Miller's langur

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Miller's langur
Presbytis hosei canicrus.jpg
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: Presbytis
Species:
P. canicrus
Binomial name
Presbytis canicrus
Miller, 1934
Presbytis hosei subspecies distribution.png
Range shown in light green (i.e., for P. h. canicrus)

Miller's langur (Presbytis canicrus), also known as Miller's grizzled langur or Kutai grey langur, is a species of leaf monkey. It is endemic to East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. It is one of the world's most endangered primates, and was at one time thought to be extinct, until it was rediscovered in 2012.

Contents

Taxonomy

Miller's langur is a leaf monkey within the family Cercopithecidae and subfamily Colobinae. [2] It was formerly considered a subspecies of Hose's langur, Presbytis hosei (as Presbytis hosei canicrus). [3] [2] [4] [5] It was split from P. hosei on the basis of different morphology by primatologists Colin Groves and Christian Roos. [3] [6]

Distribution and habitat

Miller's langur is native to the island of Borneo in the province of East Kalimantan in Indonesia. [1] It lives in dipterocarp rainforests up to an elevation of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). [6]

Description

Miller's langur ranges from 48 centimetres (19 in) to 56 centimetres (22 in) long excluding tail and has a tail length ranging from 65 centimetres (26 in) to 84 centimetres (33 in). [4] Males weigh from 6 kilograms (13 lb) to 7 kilograms (15 lb) while females weight between 5.5 kilograms (12 lb) and 6 kilograms (13 lb). [4] The fur on its back is gray with a grizzly appearance, and the fur on its belly is whitish. [4] The upper part of its face is black while the lower part of its face is whitish, with the whitish part forming a U shape below the nose. [4] [7] It has a brown crown at the top of its head. [4] Infants are white with a black cross on their backs. [6]

Habits

A majority of Miller's langur's diet comes from young leaves and leaf shoots, and their next most important food item is unripe fruit. [4] It also consumes other items such as eggs, seeds and flowers. [4] It typically lives in groups ranging from 5 to 12 animals including a single adult male, with an average group size of 8 monkeys. [4] [6] Non-group males are solitary. [4] It is sympatric with two other leaf monkeys from the genus Presbytis, the maroon leaf monkey and the white-fronted surili. [6] It is known to utilize salt licks along with sympatric maroon leaf monkeys. [7] It is arboreal and diurnal, and spends a majority of its time in the mid to upper canopy of the forest. [4]

Conservation status

Miller's langur is listed as endangered by the IUCN due primarily to habitat loss, fragmentation and hunting. [1] It is one of the rarest primates in Borneo. With little information available, it was thought to be extinct several times. [8] In 2012, a team of international scientists rediscovered it in Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo, disproving its extinction. [8] [9] Wehea Forest is outside Miller's langur's previously known range, which was primarily Kutai National Park to the south of Wehea. [9] [7] The scientists used mineral licks and cameras to show that the species still exists, and had difficulty identifying it from the photos since so few photos previously existed. [9] Limited to a geographical range from the central coast of East Kalimantan to the Kutai National Park, the species is highly regarded as an endemic and extremely vulnerable primate. Experts speculate it becoming extinct in the very near future, due to multiple factors such as deforestation and overhunting for its bezoar stones and as a food source. [10] The bezoar stones, which are smooth, hard mineral deposits found in the digestive tracts of some animals, are used as good luck charms, and also for its alleged ability to neutralize some poisons, but only occur in a minority of the monkeys. [7] Although Miller's langur is protected under Indonesian law, the legal protections may be ineffective because it is listed under a defunct scientific name, P. aygula. [4]

In October of 2019, Forrest Galante led an expedition and recorded the first video evidence of a Miller's langur in the 21st century. [11]

Related Research Articles

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Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae. Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons, red colobus and macaques. Common names for other Old World monkeys include the talapoin, guenon, colobus, douc, vervet, gelada, mangabey, langur, mandrill, surili (Presbytis), patas, and proboscis monkey. Phylogenetically, they are more closely related to apes than to New World monkeys. They diverged from a common ancestor of New World monkeys around 45 to 55 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray langur</span> Genus of Old World monkeys

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surili</span> Genus of south-east Asian monkeys

The surilis are a group of Old World monkeys in the genus Presbytis. They live in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, on Sumatra, Borneo, Java and smaller nearby islands. Besides surili, the common names for the monkeys in the genus also often use the terms "langur" or "leaf monkey."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gee's golden langur</span> Species of Old World monkey

Gee's golden langur, also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of Western Assam, India and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan. Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the Western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s. Adult males have a cream to golden coat with darker flanks while the females and juveniles are lighter. It has a black face and a long tail up to 50 cm (19.69 in) in length. It lives in high trees and has a herbivorous diet of fruits, leaves, seeds, buds and flowers. The average group size is eight individuals, with a ratio of several females to each adult male. It is one of the most endangered primate species of India and Bhutan.

