Table Of ContentDevelopments in Primatology:
Progress and Prospects
Series Editors: Louise Barrett and Russell Tuttle
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/5852
Judith Masters • Marco Gamba • Fabien Génin
Editors
Leaping Ahead
Advances in Prosimian Biology
Editors
Judith Masters Marco Gamba
Department of Zoology Dipartimento di Biologia Animale
University of Fort Hare e dell’Uomo
Alice , South Africa Università degli Studi di Torino
Torino, Italy
Fabien Génin
Department of Zoology
University of Fort Hare
Alice , South Africa
ISBN 978-1-4614-4510-4 ISBN 978-1-4614-4511-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-4511-1
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Frontispiece
Participants in the Prosimians 2007 International Congress,
Ithala, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 15–19 July 2007
We dedicate this volume to our colleagues
Daniel Montagnon and Bjoern Siemers,
whose premature deaths have left us and the
fi eld of prosimian biology much the poorer.
Foreword
Leaping Ahead takes its place in a series of collective and synthetic volumes updating
current knowledge on prosimians. Initiated by Robert Martin, Gerald Doyle, and
Alan Walker in 1974, and continued by Gerald Doyle and Robert Martin 5 years
later, these volumes have become a recurrent necessity for the prosimian research
community. It is no longer necessary to justify meetings or publications dedicated
to prosimian studies: the gathering of papers synthesizing the latest contributions to
the fi eld provides researchers with an irreplaceable bibliographic tool which, com-
plemented by publications in specialized international journals, is essential to all
scienti fi c disciplines.
In 1979, Gerald Doyle and Robert Martin questioned the practice of restricting
these meetings to a fraction of primatologists, with the risk of seeing “prosimianol-
ogy” become an autonomous discipline. This risk has not been realized, since pros-
imian researchers also frequent primatology meetings; but we can question the
dichotomy between studies of so-called higher and prosimian primates. There are
probably many reasons for this distinction. One of them is methodological: studying
the biology and the sociology of nocturnal animals requires very different methods
from those designed for analyzing and decoding the behavior of gregarious, diurnal
animals. But other, more, profound reasons may also play a role. When Linnaeus
proposed the term “Primates” in 1758 for a group formerly known as “Simia” or
“Anthropoidea,” he was implicitly placing them before the others, which seemed
sensible at the time. A few decades later, in the same spirit, and basing his reasoning
on the “degeneration” of the hand, Blainville created the “Secundates,” “Tertiates,”
and “Quaternates” for the other mammalian orders. This nomenclature disappeared
rapidly, but Linnaeus’ Primates survived. This term could as well have been replaced
by “Quadrumanes,” created by Cuvier, but the notion of Primates is so deeply
entrenched that no one would dare question it, despite the birth of Darwinism and
modern theories which swept away the idea of linearity of evolution. This persis-
tence is not fortuitous, and many people, including scientists, still regard primates
as “primary” with an innate hierarchy of “higher” primates and prosimians.
ix
x Foreword
There is also the fact that many primatological studies are undertaken to improve
our understanding of the evolutionary and paleontological history of humans:
research on so-called higher primates tends to focus on anatomical and behavioral
characteristics associated with hominization, while prosimian research is often
viewed as revealing ancient primate characteristics. A comprehensive study of
primate evolution requires a synthesis of elements from the anthropological and
zoological approaches to primatology, and L eaping Ahead re fl ects such a synthesis.
The book reveals the preoccupations of our time, and several chapters discuss
the loss of biodiversity and habitat destruction, consequences of climate change,
and overexploitation of forest ecosystems. The fi elds of phylogeny and systematics
are also included, and the multiplicity of newly created taxa urges more in-depth
research into prosimian diversity. Particular attention has been paid to species previ-
ously ignored because they are rare or localized, or because they were previously
confused with other taxa. The fi eld of paleontology is also advancing, allowing a
more global vision of prosimians. Ecological studies produce new data on
interspeci fi c competition, dietary strategies, habitat use, social structures, ecophysi-
ology, and much more. New technologies have been applied to several fi elds, while
more classical methods have revealed unanticipated cerebral capacities in mouse
lemurs. The study of vocalizations is undergoing renewal, providing behavioral data
to support or challenge genetic taxonomic assignments. This broad diversity of
approaches shows that prosimians still attract much interest among students and
researchers and that their study allows scientists to ask essential questions, to which
there are often unique answers.
Clapiers, France Pierre Charles-Dominique
Description:Leaping Ahead: Advances in Prosimian Biology presents a summary of the state of prosimian biology as we move into the second decade of the 21st century. The book covers a wide range of topics, from assessments of diversity and evolutionary scenarios, through ecophysiology, cognition, behavioral and
