Thomas R. Defler (born 26 November 1941; Denver, Colorado [1] ) is a North American primatologist who lives and works in Colombia.
Defler earned his PhD from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1976 and then moved to Colombia. [1] He worked in eastern Colombia in the Llanos until 1984. Defler then worked in the Amazonian Vaupés Department where he developed and lived in his research station, Estación Biológica Caparú until 1998. In 1998, he was obligated to flee from his research station by FARC guerrillas. [2] [3] He had run a primate rehabilitation center in Vaupes. [4] He is the author of several papers about primates and of the books Primates de Colombia (2003), Primates of Colombia (2004) and Historia Natural de los Primates Colombianos (2010) . [1] [2] He edited a monograph on woolly monkeys as well. [5]
Currently, he heads another Amazonian research station that he has developed in the southern Colombian Amazon, Estación Ecológica Omé, that is affiliated with the National University of Colombia and he teaches at the Bogotá campus of the same university. He and the Colombian biologist Marta Bueno are credited with first describing Hernández-Camacho's night monkey (Aotus jorgehernandezi) in 2007. [6] Together with Javier Garcia, he led an expedition in which they discovered and described a new species of titi monkey, the Caquetá titi (Callicebus caquetensis). [7] [8] [9] Using karyotypes, Defler has done work clarifying the taxonomy of various species of night monkey ( Aotus ). [10] He has done field studies in the Colombian Llanos and the Colombian Amazon on the white-fronted capuchin (Cebus albifrons), the brown woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha), the black-headed uakari (Cacajao melanocephalus), the black titi (Callicebus lugens), the Lucifer titi (Callicebus lucifer), and the Venezuelan red howler (Alouatta seniculus) and has accomplished many primate censuses in different parts of eastern Colombia.
The gray-bellied night monkey, also called the grey-legged douroucouli or lemurine owl monkey, is a small New World monkey of the family Aotidae. Native to tropical and subtropical forests of South America, the gray-bellied night monkey faces a significant threat from hunting, harvesting for use in pharmaceutical research and habitat destruction.
The Pitheciidae are one of the five families of New World monkeys now recognised. Formerly, they were included in the family Atelidae. The family includes the titis, saki monkeys and uakaris. Most species are native to the Amazon region of Brazil, with some being found from Colombia in the north to Bolivia in the south.
The titis, or titi monkeys, are New World monkeys of the subfamily Callicebinae, which contains three extant genera: Cheracebus, Callicebus, and Plecturocebus. This subfamily also contains the extinct genera Miocallicebus, Homunculus, and Carlocebus.
The black titi monkey, is a species of titi, a type of New World monkey, from South America. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. It was described in 1811 as Calicebus lugens. It is sometimes called the widow monkey.
The Lucifer titi monkey is a species of titi, a type of New World monkey, from South America. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It was described as Callicebus lucifer in 1914. The Lucifer titi has previously been treated as part of C. torquatus, the collared titi.
The collared titi monkey is a species of titi, a type of New World monkey. It is endemic to northern Brazil.
The white-eared titi monkey also known as the Bolivian titi or Bolivian gray titi, is a species of titi monkey, a type of New World monkey, from eastern Bolivia and an area of western Brazil. The species has a range that extends east from the Manique River in Beni Department, Bolivia to southern Rondônia in Brazil. The southern end of its range includes forests around the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The Rio Mayo titi monkey is a species of titi monkey, a type of New World monkey, endemic to Peru. The Rio Mayo titi, was thought previously to have a small range of origin in the Alto Mayo valley, but research has proven that the range extends southward and reaches the Huayamba River, as well as Bajo Mayo. It had been classified as vulnerable but due to major habitat loss and restricted living space, it is now classified as Critically Endangered. In October 2012, it was included in The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates list. An increase in deforestation is leading to the decrease in available living space for this titi monkey, forcing it to live in sympatry with another species of Callicebus. Yet in some areas, such drastic deforestation has resulted in extremely high population density. The Rio Mayo titi is better adapted to moderately populated areas, thus overpopulation negatively impacts the species. The forests the Rio Mayo titi lives in are being destroyed for agricultural purposes, leaving little forest for the monkeys. They were only seen a few times and featured in museums until 2003 when more research was done on them. In order for this species to survive, their forests need to be protected to avoid overpopulation. Different conservation groups are working to help P. oenanthe survive. Neotropical Primate Conservation, Proyecto Mono Tocón and Amazónicos para la Amazonia are working in the more southern areas to protect the monkey. The Rio Mayo titi is a fairly inconspicuous creature, making observation and research difficult to obtain. Therefore, the traditional use of transect observation to monitor the monkey's population, is less effective. Instead, other methods of calculating the titi monkey's density in certain areas have been taken, such as research into the species-specific calls endemic to a certain area.
Brumback's night monkey is a species of night monkey found in Colombia. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of gray-bellied night monkey, Aotus lemurinus. but it has recently been argued that it should be considered a separate species.
The Panamanian night monkey or Chocoan night monkey is a species of night monkey formerly considered a subspecies of the gray-bellied night monkey of the family Aotidae. Its range consists of Panama and the Chocó region of Colombia. There are also unconfirmed reports of its occurrence in Costa Rica, especially on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The species definitely occurs in the Atlantic lowlands of Panama close to the Costa Rica border.
The gray-handed night monkey is a species of night monkey formerly considered a subspecies of Gray-bellied night monkey of the family Aotidae. Its range consists of parts of Colombia and Venezuela. The exact classification of the gray-handed night monkey is uncertain. While some authors consider it a subspecies of the gray-bellied night monkey, A. lemurinus, other authors consider it a separate species, A. griseimembra.
Hernández-Camacho's night monkey is a species of night monkey of the family Aotidae. It was first described in 2007 by Thomas Defler and Marta Bueno. It has a gray neck and a white patch over each eye, separated by a black band. The fur on the chest, belly, lower arms and lower wrists is thick and white. It differs from other gray-necked night monkey species other than Brumback's night monkey in having 50 chromosomes.
The Caquetá titi monkey, also known as the red-bearded titi or the bushy-bearded titi, is a species of titi monkey endemic to Colombia found in the Department of Caquetá region. Taxonomically, it is a member of the "Callicebus cupreus group", following Shunsuke Kobayashi's Callicebus grouping. It was first described by Thomas Defler, Marta Bueno and Javier Garcia in 2010. It is highly endangered due to habitat fragmentation and a small population.
Aotus dindensis is an extinct species of New World monkeys in the genus Aotus from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.
Primate Conservation is a journal published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group about the world's primates. First published as a mimeographed newsletter in 1981, the journal today publishes conservation research and papers on primate species, particularly status surveys and studies on distribution and ecology. Besides these regular papers, the journal has also been a significant place for primatologists to publish descriptions of new primate species in Primate Conservation.
Lagonimico is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is Lagonimico conclucatus.
Plecturocebus is one of three genera of titi monkeys.
Cheracebus is one of three genera of titi monkeys. Monkeys in this genus, particularly the type species Cheracebus lugens, are sometimes referred to as widow titi monkeys.