Lepilemur petteri Louis 2006

25.

Petter’s Sportive Lemur

Lepilemur petteri

French: Lépilémur de Petter / German: Petter-Wieselmaki / Spanish: Lémur saltador de Petter

Taxonomy. Lepilemur petteri Louis et al., 2006,

Madagascar, province of Toliary, Beza-Mahafaly (c.23° 39’ S, 44° 38’ E).

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. SW Madagascar, known only from the Beza-Mahafaly region, S of the Onilahy River and W of the Linta River. Further studies are needed to determine the N extent of the distribution, studies need to be conducted in the remaining forest regions around the Linta and Menarandra rivers to determine the distributions of Petter’s Sportive Lemur and the White-footed Sportive Lemur (L. leucopus).

Descriptive notes. Head-body ¢.23 cm, tail ¢.24 cm; weight 630 g. A small species of sportive lemur. The fur is gray to grayish-brown above and whitish-gray below, with a diffuse brownish-gray on the anterior aspect of the thighs and along the dorsal midline. The face is gray with lighter circular patches around the eyes and under the chin. The ears are trimmed in lighter fur, highlighting the dark brownish-gray innerlining.

Habitat. Mainly deciduous thicket and thorn scrub, as well as some gallery forest.

Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but it is presumably largely folivorous.

Breeding. There is no information available for this species.

Activity patterns. Nocturnal and arboreal. Petter’s Sportive Lemur at Beza-Mahafaly spends ¢.50% of the night resting or self-grooming, ¢.30% feeding, and c.10-15% traveling. They rest significantly more and travel significantly less during the cool-dry season. Social behavior, vocalizing, and other behaviors make up 5% of their nighttime activity. The activity ofthis species does not seem to be correlated with nocturnal illumination, although individuals seem to use the highest stratum of the forest less frequently when the moon is full.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. This species has not been studied in the wild.

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix I. Classified as Data Deficient on The [UCN Red List. However, at the IUCN/SSC Lemur Red-Listing Workshop held in July 2012, L. petteri was assessed as vulnerable. The only protected area in which Petter’s Sportive Lemuris known to occuris the Beza-Mahalaly Special Reserve, along with the adjacent classified forest, where encounter rates are 9-12 ind/km.

Bibliography. Louis, Engberg et al. (2006), Mittermeier et al. (2010), Nash (1998, 2000, 2007).