Diademed Sifaka

Open encyclopedia reference

The diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema), or diademed simpona, is a critically endangered sifaka endemic to rainforests in eastern Madagascar. Along with the indri, it is one of the two largest living lemurs, with an average weight of 6.5 kg (14 lb) and an average length of 105 cm (41 in), half of which is its tail. It has a striking appearance that features a silky coat of brightly colored limbs that contrast with black, white, and gray shades on its torso, head, and tail. Russell Mittermeier, one of the contemporary authorities on lemurs, describes the diademed sifaka as "one of the most colorful and attractive of all the lemurs." The diademed sifaka is a diurnal, arboreal folivore that seasonally augments its diet with a variety of foods, including seeds, fruit, and flowers. It lives in small, territorial, female-dominated troops of two to nine individuals, which consist of infants, juveniles, and adults of both sexes. Every day, a diademed sifaka patrols the boundaries of its home range with its fellows, depositing scent markings at contested trees along the way.

Wikipedia contributors, Diademed sifaka; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:26:20.460861+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Propithecus diadema Bennett, 1832

Name authority

Bennett, 1832

Common name

Diademed Sifaka

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Primates

Family

Indriidae

Genus

Propithecus

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. familyIndriidae Burnett, 1828
16. genusPropithecus Bennett, 1832
17. speciesPropithecus diadema Bennett, 1832

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 11 records assigned to Indriidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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=572883 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:77XPY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.