Strikingly, the largest koala-lemur emerges as a suspensory taxon. This would place it among the largest mammals known with this locomotor specialization, rivalled today only by orangutans!
Stay tuned for more work on these bizarre extinct primates!
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Me...
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Femoral data identify suspensory/bridging arboreal species (tree sloths, orangutans, lorises). Inferring extinct taxa's locomotion, we confirmed previously proposed sloth-lemurs' suspensory habits
(Figure from Alfieri et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0), doi.org/10.1093/zool...)
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This allowed us to assess and statistically test how this anatomical level co-varies with locomotion in extant species.
(Figure from Alfieri et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0), doi.org/10.1093/zool...)
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We then quantified humeral/femoral trabecular bone in extant mammals and extinct lemurs. For the latter, we used traditional and more recent approaches to clean fossil trabecular bone structure.
(Figure from Alfieri et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0), doi.org/10.1093/zool...)
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We first identified links between limb trabecular bone and locomotion in a broad mammalian sample. We used published quantitative behavioural data to define ad-hoc locomotor categories.
(Figure from Alfieri et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0), doi.org/10.1093/zool...)
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I’m very happy to share that our work on bone inner structure of Madagascar’s subfossil sloth- and koala-lemurs is finally out 🦴🐒 on @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social
A big thank you to co-authors @julsam.bsky.social Carla Argilés Esturgó and Damiano Marchi!
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
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Very happy to share the preprint of our work on Quaternary subfossil lemur trabecular structure! Thanks to co-authors @julsam.bsky.social, Carla Argilés Esturgó and Damiano Marchi
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
thank you so much @albertonykus.bsky.social :)
