False Potto

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False Potto^[1]

See text

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Lorisidae
Subfamily:	Perodicticinae
Genus:	Pseudopotto Schwartz, 1996
Species:	P. martini

Binomial name

Pseudopotto martini
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.

[edit] References

^ Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 123. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.