Spectacled Lesser Galago
New publication Primate Conservation 39: 97–109 (2025)
Does the Spectacled Lesser Galago Galago matschiei Lorenz, 1917 (Primates: Strepsirrhini: Galagidae) Occur East of Uganda’s Lake Victoria-Nile River Basin?
Thomas M. Butynski and Yvonne A. de Jong
Abstract: Although primates are one of the best studied taxonomic groups of African mammals, the geographic limits for most taxa remain poorly known. This is particularly true for the Galagidae. We explore whether the spectacled lesser galago Galago matschiei occurs east of Uganda’s Lake Victoria-Nile River Basin. Furthermore, we list those primates for which this basin and Kenya’s Eastern (Gregory) Rift Valley are geographic barriers. Mount Moroto lies east of the Lake Victoria-Nile River Basin. Nash et al. (1989, Int. J. Primatol. 10: 57–80) stated that G. matschiei occurs on Mount Moroto, central eastern Uganda. They do not, however, provide information in support of this statement. We suspect that they misidentified specimens collected in 1952 on Mount Moroto. Of the 12 specimens collected, four are adults housed in the British Museum of Natural History in London. We compared these four adult specimens with two adult G. matschiei specimens from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and confirm that all four are northern lesser galagos Galago senegalensis. Field surveys and a review of the literature and online repositories yield no evidence for G. matschiei on Mount Moroto, or anywhere else east of the Lake Victoria-Nile River Basin. The only Galago collected or reported for this vast region is G. senegalensis. At this time, Uganda’s Lake Victoria-Nile River Basin appears to be the eastern geographic barrier for four primate species, while Kenya’s Eastern Rift Valley seems to be an eastern geographic barrier for six primate species.
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Adult male spectacled lesser galago Galago matschiei, Kibale National Park, southwestern Uganda. Note the well-defined blackish eye-rings, dusky dorsum, entirely brown limbs, and that most of the fingernails and toenails are keeled and pointed.