| Summary: | The <i>Papillomaviridae</i> are a family of vertebrate-infecting viruses of oncogenic potential generally thought to be host species- and tissue-specific. Despite their phylogenetic relatedness to humans, there is a scarcity of data on papillomaviruses (PVs) in speciose non-human primate lineages, particularly the lemuriform primates. <i>Varecia variegata</i> (black-and-white ruffed lemurs) and <i>Varecia rubra</i> (red ruffed lemurs), two closely related species comprising the <i>Varecia</i> genus, are critically endangered with large global captive populations. Varecia variegata papillomavirus (VavPV) types −1 and −2, the first PVs in lemurs with a fully identified genome, were previously characterized from captive <i>V. variegata</i> saliva. To build upon this discovery, saliva samples were collected from captive <i>V. rubra</i> with the following aims: (1) to identify PVs shared between <i>V. variegata</i> and <i>V. rubra</i> and (2) to characterize novel PVs in <i>V. rubra</i> to better understand PV diversity in the lemuriform primates. Three complete PV genomes were determined from <i>V. rubra</i> samples. Two of these PV genomes share 98% L1 nucleotide identity with VavPV2, denoting interspecies infection of <i>V. rubra</i> by VavPV2. This work represents the first reported case of interspecies PV infection amongst the strepsirrhine primates. The third PV genome shares <68% L1 nucleotide identity with that of all PVs. Thus, it represents a new PV species and has been named Varecia rubra papillomavirus 1 (VarPV1). VavPV1, VavPV2, and VarPV1 form a new clade within the <i>Papillomaviridae</i> family, likely representing a novel genus. Future work diversifying sample collection (i.e., lemur host species from multiple genera, sample type, geographic location, and wild populations) is likely to uncover a world of diverse lemur PVs.
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