Tarsiiformes

Abstract

Tarsiers are one of the most enigmatic taxa within the Order Primates. The current‐day taxonomic classification of tarsiers is based on Groves and Shekelle's (2010) classification of the tarsiers into three separate genera: Tarsius , Carlito , and Cephalopachus . Within the genus Tarsius , nine species are recognized, while only one species is currently recognized within Carlito and Cephalopachus , respectively. All extant tarsiers are nocturnal. They awaken at sunset and are active throughout the night, with occasional periods of rest. While other nocturnal mammals exhibit lunar phobia, tarsiers are known to be lunar philic. Tarsiers are also unusual among primates in that they consume only animal food. Tarsiers show extreme adaptations for vertical clinging and leaping in the understory of tropical habitats, often 2 m or less from the ground. Their hindlimbs are greatly elongated, and they are reported to have the smallest intermembral index of any primate.

Anecdotes in Primatology: Temporal Trends, Anthropocentrism, and Hierarchies of Knowledge

“…We are careful to note that our analyses focused on publication rather than acceptance, so we currently cannot determine if there is a taxonomic bias in the acceptance of anecdotes. Difficulties in observational conditions may explain our findings on the lack of publications on tarsiers and nocturnal strepsirrhines (Gursky ; Nekaris and Bearder ; Setchell ), and the greater representation of diurnal lemurs relative to nocturnal, solitary lemurs in research effort (Gould and Sauther ). Nevertheless, our analyses show that there is a bias toward apes in the published literature when the number of species in each taxonomic category is controlled for.…”

“…Journals should continue to regularly publish anecdotal studies that meet stringent standards of quality and should consider potential anthropocentric taxonomic biases in the acceptance of these articles. Editors and researchers should make sustained efforts to observe and report on the behavior of wild strepsirrhines and tarsiers for which data are sorely lacking (Gursky ; Nekaris and Bearder ; Setchell ). Those working on underrepresented taxonomic groups should continue to publish their findings both generally and anecdotally in order to share preliminary knowledge with other scientists and expand our knowledge of the order primates.…”

Primate Behavior

“…Females live in stable, cohesive groups, usually with other females and with single males. Tarsiers are strictly faunivorous (Gurski, 2007), and some other small-bodied species (e.g., squirrel monkeys, Saimiri spp. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are also highly frugivorous; they form stable social groups ("communities") with fixed memberships, but with high fission-fusion dynamics: individuals form subgroups ("parties") that vary in size, composition, and duration in response to variation in fruit abundance and spatial dispersion, the availability of sexually receptive females, and other factors.…”