The giant aye-aye is an extinct relative of the aye-aye

Aye-aye

The aye-aye is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker...

, the only other species in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Daubentonia. It lived in Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, appears to have disappeared less than 1,000 years ago, is entirely unknown in life, and is only known from subfossil

Subfossil

Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....

 remains.

As of 2004, giant aye-aye remains consisted of 4 incisors, a tibia

Tibia

The tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....

, and postcranial material. Subfossils of this species have been found in the southern and southeastern portion of Madagascar, outside of the range of still extant aye-aye. Giant aye-ayes are believed to be very similar morphologically

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

to the aye-aye, but 2 to 2.5 times larger, based upon jaw and incisor measurements.