Two new species of night monkeys, genus Aotus (Cebidae, platyrrhini): A preliminary report on Aotus taxonomy

Abstract

The nine allopatric species of Aotus recognized represent two natural groups distinguished by karyotype, color, and pelage patterns. Correlated with these group characters are reported differences in serum proteins and degrees of susceptibility or immunity to experimental infection with malarial parasites. The primitive gray‐neck species group of Aotus contains A. brumbacki (new species), A. lemurinus (with subspecies lemurinus and griseimembra), A. trivirgatus, and A. vociferans. The derived red‐neck group contains A. nancymai (new species), A. miconax. A. infulatus, and A. azarae (with subspecies azarae and boliviensis). Only the two new species are described but a key to the species and subspecies gives the diagnostic characters of each. The gray‐neck group occurs almost entirely north of the Amazon, the red‐neck group almost entirely south. The distributional exceptions are enclave populations resulting from river bend cutoffs. Formation of an enclave population of A. nancymai is discussed and available information on the biology of this species is reported.