False Potto

Taxobox
name = False PottoMSW3 Groves|pages=123]
status = text
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Lorisidae
subfamilia = Perodicticinae
genus = "Pseudopotto"
genus_authority = Schwartz, 1996
species = "P. martini"
binomial = "Pseudopotto martini"
binomial_authority = Schwartz, 1996

The False Potto ("Pseudopotto martini") is a strepsirrhine primate from the Lorisidae family, very similar in anatomy and appearance to the Potto ("Perodicticus potto"). The classification of the False Potto into its own genus ("Pseudopotto") and species was proposed in 1996 by Jeffrey Schwartz of the American Museum of Natural History. Schwartz had been studying skeletons labelled "Perodicticus potto" at the University of Zurich when he realised that two of them had characteristics different from the Potto skeletons. They lacked the Potto's distinctive spiny vertebrae and had longer premolars, shorter third molars and a slightly longer tail. The skeletons were also much smaller than those of most Pottos, but had been collected in a region where the largest Potto individuals are found. Schwartz named the species "martini" in honour of Robert Martin, a leader in prosimian study who taught at the University of Zurich.

However, some scientists — notably E. Sarmiento and S. Bearder — have disputed the new classification, saying that the differences between Schwartz's specimens and "Perodicticus" are not significant enough to warrant it. Since the validity and status of "P. martini" as a species requires confirmation, a conservation status assessment of it has not been performed.

The only known specimens of the False Potto were collected in Cameroon. So far the animal does not appear to have been studied in the wild, and nothing is yet known about its behaviour.

References

External links

* [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/271 Pseudopotto martini : a new genus and species of extant lorisiform primate] . Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; no. 78 (abstract at amnh.org)
* [http://www.umc.pitt.edu/pittmag/jan97/j97credith.html Interview with Jeffrey Schwartz] from the University of Pittsburgh magazine (near bottom of page)
* [http://members.tripod.com/uakari/pseudopotto_martini.html Martin's false potto ("Pseudopotto martini")] at The Primata