Gray, 1873
The superfamily Lemuroidea together with the superfamily Loroidae makes up the infraorder Lemuriformes.
Characteristic for the superfamily Lemuroidea is the fact that all members still have a tapetum lucidum even although many species are diurnal. The ancestral dental formula is 2 1 3 3 / 2 1 3 3 with a total of 36 teeth, but many species changed this dental composition. The females are the dominant sex in species that live in social groups, in contrast to most other monkeys.
Representatives of the superfamily Lemuroidea can only be found on the islands Madagascar and the Comoros, where they were able to evolve without competition of other primates. Subfossil remains show that those subfossil species were large, diurnal and slow moving, which is probably the cause that after the arrival of humans, some 1500 years ago, they were not able to survive all the devastating effects due to man. Only two-thirds of all lemur species that ever existed still survives today and even these remaining species are under severe pressure.
The superfamily Lemuroidea can be divided into the following five families:
-Family Cheirogaleidae:
Subfamily Cheirogaleinae
Subfamily Phanerinae
-Family Lepilemuridae
-Family Lemuridae
Subfamily Eulemurinae
Subfamily Lemurinae
Subfamily Vareciinae
-Family Indriidae
-Family Daubentoniidae