Daubentoniidae Daubentoniidae

Daubentoniidae - Definition and Overview

Aye-aye
Conservation status: Endangered

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Primates
Suborder:Strepsirrhini
Family:Daubentoniidae
Gray, 1863
Genus:Daubentonia
E. Geoffroy, 1795
Species:D. madagascariensis
Binomial name
Daubentonia madagascariensis
Gmelin, 1788

The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the ecological niche of a woodpecker. It taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its finger to pull the grubs out. The Aye-aye is the only extant species in the family Daubentoniidae and infraorder Chiromyiformes. A second species was exterminated over the last few centuries.

Aye-aye specimen at Field Museum,Chicago

Classification

  • ORDER PRIMATES
    • Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
      • Infraorder Lemuriformes
      • Infraorder Chiromyiformes
        • Family Daubentoniidae: Aye-aye
          • Genus Daubentonia
            • Aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis
            • (Daubentonia robusta, extinct)
      • Infraorder Loriformes

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