The brown mouse lemur is a small mouse lemur found in rainforest and swamp habitats in southeastern Madagascar.
Mouse lemurs are among the smallest living primates. The brown mouse lemur is one member of this group.
Mouse lemurs in Madagascar can look very similar, making their classification a subject of study. A 2025 study combined genomic data from 300 animals with measurements of body form, climate and reproductive timing. Researchers examined whether differences followed geographic distance within populations or boundaries between species.
The study retained the Brown Mouse Lemur and Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur as distinct species because of genomic, morphological and climatic-niche differences. Their estimated climatic niche overlap was zero. The genus-wide conservation reassessment used 2017 forest cover to estimate area of occupancy and compared it with 2005 cover to assess changes over three generations.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The genus-wide reassessment used 2005 and 2017 forest cover to assess changes in occupancy over three generations.