B35
Skull of Megaladapis

Megaladapis is one of the primates that was extinct about 1000 years ago. It belongs to the endemic taxa to Madagascar. Because the Madagascar has been separated from the other continents since the Mesozoic Era, flora and fauna are endemic to this Island. About the primates, only the lemurs are distributed in Madagascar. The famous ring-tailed lemur, aye-aye and sifaka belong to the Lemuriformes, and all of them show us the adaptive radiation as the endemic species. Megarladapis is an extremely large-sized species of the Lemuriformes, of which the body length might be 150 cm and the body weight might reach 80 kg. We think that the species lived on trees and ate leaves and nuts. Because there are not natural enemies and competitors within the Island, the island certainly functioned as a "laboratory of evolution". The prosperity of the huge lemur would be a result of the "experiment". Since this species were so recently extinct, it is pointed out that the species might have been destroyed by the humans who came in the Island. This replica was made of the mold of the excavated fossil skull of Megaladapis. It had been molded by a sculptor, Mr. Michihisa Sakai, and Dr. Akira Yoshida of The Research Institute of Evolutionary Biology, and has been stored in the University Museum since 2009. The information of the Megaladapis is few. Therefore, replica with high-quality which is made from the bone or fossil shows us the detailed information about this group. Interesting knowledge about the species of the Island such as specific evolution, adaptation and process of extinction would be obtained from this replica.　(Hideki Endo & Mayu Kusumi)

References

遠藤秀紀（2002）『哺乳類の進化』東京大学出版会。