Phaner

Phaner, commonly called the fork-marked lemurs or fork-crowned lemurs, is a genus of strepsirrhine primate in the family Cheirogaleidae, order Primates, endemic to Madagascar, where its four species live in the western, northern and eastern parts of the island. The common name comes from distinctive black stripes that start above the eyes, converge atop the head, and continue down the spine as a single stripe. The lemurs were initially classified within the genus Lemur in 1839, later moved to Cheirogaleus and Microcebus, and finally given their own genus in 1870 by John Edward Gray. Only one species was recognized until subspecies described in 1991 were elevated to full species status in 2001: Masoala fork-marked lemur (Phaner furcifer), pale fork-marked lemur (Phaner pallescens), Pariente fork-marked lemur (Phaner parienti) and Amber Mountain fork-marked lemur (Phaner electromontis). All four species were assessed as endangered in a 2020 IUCN assessment.