If you’re ever out lemur spotting, and thing you’ve seen an entirely new species, you may wish to refer back to US research published today in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology wherein you will find a study that claims that different coat colour does not necessarily correspond to a different species for nocturnal lemurs. In fact, as with cats and dogs, coat colour does not mean an awful lot when trying to distinguish new species. Genetically speaking whatever the fur, it’s the genes that matter.
Kellie Heckman of Yale University and colleagues sequenced the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b in seventy mouse lemurs. Originally, these lemurs were thought to belong to up to three different species because they live in different forest habitats and have distinctive coat colouration.
However, Heckman’s phylogenetic analysis came to the rather surprising result that all seventy specimens are actually identical genetically, to all intents and purposes; making them all Microcebus griseorufus.
While, the press release on this says the results are surprising, it then goes on to explain that these nocturnal animals use auditory cues and smell to recognise each other rather than judging who’s who on the basis of the coat they’re wearing. So, it’s not really surprising at all, when you think about it like that. After all, an extra wing stripe can separate to otherwise identical bird species, but birds are generally diurnal and have great day sight. Colours are pretty much a secondary thing at night no matter how good your eyes.
Meanwhile, the authors of the study offer a cautionary word for those searching for new species. They say that looks aren’t everything and that size, shape, geography, ecological, and most importantly genetic differences have to be taken into account to provide an accurate picture of species diversity.