Cebus apella (Linnaeus, 1758)

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2011, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 1: Primates, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (351), pp. 1-81 : 36-38

Cebus apella (Linnaeus, 1758)

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL 5 8): Boca Río Yaquerana (FMNH 88846), Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 268240, MUSM 11120), Orosa (AMNH 73989, 74032, 74033), Quebrada Esperanza (FMNH 88847, 88848).

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: Actiamë ( Amanzo, 2006), Choncó ( Amanzo, 2006), Divisor ( Jorge and Velazco, 2006), Itia Tëbu ( Amanzo, 2006), Orosa ( Freese et al., 1982), Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo ( Puertas and Bodmer, 1993; Heymann and Aquino, 1994), Río Tapiche ( Bennett et al., 2001), Río Yavarí (left bank below

Angamos; Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí Mirím ( Salovaara et al., 2003), Tapiche ( Jorge and Velazco, 2006).

IDENTIFICATION: The many nominal taxa of tufted capuchins—which collectively range from northern Colombia to northern Argentina —were all treated as synonyms or subspecies of the brown capuchin ( Cebus apella ) by Hershkovitz (1949) and Hill (1960), but some are now recognized as valid species by authors (e.g., Groves, 2001, 2005; Silva, 2002; Rylands et al., 2005). Unfortunately, the revisionary studies alleged to support the recognition of distinct species of tufted capuchin have never been published, the only published diagnoses (based on trivial sample sizes; Groves, 2001) are not useful for specimen identification, ‘‘undeniable evidence of some natural interbreeding’’ is admitted to exist ( Groves, 2001: 152), and genetic distances among some ‘‘species’’ are unimpressive (e.g., 1.3% between cytochrome- b sequences of C. apella and C. ‘‘ cay ’’; Casado et al., 2010). Therefore, a compelling case for recognizing multiple valid species among the nominal taxa traditionally regarded as synonyms or subspecies of C. apella has yet to be made. In particular, we are not convinced that any tufted species other than the brown capuchin inhabits Amazonian rainforests.

According to Hill (1960), the subspecies of Cebus apella in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve is macrocephalus Spix, 1823 (type locality ‘‘Lago Cactuá,’’ presumably somewhere on the Brazilian Amazon), but geographically adjacent forms include juruanus Lönnberg, 1939 (type locality João Pessôa on the Rio Juruá, Brazil) and peruanus Thomas, 1901 (type locality Huaynapata, Cusco, Peru). In fact, representative skins from the Yavarí- Ucayali interfluve plausibly fit Grove’s (2001) descriptions of each of these nominal taxa. Some (AMNH 268240), for example, have more or less distinct blackish middoral stripes (as described for macrocephalus and juruanus), whereas others (AMNH 73989) lack any trace of a black middorsal stripe (resembling peruanus in this and other respects). Cabrera (1958) treated both juruanus and peruanus as synonyms of C. a. macrocephalus, an arrangement that is consistent with our suspicion that all western

Amazonian tufted capuchins are taxonomically indistinguishable.

Measurements of examined voucher material are summarized in table 11. Most specimens of Cebus apella from the Yavarí- Ucayali interfluve are unaccompanied by weights, but an adult male (AMNH 268240) from Nuevo San Juan weighed 5200 g and a lactating adult female from the same locality (MUSM 11120) weighed 2510 g.

ETHNOBIOLOGY: See the preceding account for capuchin ethnobiology.

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: Brown capuchin monkeys have bald temples, especially the large males. Unlike woolly monkeys, they do not hang by their tails. They walk around on branches with their tails rolled up very tightly. Males are larger than females. Capuchin monkeys, including pets, raise their eyebrows repeatedly when they see people.

Brown capuchin monkeys are found in primary or secondary forest, in upland forest or in riverside forest. They are common along large streams. Sometimes they forage on the ground, but not as much as white capuchin monkeys do. They generally do not forage too high up.

Brown capuchin monkeys are in mediumsized troops, numbering up to about 15 animals. Sometimes a male is found alone. They very commonly travel and forage together with squirrel monkeys. Brown capuchin monkeys bully squirrel monkeys when they feed together with them. When capuchin and squirrel monkeys are together, they make a lot of noise. Like white-fronted capuchin monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys make a lot of noise banging hard dicot fruits and palm nuts to open them. They may spread out to forage, but when they find a lot of fruit they eat together.

