Skywalker hoolock gibbon

Skywalker hoolock gibbon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Primates
Suborder:Haplorhini
Infraorder:Simiiformes
Family:Hylobatidae
Genus:Hoolock
Species: H. tianxing
Binomial name
Hoolock tianxing
Fan & al., 2017 [1]

The Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing) is a primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of three species of hoolock gibbon and was first described in January 2017 in the American Journal of Primatology.[2]

Etymology

The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is named after Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars franchise, as the scientists who described it are fans of the franchise.[3] The specific name tianxing is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese terms 天 (tiān) meaning "heaven" and 行 (xing) meaning "movement". The name is a reference to brachiation, the main locomotory mode of gibbons, and derived from the text of the I Ching, an ancient Chinese book of divination.[1]

Habitat

The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is found in the tropical forests of eastern Myanmar and the Yunan Province in southwestern China.[3] About 200 individuals are estimated to live in China and an unknown number in Myanmar.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Fan, P-F; He, K; Chen, X; Ortiz, A; Zhang, B; Zhao, C; Li, Y-Q,; Zhang, H-B; Kimock, C; Wang, W-Z; Groves, C; Turvey, S.T; Roos, C; Helgen, K.M; Jiang, X-L (2017). "Description of a new species of Hoolock gibbon (Primates: Hylobatidae) based on integrative taxonomy". American Journal of Primatology. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (9999): 1–17. doi:10.1002/ajp.22631. ISSN 1098-2345. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Brown, Georgia (11 January 2017). "New species of gibbon discovered in China". The Guardian.
  3. 1 2 3 "'Star Wars gibbon' is new primate species". BBC News. 11 January 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.