Historical records and subfossil remains confirm a previous widespread distribution that covered the northern, northwestern, central and eastern portions of Madagascar, including Ampasambazimba in the Itasy Basin, the Grotte d’Andrafiabè on the Ankarana Massif, the Grottes d’Anjohibè near Mahajanga, and the Tsingy de Bemaraha (Schwarz, 1931; Godfrey and Vuillaume- Randriamamantena, 1986; Wilson et al., 1988; Godfrey et al., 1999, 2004b). Until recently, documented populations were restricted to the south-central portion of the country’s eastern rain forests at elevations of 200–1,100 m (Sterling and Ramaroson, 1996; Arrigo-Nelson and Wright, 2004), including Ranomafana and Andringitra National Parks, the corridor and isolated forests between and to the east of these localities (e.g., Ambolomavo, Ifanadiana, Kianjavato), and one locality (Evendra) southeast of Andringitra but north of the Manampatrana River (Meier and Rumpler, 1987; Wright et al., 1987; Sterling and Ramaroson, 1996; Goodman et al., 2001; Andriaholinirina et al., 2003; Arrigo-Nelson and Wright, 2004; Irwin et al., 2005). While reports of large bamboo lemurs fitting this animal’s description have been filtering in from various sites (Rakotosamimanana et al., 2004; Schmid and Alonso, 2005), recent surveys have now confirmed its presence in the forests of Torotorofotsy, in the region of Andasibe-Mantadia (Dolch et al., 2004, 2008). Most commonly known as Varibolomavo in the Ranomafana region, and as Godrogodroka in the Torotorofotsy region, vernacular names for the species vary widely across its range. Under the vernacular names given above, we include Malagasy names for several localities from which its presence has not yet been confirmed, but where names for it apparently exist.
