Anthony B. Rylands

Re:wild · Primate Program

Over the last half-century, the world’s human population has doubled, impacting almost all ocean and land areas. The threats facing primates in the wild have never been greater or more complex. Primatologists have long been aware of these threats and, since the 1970s, have coordinated efforts to safeguard these threatened species, through the Inter...

Mico emiliae has most recently been assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2015. Mico emiliae is listed as Least Concern.

Alouatta guariba is endemic to the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina. In the south, its range is limited by the Camaquã river basin in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Printes et al. 2001) and, in the past, to the north by the Rio Paraguaçu in the state of Bahia (Gregorin 2006).

Bald uakaris, genus Cacajao, are Amazonian primates currently classified as one species and four subspecies based on the patterns of pelage coloration. In this study, we test if their current taxonomy is represented by the phylogenetic relationship of the main lineages retrieved from molecular data. We included, for the first time, all bald uakari...

Aim: Comprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroeco...

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/174391079/217739569

Long-standing concerns about the status of the world's endangered primates have stimulated significant international efforts, such as the primate action plans published by the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission. However, national-level action plans that bring together diverse...

Ateles chamek is listed as Endangered as the species is estimated to have declined by at least 50% over the past 45 years (three generations) primarily due to hunting and habitat loss. The forests in the southern part of its range, particularly in the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso (Brazil), are devastated along the agricultural frontier/arc of...

Some conservation prioritization methods assume that conservation needs overwhelm current resources and not all species can be conserved; therefore, a “conservation triage” scheme (that is, when the system is overwhelmed, species should be divided into three groups based on likelihood of survival, and efforts should be focused on those species in t...

Evaluation of the conservation status of Ateles belzebuth

Evaluation of the conservation status of Lagothrix lagothricha

Eighteen megadiversity countries are home to 70% of the species in the world. They also host more than 64% of the languages spoken on the planet. This paper builds on this strong correlation to argue that diversity of cultures is an expression of biological diversity. These two components of diversity must, therefore, be treated jointly by science,...

Boubli et al. (2019) estimated a loss of 42% of habitat (forest, excluding savannas) within the species range to date, or 39% of the species’ total range (forest and savannas). Using predictive models, the species’ habitat loss over the next 24 years will amount to 50% under the “governance” scenario and to 86% under the “business as usual” scenari...

IUCN Red List for Ateles chame

The collared titi, Cheracebus torquatus, is paradoxically the least well-defined of the so-called "torquatus group" of Neotropical titi monkeys. Since its description by Hoffmannsegg in 1807, it has been re-characterized numerous times. In this study, the true identity of Cheracebus torquatus is assessed based on a review of its taxonomic history a...

De Jong, Y.A., Rylands, A.B. & Butynski, T.M. 2020. Erythrocebus patas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T174391079A17940998. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T174391079A17940998.en.

In 2011, a distinct but unnamed form of titi, Plecturocebus, was rediscovered in the Chapada dos Parecis, a plateau in the southern extreme of the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Here we describe it as a new species based on an analysis of morphological and molecular traits. It can be distinguished from all other species of the genus Plecturocebus by...

.The current population of the Southern Muriqui is believed to be less than 1,200 individuals surviving in20 isolated, subpopulations in a mixture of private, municipal, state and national protected areas in the states of Rio de Janeiro (6), Sao Paulo (12) and Parana (2) (Strier et al. 2017). Of the subpopulations,one (Carlos Botelho State Park) i...

The taxonomy of the titi monkeys (Callicebinae) has recently received considerable attention. It is now recognised that this subfamily is composed of three genera with 33 species, seven of them described since 2002. Here, we describe a new species of titi, Plecturocebus, from the municipality of Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil. We adopt an integ...

IUCN Red List for Saimiri boliviensis

Primates occur in 90 countries, but four-Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)-harbor 65% of the world's primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservati...

Primates occur in 90 countries, but four-Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)-harbor 65% of the world's primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservati...

Primates occur in 90 countries, but four-Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)-harbor 65% of the world's primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservati...

Fig. S3. Trends in the growth of the cultivated areas devoted to roots and tubers, maize, and rice paddy production and in two important arboreal food crops in DRC. Also shown is the growth trend in the harvest of hardwoods. Available at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare (crops processed) (accessed 1 April 2017). Note: starting year may differ...

Fig. S1. Expansion of agricultural land for the period 2001 to 2015 in Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and DRC. Available at FAOStats http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare (accessed 10 February 2018). See Text S1 for limitations of the FAO data.

Fig. S2. Trends in the growth of cattle populations and in the production of some of the most important agricultural commodities in Brazil. Available at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data (accessed 14 February 2018; for a definition of the category Roundwood nonconiferous see http://www.fao.org/waicent/faostat/forestry/products.htm#S2; http://www....

Fig. S5. Trends in the area devoted to the cultivation of rice, oil palm, natural rubber and the increase in the volume of roundwood extraction in Indonesia. Available at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare (crops processed) (accessed 5 April 2017). See Text S1 for limitations of the FAO data.

