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Squirrel monkey (Saimiri) species in South America
Map of the distribution of squirrel monkey species in South America (after van Roosmalen 2003).
Saimiri, the squirrel monkey, is a South American or New World monkey (platyrrhini), one the two infraorders of anthropoid primates, the other being Catyrrhini, the Old World monkeys.
The primary species, Saimiri sciureus,
has four varieties which live in widespread wooded zones of river
valleys throughout the Amazon basin, mainly in Venezuela and northern
Brazil. There are also three other species of Saimiri, including Saimiri boliviensis, S. vanzoini, and S. ustus living in forested areas of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Saimiri
is among the smaller platyrrhines, with males and females less than 1
kg in weight (Fleagle, 1999). Despite its smaller size, it is closely
related to Cebus, the larger capuchin monkey (Horovitz, 1999; Rosenberger, 2002). Saimiri is largely frugivorous, but forages for insects when on the ground (Fleagle, 1999).
References:
Fleagle 1999
Horovitz 1999
Rosenberger 2002
van Roosmalen, M. and T. van Roosmalen, 2003. Geographic distributions of Amazonian primates. http://www.amazonnewspecies.com.
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