Red-fronted Lemur

Open encyclopedia reference

The red lemur (Eulemur rufus), also known as the rufous brown lemur or northern red-fronted lemur, is a species of lemur from Madagascar. Until 2001, the species E. rufus was considered a subspecies of the common brown lemur, E. fulvus, after which it was classified as its own species. In December 2008, the species was split into two separate species, the red lemur, E. rufus, distributed in dry lowland forests in northwestern Madagascar, and the red-fronted lemur, E. rufifrons, distributed in southwest and eastern Madagascar. The species split was based on genetic and morphological evidence. Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates that E. rufifrons may be more closely related to the common brown lemur (E. fulvus), white-headed lemur (E. albifrons) and Sanford's brown lemur (E. sanfordi) than it is to E. rufus. The red lemur's range covers dry deciduous forests in southwestern Madagascar between the Betsiboka River to the north and the Tsiribihina River to the south. The Tsiribihina River forms the boundary between E. rufus, which lives north of the river, and E. rufifrons, which lives south of the river.

Wikipedia contributors, Red lemur; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:04:57.535719+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Eulemur rufus (Audebert, 1799)

Name authority

(Audebert, 1799)

Common name

Red-fronted Lemur

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Primates

Family

Lemuridae

Genus

Eulemur

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. superfamilyLemuroidea Gray, 1821
15. familyLemuridae Gray, 1821
16. genusEulemur Simons & Rumpler, 1988
17. speciesEulemur rufus (Audebert, 1799)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 15 records assigned to Lemuridae.

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=944073 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.

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:6GXNW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.