Blue Nile patas monkey

Last updated

Blue Nile patas monkey
Erythrocebus patas at Giza Zoo by Hatem Moushir 1.JPG
At Giza Zoo
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Erythrocebus
Species:
E. poliophaeus
Binomial name
Erythrocebus poliophaeus

The Blue Nile patas monkey (Erythrocebus poliophaeus) or Heuglin's patas monkey is a species of Old World monkey found in Africa along the Blue Nile river valley in Ethiopia, Sudan, and potentially South Sudan. While first described in 1862, it was synonymized with the common patas monkey (E. patas) in 1927. A 2017 study reclassified it as a distinct species. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Taxonomy

Illustration by Ludwig Reichenbach Erythrocebus poliophaeus 2.jpg
Illustration by Ludwig Reichenbach

The species was described in 1862 by Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach. Reichenbach's description was based on a live specimen from Fazogli and a skin from the vicinity of the White Nile, both received by Theodor von Heuglin, with a captive adult in Cairo confirming the species as distinct to him. [5] However, in the first widely adopted taxonomy for Erythrocebus by Schwartz (1927), all Erythrocebus monkeys were classified into three subspecies: patas, pyrrhonotus and baumstarki, creating a monotypic genus. This led to the synonymization of E. poliophaeus with E. patas. [4] In 2017, Gippoliti resurrected E. poliophaeus as a separate species based on its distinctive appearance and notable geographic separation from E. patas, with the IUCN Red List and American Society of Mammalogists also recognizing it as a distinct species. [4] [6]

Conventionally, researchers apply ssp. pyrrhonotus to all patas monkeys from northeastern Africa, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Gippoliti restricted the name poliophaeus from those populations found in northwestern Ethiopia and eastern Sudan. [4]

Distribution

This species is thought to be restricted to the area between the Nile and the western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. It ranges from the vicinity of Metemma south to the Sudd. Although it is only known from Ethiopia and Sudan, it could potentially occur in South Sudan. [7]

In prehistoric times, this species may have had its range restricted to a montane refugium in western Ethiopia, through which it survived a period of aridification. [4]

Description

This species has white hairs on upper lip hair which forms the shape of a handlebar moustache. This, when combined with the lack of the band between the ear and eye found in other members of Erythrocebus, distinguishes it from the rest of the genus. [3]

Threats

Little historical data and few museum voucher specimens exist of this species from Ethiopia, indicating that it was likely never common there. Although no specific threats are known, this species is likely at threat from human activities in its range. The villagization program in the 1980s saw large amounts of people being forcibly relocated into planned villages, including those built in the restricted range of E. poliophaeus. The subsequent residential development and agricultural expansion in its habitat may leave the species at heavy risk. The illegal wildlife trade in live animals also threatens this species and has been shown to lead to rapid population declines. However, as its geographic range is poorly known, it is classified as Data Deficient. [4] [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Erythrocebus</i> Genus of Old World monkeys

Erythrocebus is a genus of Old World monkey. All three species in this genus are found in Africa, and are known as patas monkeys. While previously considered a monotypic genus containing just E. patas, a 2017 review argued that, based on morphological evidence and heavy geographic separation between taxa, E. patas should be split back into distinct species as recognised in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common patas monkey</span> Species of Old World monkey

The common patas monkey, also known as the wadi monkey or hussar monkey, is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over semi-arid areas of West Africa, and into East Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grivet</span> Species of Old World monkey

The grivet is an Old World monkey with long white tufts of hair along the sides of its face. Some authorities consider this and all of the members of the genus Chlorocebus to be a single species, Cercopithecus aethiops. As here defined, the grivet is restricted to Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, and Eritrea. In the southern part of its range, it comes into contact with the closely related vervet monkey and Bale Mountains vervet. Hybridization between them is possible, and may present a threat to the vulnerable Bale Mountains vervet. Unlike that species, the grivet is common and rated as least concern by the IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collared titi monkey</span> Species of New World monkey

The collared titi monkey is a species of titi, a type of New World monkey. It is endemic to northern Brazil.

