Two new tarsier species (Tarsiidae, Primates) and the biogeography of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Myron Shekelle, Colin P. Groves, Ibnu Maryanto, Russell A. Mittermeier

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We name two new tarsier species from the northern peninsula of Sulawesi. In doing so, we examine the biogeography of Sulawesi and remove the implausibly disjunct distribution of Tarsius tarsier. This brings tarsier taxonomy into better accordance with the known geological history of Sulawesi and with the known regions of biological endemism on Sulawesi and the surrounding island chains that harbor portions of the Sulawesi biota. The union of these two data sets, geological and biological, became a predictive model of biogeography, and was dubbed the Hybrid Biogeographic Hypothesis for Sulawesi. By naming these species, which were already believed to be taxonomically distinct, tarsier taxonomy better concords with that hypothesis and recent genetic studies. Our findings bring greater clarity to the conservation crisis facing the region.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)61-70
    Number of pages10
    JournalPrimate Conservation
    Volume31
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

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