Verreaux's sifaka

Verreaux's sifaka
Temporal range: Pleistocene - recent[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Indriidae
Genus: Propithecus
Species:
P. verreauxi
Binomial name
Propithecus verreauxi
Distribution of P. verreauxi[2]
Synonyms
  • majori Rothschild, 1894
  • verreauxoides Lamberton, 1936

Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), or the white sifaka, is a medium-sized primate in one of the lemur families, the Indriidae. Critically Endangered, it lives in Madagascar and can be found in a variety of habitats from rainforest to dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar and the spiny thickets of the south. Its fur is thick and silky and generally white with brown on the sides, top of the head, and on the arms. Like all sifakas, it has a long tail that it uses as a balance when leaping from tree to tree. However, its body is so highly adapted to an arboreal existence, on the ground its only means of locomotion is hopping. The species lives in small troops which forage for food.

Despite shrinking habitats, P. verreauxi still likely has the largest distribution of all sifakas.[5]

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b Louis, E.E.; Sefczek, T.M.; Bailey, C.A.; Raharivololona, B.; Lewis, R.; Rakotomalala, E.J. (2020). "Propithecus verreauxi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T18354A115572044. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T18354A115572044.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference CITES was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 121. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  5. ^ Randrianjaka1, Sylvain (April 2, 2024). "Population Estimate of Propithecus verreauxi Grandidier in the Mahafaly Plateau Southwestern Madagascar" (PDF). Primate Conservation. 38.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)