Topic
Pachylemur
About: Pachylemur is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14 publications have been published within this topic receiving 949 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report definitive evidence of butchery, most probably associated with hunting, of giant extinct lemurs by early human settlers in Madagascar, showing classic signs of butchering.
127 citations
TL;DR: Dietary inferences are drawn that the Archaeolemuridae were hard-object feeders; the Palaeopropithecidae were seed predators; Pachylemur was a fruit-dominated mixed feeder, but not a seed predator; and all Megaladapis were leaf browsers.
114 citations
TL;DR: Measurements of the skull and dentition were obtained for three groups of closely-related Malagasy lemurs to evaluate whether species-level differences in skull form result from the differential extension of common patterns of relative growth, and analyses of the data indicate that cranial proportions for both species of Propithecus are ontogenetically scaled.
74 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate that the habitat surrounding Ankilitelo during the late Holocene was similar to the succulent woodlands of modern southwestern Madagascar, which suggests that approximately 500yr BP, these semi-arid habitats supported a subfossil lemur community that included the highly-suspensory Palaeopropithecus, and deliberate slow-climber Megaladapis, as well as Archaeolemur, Pachylemur, and Daubentonia robusta.
39 citations
TL;DR: Very high values for relative IOF area in Archaeolemur support frugivory but are also consistent with omnivory, as certain omnivores use facial touch cues while feeding.
Abstract: The size of the infraorbital foramen (IOF) has been used in drawing both phylogenetic and ecological inferences regarding fossil taxa. Within the order Primates, frugivores have relatively larger IOFs than folivores or insectivores. This study uses relative IOF size in lemurs to test prior trophic inferences for subfossil lemurs and to explore the pattern of variation within and across lemur families. The IOFs of individuals belonging to 12 extinct lemur species were measured and compared to those of extant Malagasy strepsirhines. Observations matched expectations drawn from more traditional approaches (e.g. dental morphology and microwear, stable isotope analysis) remarkably well. We confirm that extinct lemurs belonging to the families Megaladapidae and Palaeopropithecidae were predominantly folivorous and that species belonging to the genus Pachylemur (Lemuridae) were frugivores. Very high values for relative IOF area in Archaeolemur support frugivory but are also consistent with omnivory, as certain omnivores use facial touch cues while feeding. These results provide additional evidence that the IOF can be used as an informative osteological feature in both phylogenetic and paleoecological interpretations of the fossil record.
19 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2009 | 1 |