Portal:Madagascar

Lavanify is a mammalian genus from the late Cretaceous (probably Maastrichtian, about 71 to 66 million years ago) of Madagascar. The only species, L. miolaka, is known from two isolated teeth, one of which is damaged. The teeth were collected in 1995–1996 and described in 1997. The animal is classified as a member of Gondwanatheria, an enigmatic extinct group with unclear phylogenetic relationships, and within Gondwanatheria as a member of the family Sudamericidae. Lavanify is most closely related to the Indian Bharattherium; the South American Sudamerica and Gondwanatherium are more distantly related. Gondwanatheres probably ate hard plant material.

Lavanify had high-crowned, curved teeth. One of the two teeth is 11.2 mm high and shows a deep furrow and, is centered laterally in the crown, a V-shaped area that consists of dentine. The other, damaged, tooth is 9.8 mm high and has at least one deep cavity (infundibulum). Characters shared by the teeth of Lavanify and Bharattherium include the presence of an infundibulum and a furrow; they both also have large, continuous bands of matrix (unbundled hydroxyapatite crystals) between the prisms (bundles of hydroxyapatite crystals) of the enamel, and perikymata—wave-like ridges and grooves in the enamel surface. (Full article...)

Toamasina (Malagasy pronunciation: [toˈmasinə̥]), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave or in the past as Port aux prunes, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated 215 km (134 mi) northeast of its capital and largest city Antananarivo. In 2018 Toamasina had a population of 325,857. (Full article...)

The Isalo serotine (Laephotis malagasyensis) is a vesper bat of Madagascar in the genus Laephotis. It is known only from the vicinity of the Isalo National Park in the southwestern part of the island, where it has been caught in riverine habitats. After the first specimen was caught in 1967, it was described as a subspecies of Eptesicus somalicus (now Neoromicia somalica) in 1995. After four more specimens were collected in 2002 and 2003, it was recognized as a separate species. Because of its small distribution and the threat of habitat destruction, it is considered "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List.

Laephotis malagasyensis is a relatively small species, with a forearm length of 30 to 32 mm (1.2 to 1.3 in) and a body mass of 3.9 to 9 g (0.1 to 0.3 oz). The fur is dark brown above and mixed buff and gray below. The ears are translucent and the tibia is short. The baculum (penis bone) resembles that of N. melckorum, but is smaller. The duration of the echolocation call, which consists of a component with rapidly falling frequency and one showing more stable frequency, averages 4.9 ms and the interval between calls averages 69.1 ms. (Full article...)