Peters' Mouse Lemur

Open encyclopedia reference

The pygmy mouse lemur (Microcebus myoxinus), also known as Peters' mouse lemur or dormouse lemur, is a primate weighing only 43–55 g (1.5–1.9 oz); it is the second smallest of the mouse lemurs. Its dorsal side is a rufous-brown colour, and creamy-white ventrally. It lives in dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar. It has been captured in the Tsingy de Bemaraha Nature Reserve, the Andramasy forests north of Belo sur Tsiribihina, and the border of heavily degraded deciduous forest and savanna at Aboalimena. It has also been found in other habitats, in mangroves in two localities. Accounts and descriptions of this species are frequently confounded with those of Microcebus berthae, the smallest primate in the world. This is because specimens of M. berthae captured in Kirindy Forest, 60 km north of Morondava, were erroneously named M. myoxinus. Apparently, the rufous color of M. berthae (not described at the time) matched the description by Peter as M. myoxinus. Most articles on the web report information on M. myoxinus that correspond to studies made in Kirindy Forest on M. berthae.

Wikipedia contributors, Pygmy mouse lemur; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:16:54.903301+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Microcebus myoxinus Peters, 1852

Name authority

Peters, 1852

Common name

Peters' Mouse Lemur

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Primates

Family

Cheirogaleidae

Genus

Microcebus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderPrimates Linnaeus, 1758
12. suborderStrepsirrhini É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812
13. infraorderLemuriformes Gray, 1821
14. superfamilyCheirogaleoidea Gray, 1873
15. familyCheirogaleidae Gray, 1873
16. genusMicrocebus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1834
17. speciesMicrocebus myoxinus Peters, 1852

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Microcebus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 39 records assigned to Cheirogaleidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=944024 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:42SBY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.