The black and white ruff lemur, Varecia variegata, are one of the largest pollinators in world [1]! Their diet consists mostly of fruit and nectar, which they can eat thanks to their especially long tongues. When eating the nectar of flowers, pollen sticks to their fluffy neck fur and faces, allowing cross-pollination to occur [1]. Found only in Madagascar, the black and white ruffed lemur is critically endangered.
Today, we share the genome assembly for the black and white ruff lemur, Varecia variegata. This is a $1K genome assembly with a contig N50 = 40 Kb and a scaffold N50 = 129 Mb (browse the chromosomes in the interactive map below). For assembly procedure details, please see our Methods page. Many thanks to the Duke Lemur Center for providing the sample used for this genome assembly! Consider symbolically adopting a lemur here, to support animal care at the Duke Lemur Center as well as conservation programs in Madagascar.
This is the 7th lemur species we've released here on the DNA Zoo! Check out the assembly pages for these fascinating primates, Blue-eyed black lemur (E. flavifrons), Mongoose lemur (E. mongoz), Gray mouse lemur (M. murinus), and finally the Coquerel's sifaka (P. coquereli). For some preliminary analysis, we've aligned the assembly of the black and white ruff lemur, Varecia_variegata_HiC against the collared lemur, Eulemur_collaris_HiC.