Heuglin's lemniscomys or Heuglin's striped grass mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and possibly Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, arable land, and plantations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan-tailed widowbird</span> Species of bird

The fan-tailed widowbird, also known as the red-shouldered widowbird, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae, which is native to grassy and swampy areas of the tropical and subtropical Afrotropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heuglin's white-eye</span> Species of bird

Heuglin's white-eye, also known as the Ethiopian white-eye, is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in north-eastern and eastern Africa, primarily in Ethiopia and Kenya. Its natural habitats range from subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, to subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, plantations, and rural gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian large-eared roundleaf bat</span> Species of bat

The Ethiopian large-eared roundleaf bat is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, caves, and hot deserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African giant free-tailed bat</span> Species of bat

The African giant free-tailed bat, or African free-tailed bat is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly South Africa. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heuglin's wheatear</span> Species of bird

Heuglin's wheatear is a small passerine bird in the wheatear genus Oenanthe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bale Mountains vervet</span> Species of Old World monkey

The Bale Mountains vervet is a terrestrial Old World monkey endemic to Ethiopia, found in the bamboo forests of the Bale Mountains. All species in Chlorocebus were formerly in the genus Cercopithecus. The Bale Mountains vervet is one of the least-known primates in Africa. They avoid tree-dominated and bushland areas as their habitat. These monkeys mainly reside in the bamboo forest of the Bale Mountains due their dietary specialization on bamboo, but other factors, such as climate, forest history, soil quality, and disease, are likely to play a role in their choice to inhabit this area. The Bale Mountains vervet have a very quiet behavior and tend to flee when encountering a human being. It is also known as the Bale monkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heuglin's gazelle</span> Species of mammal

Heuglin's gazelle, also known as the Eritrean gazelle, is a species of gazelle found east of the Nile River in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. It was considered a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle or conspecific with Thomson's gazelle and Mongalla gazelle by some authors in the past. This small gazelle stands nearly 67 cm (26 in) at the shoulder and weighs between 15 and 35 kg. The coat is dark reddish brown with a dark reddish stripe on the flanks, except for the underparts and the rump which are white. Horns, present in both sexes, measure 15 to 35 cm in length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown weeper capuchin</span> Species of New World monkey

The brown weeper capuchin or Venezuelan brown capuchin is a species of gracile capuchin monkey endemic to Venezuela, although some sources also consider it to occur on Trinidad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African green bee-eater</span> Species of bird

The African green bee-eater is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found throughout arid regions of Africa from Senegal east to Ethiopia, and has expanded its range north to Egypt over the past few decades.

The southern patas monkey is a critically endangered species of Old World monkey found only in Tanzania, and formerly in Kenya. It may be the most endangered primate in Africa known to still be extant, with only 100 to 200 known wild individuals.

Lynne A. Isbell is an American ethologist and primatologist, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis.

References

  1. Gippoliti, S.; Rylands, A.B. (2020). "Erythrocebus poliophaeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T164377509A164377626. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. Rincon, Paul (2018). "Moustached monkey is separate species". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  3. 1 2 "150 years after being discovered, African monkey with handlebar moustache becomes its own species". news.mongabay.com. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gippoliti, Spartaco (2017). "On the Taxonomy of Erythrocebus with a Re-evaluation of Erythrocebus poliophaeus (Reichenbach, 1862) from the Blue Nile Region of Sudan and Ethiopia" (PDF). Primate Conservation. 31: 53–59. ISSN   2162-4232 . Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  5. Reichenbach, Ludwig Heinrich Gottlieb (1862). Die vollständigste Naturgeschichte der Affen (in German). Dresden. pp. 122–123. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.103149.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. "Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  7. 1 2 Rylands, Anthony B.; Gippoliti, Spartaco (2019-12-16). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Erythrocebus poliophaeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.