kind of African furry version of the woodpecker. In addition, DNA analysis has made it possible to clarify the kinship between other species such as thesifaka, which jumps from tree to tree with the help of its long legs, the tinylemurs mice, and the so-called “real lemurs”, such as thering-tailed lemurthat we usually see in zoos.
Researchers estimate that lemurs represent 20% of primate species, yet they are concentrated in a territory of just 1% of the earth’s surface. ? This highlights the importance of Madagascar as a cradle of biodiversity ?, say the authors of the study, which was published in the journalGenome research.
Duke University (www.duke.edu )
