Know Your Primate: Presbytis hosei canicrus

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Colobinae
Genus: Presbytis
Species: Presbytis hosei canicrus
Common Name: Miller’s grizzled langur
Presbytis hosei canicrus is a subspecies of grey leaf monkey. It was feared to be extinct but has recently been observed in Borneo. Picture Source

Know Your Primate: Parapapio broomi

Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Tribe: Papionini
Genus: Parapapio
Species: Parapapio broomi

The genus Parapaio is composed of four species: Parapapio jonesi, Parapapio whitei, Parapapio broomi, and Parapapio antiquus. The picture of Parapapio broomi below is that of a specimen from Bolt’s Farm and dates to about 2 MYA (the picture is somewhat distorted the snout is not as long as in a but is longer than in b. I have been unable to correct the distortion but the original picture can be found here). Parapapio broomi has also been found at Sterkfontein.

Know Your Primate: Pongo abelii

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Pongo
Species: Pongo abelii
Common Name: Sumatran Orangutan

The sumatran orang lives, obviously, in Sumatra – they are an endemic species. According several genetic analysis the Sumatran and Bornean populations diverged from each other about 1.5-1.7 MYA. They are largely frugivorous and spend most of their time in trees. On the ground they are quadrupedal. Unlike the chimpanzee, bonobo, and gorilla, they are not knuckle walkers they use their fist. Males tend to be solitary.

Know Your Primate: Lophocebus aterrimus

Order Primates
Suborder Haplorrhini
Family Cercopithecidae
Subfamily Cercopithecinae
Genus Lophocebus
Species Lophocebus aterrimus
Common Name: Black Mangabey, Black-crested Mangabey

Know Your Primate: Rhinopithecus roxellana

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Colobinae
Genus: Rhinopithecus
Species: Rhinopithecus roxellana
Common: Golden snub-nosed monkey
The taxonomy of the snub-nosed langurs is somewhat muddled. For purposes of this post I am following the simplest arrangement. The genus Rhinopithecus contains four species, three of which live at high elevations (up to about 4,500 meters) in China and the Tibetan plateau.

Know Your Primate: Papio hamadryas

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Genus: Papio
Species: Papio hamadryas
Normally, in these posts I try to provide some basic information about the species I’ve picked and provide a few pictures. In this post I would like to do something a little different.

Know Your Primate: Pan paniscus

Know Your Primate grew out of posts I wrote specifically for the Friday Ark back on my old blog. The point was to write short, informative posts about whatever species struck my fancy (and at that point was not limited to primates). Once I moved to ScienceBlogs those kind of posts went by the wayside. Then in July, 2006 I decided to resurrect the idea with a specific focus on primates. In the time since I have focused on a wide variety of primates but, with one or two exceptions, have avoided the extant apes. This is largely due to the explosion of knowledge about them in the past 10-15 years, which makes it hard to write a short post in the format I have chosen for this series. Bearing that limitation in mind, here is this weeks primate.

Know Your Primate: Cercopithecus neglectus

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Genus: Cercopithecus
Species: Cercopithecus neglectus
Common Name: De Brazza’s Monkey
The De Brazza’s monkey lives Africa, mainly in an area bounded by southern Ethiopia, Cameroon and northern Angola. They reside in forest, swmaps, and seasonally flooded areas – but vastly prefer dense vegetation and closed canopy forests.

Know Your Primate: Nakalipithecus nakayamai

Order: Primates
Suborder Anthropoidea
Infraorder Catarrhini
Superfamily Hominoidea
Genus: Nakalipithecus
Species: Nakalipithecus nakayamai
It’s been awhile since I have used a fossil primate in this series, so “ripped straight from the headlines” (as they say in the Law and Order commercials) here is Nakalipithecus nakayamai:

Know Your Primate: Semnopithecus entellus

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Colobinae
Genus: Semnopithecus (formerly Presbytis)
Species: Semnopithecus entellus
Common Name: Hanuman Langur
The Hanuman langer is spread widely throughout southern Tibet and Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They are medium sized to large monkeys getting up to about thirty inches long (not including their long tail) and weighing up to about 50 pounds. They are mainly quadrupedal and highly terrestrial.