lemur

From Latin lemurēs, meaning "spirits of the dead." Carl Linnaeus first applied the name in 1754 to the red slender loris, choosing it because of the animal's nocturnal habits and slow, ghostlike movements.

In 1758, Linnaeus expanded the genus Lemur to include the ring-tailed lemur. Over time, the red slender loris and other species were reclassified into different genera, while "lemur" settled into common use as the name for the primates native to Madagascar.

The word traces back to the same Latin root, lemurēs, that once meant restless spirits of the dead — a haunting image tied directly to the animal's quiet, nighttime movements.