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

The silvery lutung, also known as the silvered leaf monkey or the silvery langur, is an Old World monkey. It is arboreal, living in coastal, mangrove, and riverine forests in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and other nearby islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phayre's leaf monkey</span> Species of Old World monkey

Phayre's leaf monkey, also known as Phayre's langur, is a species of lutung native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, namely India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Populations from further east are now thought to belong to other species. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by hunting and loss of habitat. The species epithet commemorates Arthur Purves Phayre.

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

The Javan surili is a vulnerable species of Old World monkey endemic to the western half of Java, Indonesia, a biodiversity hotspot. Other common names by which it is known by include gray, grizzled or Sunda Island surili; grizzled or stripe-crested langur; Javan grizzled langur; grizzled, Java or Javan leaf monkey; langur gris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffles' banded langur</span> Species of primate in Malaysia and Singapore

The Raffles' banded langur, also known as the banded leaf monkey or banded surili, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to Singapore and southern Peninsular Malaysia. The species underwent taxonomic revisions in 2019 and 2020, in which two former subspecies were elevated to separate species. As a result, the Raffles' banded langur meets the criteria for being listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. It is mainly threatened by habitat loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hose's langur</span> Species of Old World monkey

Hose's langur is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae endemic to the island of Borneo, including Brunei, Kalimantan (Indonesia), and East Malaysia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was first identified in Kutai National Park and Sangkulirang Peninsula, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, in 1985.

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

The maroon langur, maroon leaf monkey, or red leaf monkey is a member of the family Cercopithecidae. It is found on the southeast Asian island of Borneo and the nearby smaller Karimata. P. rubicunda mostly live in forests at altitudes below 2,000 m. They feed on leaves, seeds, and fruits.

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

The dusky leaf monkey, also known as the spectacled langur, or the spectacled leaf monkey is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and can occasionally be found in Singapore. During the day, these small, folivorous primates divide in sub-groups and forage for vegetation and fruit throughout the tropical forests. According to the IUCN, the dusky leaf monkey's population is declining due to habitat loss, poaching, and anthropogenic land use, which prompted the IUCN to classify the species as endangered in 2015.

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

The Sarawak surili, Bornean banded langur, or cross-marked langur is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to the southeast Asian island of Borneo, where it is distributed north of the Kapuas River in Kalimantan, Indonesia, the Malaysia states of Sarawak and Sabah, and in Brunei. Its taxonomy is complex and disputed, and it has been considered a subspecies of P. femoralis or P. melalophos. The Sarawak surili was formerly considered common, but has declined drastically due to persecution and habitat loss, and as of 2015 is only known from five sites with a combined population of 200–500 individuals. Consequently, it is believed to be one of the rarest primates in the world, and has been rated as critically endangered by IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kutai National Park</span> National park in Indonesia

Kutai National Park is a lowland national park located on the east coast of Borneo Island, in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, ranging approximately 10 to 50 km north of the equator.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabah grizzled langur</span> Species of monkey

The Sabah grizzled langur, also known as the Saban grizzled langur, is a species of monkey in the family Cercopithecidae. It was formerly considered a subspecies of Hose's langur, Presbytis hosei. The Sabah grizzled langur is native to the island of Borneo in the province of Sabah in Malaysia, with part of its range in Indonesia. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN due primarily to habitat loss, fragmentation and hunting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cheyne, S.; Setiawan, A.; Traeholt, C. (2021). "Presbytis canicrus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021: e.T39808A200247353. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T39808A200247353.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Presbytis canicrus Miller, 1934". ITIS. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Presbytis canicrus". American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Nijman, Vincent (2016). Rowe, Noel; Myers, Marc (eds.). All the World's Primates. Pogonias Press. pp. 556–557. ISBN   9781940496061.
  5. ↑ Groves, C. P. (2005). "Order Primates". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 171. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Groves, Colin; Roos, Christian (2013). Mittermeier Russell A.; Rylands, Anthony B.; Wilson, Don E. (eds.). Handbook of Mammals of the World: Volume 3. pp. 716–717. ISBN   978-8496553897.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Phillipps, Quentin; Phillipps, Karen (2016). Phillipps' Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo. Princeton University Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN   9780691169415.
  8. 1 2 "Rare Miller's Grizzled Langur Rediscovered in Borneo" 23 January 2012 ScienceDaily Retrieved 26 October 2012
  9. 1 2 3 "'Extinct' monkey still lives in Borneo" 20 January 2012 CBC.ca
  10. ↑ Lhota, S.; Loken, B.; Spehar, S.; Fell, E.; Pospěch, A.; Kasyanto, N. (2012). "Discovery of Miller's Grizzled Langur (Presbytis hosei canicrus) in Wehea Forest Confirms the Continued Existence and Extends Known Geographical Range of an Endangered Primate". American Journal of Primatology. 74 (3): 193–198. doi:10.1002/ajp.21983. PMID   24006537. S2CID   19947558.
  11. ↑ Sarner, Lauren (29 October 2019). "'Extinct or Alive' host Forrest Galante discovers rare monkey". New York Post . Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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