livescience.com 7 Jul 09;A new monkey subspecies with quite a long tail has been discovered in a remote region of the Amazon in Brazil.
The monkey is mostly gray and dark brown in color, with a distinctly mottled "saddle." It weighs somewhat less than a pound (213 grams) and is 9 inches (240 millimeters) tall with a foot-long (320 millimeter) tail.
The little primate is related to saddleback tamarins, which include several species of monkeys known for their distinctively marked backs. The newly described distinct subspecies, announced today, was first seen by scientists on a 2007 expedition into the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil.
Researchers have dubbed the monkey Mura's saddleback tamarin (saguinus fuscicollis mura) named after the Mura Indians, the ethnic group of Amerindians of the Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey occurs. Historically this tribe was spread through the largest territory of any of the Amazonian Indigenous peoples, extending from the Peruvian frontier today (Rio Yavari) east to the Rio Trombetas.
The monkey's discovery was published in the June online edition of the International Journal of Primatology. Authors of the study include Fabio Röhe of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Jose de Sousa e Silva Jr. of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Ricardo Sampaio of the Instituto Nacional de Parquisas de Amaozônia, and Anthony B. Rylands of Conservation International.
The monkey is threatened by several planned development projects in the region, particularly a major highway cutting through the Amazon that is currently being paved, Röhe said. Conservationists fear the highway could fuel wider deforestation in the Amazon over the next two decades. Other threats to the region include a proposed gas pipeline and two hydroelectric dams currently in the beginning stages of construction.
"This newly described monkey shows that even today there are still major wildlife discoveries to be made," said Röhe, the study's lead author. "This discovery should serve as a wake-up call that there is still so much to learn from the world's wild places, yet humans continue to threaten these areas with destruction."
The Wildlife Conservation Society helped establish the Mamirauá, Amanã, and Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserves in Brazil, which represent some of the largest protected blocks of rainforest on the planet.
WCS researchers have discovered several new monkey species in recent years: the Arunachal macaque, discovered in India in late 2004; and the Madidi monkey and Kipunji discovered in Bolivia and Tanzania respectively in 2005. In 2008, Jean Boubli, who now works for WCS, discovered a new species of uakari monkey in the Amazon.
The GEOMA project at the Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil helped to support the project that led to the discovery of the monkey.
The Good News: A New Monkey Is Discovered; The Bad News: It Is Already at Risk
Construction projects could soon harm the Amazonian habitats of a tiny tamarin
Lynne Peeples, Scientific American 8 Jul 09;
A new monkey is swinging through the Amazon rainforests—at least it's new to scientists. Unfortunately, the future of this mini monkey, weighing in at just 7.5 ounces (213 grams) and nine inches (23 centimeters) tall, is already threatened by human development.
The discovery of Mura's saddleback tamarin was announced today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York City and published online in the International Journal of Primatology.
"We keep finding new species of plants, insects and butterflies. But it is more and more difficult to find newer species of mammals," says Avecita Chicchón, director of WCS's Latin American and Caribbean Program, unable to suppress her excitement about the new rabbit-size primate. "It is our relative, albeit a little more distant than the gorilla. Looking into its eyes is like looking in the mirror."
The new subspecies of saddleback tamarin is gray and brown in color, with a mottled back and long tail. It is named for the Mura Indians who populate the remote Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey lives. At this point, scientists have no way of knowing just how many roam the region.
This portion of Brazil is also home to several development projects, including a section of major highway currently being paved through parts of the Amazon's approximately 2.7 million square miles (seven million square kilometers) of tropical rainforest. Construction has also begun on two hydroelectric dams, with a proposed gas pipeline likely close behind.
"These are a significant threat to wildlife that are not even documented," Chicchón says. She advocates the need for more thorough calculations of costs and benefits—for the environment, the people and the wildlife—before these kinds of projects are carried out.
Although the monkey's discovery likely won't stave off the development, Chicchón believes that it will "help us highlight the need to keep doing explorations and to document the diversity of life in the Amazon—the last wilderness on Earth."