The discovery of a new species is always a cause for celebration in the environmental community. The Groves' dwarf lemur was recently named a new species by a team of scientists in Madagascar.

The team that helped discover the lemur included Dr. Adam McLain, an assistant biology professor at SUNY Polytechnic near Utica.

"Thousands of species are identified around the world every year, a lot of those are obviously plants, insects, fish — things like that," McLain said. "But we are losing a lot of the planet's biodiversity daily. It's happening all around us, and I know most people are aware of that and can see it happening. I think finding a new species is a nice way to bring attention to what we're losing. "

Lemurs are a unique primate found only on the island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. There are a little over a hundred species of Lemur on the island, and many look very similar.

In the beginning of the study almost 15 years ago, researchers relied on old school methods in their search for the new species.

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