Brown capuchin monkeys call out saying ‘‘ bëtsiton ’’ when they see people or jaguars. They also call out saying ‘‘ ko-o ko-o ko-o ko- o.’’

Brown capuchin monkeys travel through the forest being mischievous: they pull down wasp and termite nests and toss them down to the ground. They also throw down palm fronds and dead branches as they go. In abandoned swiddens they throw down peach-palm [ Bactris gasipaes ] fruits without eating them. At night they sleep in any tree that has vine tangles.

Capuchin monkeys eat all kinds of dicot tree fruits, including, wësnid dëbiate [ Anacardium giganteum (Anacardiaceae) ], këku [ Couma macrocarpa (Apocynaceae) ], diden këku [ Parahancornia peruviana (Apocynaceae) ], machishte [ Rhigospira quadrangularis and? Mucoa duckei (Apocynaceae) ], kapan çhëşhte [ Matisia bracteolosa and Quararibea ochrocalyx (Bombacaceae) ], mamuin [ Rheedia longifolia (Guttiferae) ], okodo mabis [undetermined, Guttiferae)], moste [ Hymenaea spp. (Leguminosae) ], mannan tsipuis [ Inga spp. and? Pithecellobium (Leguminosae) ], tankada [ Parkia igneiflora , P. multijuga , and Pithecellobium auriculatum (Leguminosae) ], bin [ Castilla (Moraceae) ], buku [ Cecropia spp. (Moraceae) ], dadain [ Clarisia racemosa (Moraceae) ], piuşh bëchi [ Helicostylis tomentosa and H. elegans (Moraceae) ], kuşhu tëbin [ Naucleopsis mello-barretoi and N. ternstroemiiflora (Moraceae) ], şhankuin [ Pourouma spp. (Moraceae) ], bata [ Pseudolmedia and Maquira spp. (Moraceae) ], tonnad [all species of Myristicaceae ], mabis mabiskid [ Chrysophyllum prieurii (Sapotaceae) ], kose [ Manilkara bidentata (Sapotaceae) ], dadan dëso [ Theobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) ], tonkodo [ Theobroma (Sterculiaceae) ], kuëte më- diad [undetermined], and taëpa [undetermined]. They also eat vine fruits. They eat swamp-palm [ Mauritia flexuosa ] fruits regularly and isan palm [ Oenocarpus bataua ] fruits occasionally. Because they can break open fruits by banging them on a branch, they eat some fruits that other monkeys cannot eat, including dadan dëso and other cacaolike fruits. They can break open unripe palm fruits and consume the liquid and/or soft endosperm inside. Some of the palm fruits they feed on include: niste [ Iriartea deltoidea ], budëd [ Attalea butyracea ], di pinchuk [ Astrocaryum chambira ], şhukkate pinchuk [ Astrocaryum murumuru ], and akte pinchuk [ Astrocaryum jauari ]. They bite open cabbage palm [ Euterpe precatoria ] seeds and eat the soft endosperm, but do not eat the ripe mesocarp of cabbage palm fruits. They pick and wastefully throw down many fruits that they do not eat. They pull off palm leaves to get at the heart. When there are no fruits to be found, they eat any little thing they can find. They eat beetle larvae they find in rotten wood that they break apart. They eat invertebrates including scorpions, millipedes, crickets [or katydids; the Matses term is taxonomically ambiguous], etc. They also eat baby birds. They occasionally kill and eat titi monkeys [ Callicebus cupreus ].

Tables

TABLE 11 External and Craniodental Measurements (mm) of Cebus apella from the Yavarí-Ucayali Interfluve

		FMNH
	Males a	88848♀
HBL	457 (436–476) 3	418
LT	448 (425–470) 3	422
HF	128 (123–131) 3	123
Ear	37 (35–38) 3	36
CIL	83.0 (76.0–87.0) 6	77.0
OB	56.3 (49.6–62.5) 6	55.0
POC	40.2 (38.4–41.4) 6	39.3
ZB	72.7 (61.9–80.6) 5	63.9
BB	53.6 (51.7–56.6) 6	51.1
PPL	37.6 (33.6–40.4) 6	32.7
LMT	31.0 (28.9–32.8) 6	—
BM1	6.5 (6.2–6.9) 6	6.4
M1–M1	31.2 (29.7–32.9) 6	31.4
I2–I2	16.5 (15.6–17.4) 6	16.4

a

Summary statistics (mean, observed range in parentheses, and sample size) for measurements of AMNH 73989, 74032, 74033, 268240; FMNH 88846, 88847.