Celebrate International Tarsier Day with two new species of tarsiers
Two new species of tarsiers discovered in Indonesia.
Check this out! The scientific description of two new tarsier species are posted online in the 
journal Primate Conservation today, May 4.
“Two New Tarsier Species (Tarsiidae, primates) and the Biogeography of Sulawesi, Indonesia”
Tarsiers bear uncanny resemblance to Yoda, and are widely rumored to have been the inspiration for Yoda’s physical appearance. As such, a group of primatologists have designated May 4 as International Tarsier Day, and planned the release of the descriptions to coincide with that day, which many young people refer to as Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!).
Tarsiers are small nocturnal primates found only on several islands of Southeast Asia. They are most closely related to the anthropoid primates, a group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans, but they separated from that group 64.2 to 58.4 million years ago according to genetic data. A typical adult male weighs about 120 g (4.3 oz), or about the same as a stick of butter. Adult females often weigh about 10% less. Tarsiers have the largest eyes relative to their body size of any mammal. Each eye ball is approximately as large as their brain. Like owls, tarsiers can turn their head more than 180º in either direction. They have the longest legs relative to their arms among all primates, as tarsiers are the primate that is most highly adapted for leaping, and can easily leap 3 meters.
Tarsius spectrumgurskyae (pictured left, photo credit Myron Shekelle) and Tarsius supriatnai (pictured right, photo credit Lynn Clayton), from the provinces of North Sulawesi and Gorontalo, respectively, are each named for a pivotal scientist in Indonesian conservation. Dr. Sharon Gursky, Professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M University, has been the world’s foremost expert on tarsier behavior for more than 20 years. Dr. Jatna Supriatna, Professor of Biology at the University of Indonesia, was the director of Conservation International’s Indonesia office for 15 years, and has sponsored much of the scientific research on conservation within that country. Like many nocturnal species, these two species look similar to each other, as well as to other tarsiers, and are diagnosed mainly by their vocalizations and genetic data.
The discovery of these species is expected to help conserve the critically important regions in which they are found. Tarsiers being one of the flagship species that promote conservation on Sulawesi, T. spectrumgurskyae is expected to help protect the greater Tangkoko conservation area, which is essential for the Critically Endangered crested black macaque, while T. supriatnai will assist conservation of the Nantu Wildlife Sanctuary, which is one of the most successful conservation areas for babirusa (“deer pig”) and anoa (a species of dwarf buffalo), both of which are endemic to Sulawesi. Indonesia harbors a disproportionate percentage of the world’s biodiversity. The island of Sulawesi is rich in species found nowhere else on earth. It is the world’s 11th largest island. It is the largest landmass within the conservation hotspot of Wallacea. Lying between Asia and Australia, it has many Asian species, such as monkeys, and also Australian marsupials, such as cuscus. Perhaps most interestingly, it holds several species that are most closely related to animals from the Miocene epoch, and which sheltered in the isolation of Sulawesi and other nearby island groups. Tarsiers are among these.
The authors of this study include lauded conservationist, Dr. Russell Mittermeier, founder of Conservation International, one of the world’s largest conservation organizations. Dr. Ibnu Maryanto is a senior scientist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Professor Colin Groves, of Australian National University, was referred to by Dr. Jane Goodall as the world’s greatest living primate taxonomist. Lead author Dr. Myron Shekelle is a Research Associate at Western Washington University’s Department of Anthropology, and is affiliated in Indonesia with Manado State University, and is currently funded by National Geographic Society. He has been studying the evolution of tarsiers for 23 years. His work has led to the recognition that tarsiers on Sulawesi are not just 1 or 2 species, as was widely believed when his work began, but a cluster 16 or more. With these descriptions, the number of recognized species from Sulawesi and nearby islands rises to 11. The same authorship group has at least two more species in the process of scientific description.
Dr. Jatna Supriatna (left) and Dr. Sharon Gursky (right).