Fig. S4. Trends in the growth of cultivated areas including roots and tubers, maize, and rice paddy production in Madagascar. Also shown is the growth in the extraction of hardwoods. Available at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare (crops processed) (accessed 1 April 2017). See Text S1 for limitations of the FAO data.

Fig. S6. Optimistic, business as usual, and pessimistic scenarios of expected spatial conflict between agricultural expansion and primate distributions in the 21st century in Brazil, DRC, Madagascar and Indonesia. The table at the bottom shows the predicted agricultural expansion values (%) to take place by 2050 and 2100 under each of the three sce...

Table S2. Number of primate species, genera and families currently present in Brazil, DRC, Madagascar and Indonesia. Also shown is the number of species threatened and with declining populations. Source of data: IUCN, 2017 http://www.iucnredlist.org (consulted February 13th, 2018). Three families are shared by DRC and Indonesia: Lorisidae, Cercopit...

Table S5. Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (GDPPC) and the Human Development Index for the 25 most developed nations in the world and for Brazil, DRC, Madagascar and Indonesia. Source HDI: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/COD (accessed 5 February 2018) Source GDPPC: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?contextual=max&locatio...

Fig. S7. Frequency distribution of the area of the ranges of primate species (blue) and the area of their ranges that overlap with protected areas. (A) Brazil, (B) DRC, (C) Madagascar and (D) Indonesia.

Table S1. Biological richness of four major vertebrate groups in Brazil, DRC, Madagascar and Indonesia. Source: IUCN, 2017 http://www.iucnredlist.org–consulted August 2017.

Table S3. Tree cover loss (>30% canopy cover) for the period 2001 to 2016. Source: Global Forest Watch (http://www.globalforestwatch.org (accessed 11 January 2018). All areas are in ha.

Table S4. Expansion estimates of agricultural land in Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and DRC for the period 2001 to 2015. Also shown is agricultural land as percent of the country’s land area. Source of data: FAOStats http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data (accessed 12 February 2018). Increases or decreases from year to year can be calculated by subtra...

Supplementary text (Text S1).

Information on the wildlife of the middle and upper reaches of the Purus in Brazil is scarce, and this region is one of the major remaining gaps in our understanding of the distributions and population status of mammals in the Brazilian Amazon. In this paper, we present information on the diversity of mammals of the middle Purus, in the south of Am...

Biodiversity hotspots are 36 regions of exceptional species richness and endemism (≥ 1500 endemic plants) that are severely threatened (70% of the original vegetation destroyed). They comprise 24.83 million km² (16.7% of Earth's land surface). The remaining natural vegetation is only 3,563,850 km² (2.39% of Earths land surface). At least 153,816 va...

The pygmy marmoset, Cebuella pygmaea, the smallest of the New World monkeys, has one of the largest geographical distributions of the Amazonian primates. Two forms have been recognized: Cebuella pygmaea pygmaea (Spix, 1823), and C. p. niveiventrisLönnberg, 1940. In this study, we investigated if the separation of pygmy marmosets into these two clad...

The crested capuchin monkey (Sapajus robustus) is an endangered species endemic to the highly fragmented Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Surveys for S. robustus were carried out over a 25-month period (2003–2005) to obtain more precise geographical limits for the western range of the species. Previously published localities for S. robustus were mapped,...

Emerging infectious diseases were cited as a cause of population decline of wild nonhuman primates (NHPs) by A. Estrada and collaborators in their review “Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates” (Science Advances, 18 January, e1600946). Concurrent with the publication of this review, an epidemic of jungle yellow fever (YF) in the Atlan...

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species uses quantitative criteria based on population size, rate of decline, and geographic distribution, and, when possible, the extent and degree of threats to assess the conservation status of the world's plants and animals. All primate species and subspecies are assessed by the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group....

Russell A. Mittermeier was born in New York in 1949. His interest in primates and tropical forests was inspired by frequent visits to the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History, and from reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' tales of Tarzan. He received his doctorate in Biological Anthropology from Harvard University in 1977 and spent 11 year...

Nonhuman primates, our closest biological relatives, play important roles in the livelihoods, cultures, and religions of many societies and offer unique insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and the threat of emerging diseases. They are an essential component of tropical biodiversity, contributing to forest regeneration and ecosystem he...

Review of the book Primate Conservation Biology edited by G. Cowlishaw and R. Dunbar (2000). Chicago University Press, Chicago.

Subspecies were traditionally defined by identifying gaps between phenotypes across the geographic range of a species, and may represent important units in the development of conservation strategies focused on preserving genetic diversity. Previous taxonomic research proposed that phenotypic variation between scattered Indri indri populations warra...

Background: Titi monkeys, Callicebus, comprise the most species-rich primate genus—34 species are currently recognised, five of them described since 2005. The lack of molecular data for titi monkeys has meant that little is known of their phylogenetic relationships and divergence times. To clarify their evolutionary history, we assembled a large mo...

Twelve generic names have been ascribed to the New World tamarins but all are currently placed in just one: Saguinus Hoffmannsegg, 1807. Based on geographical distributions, morphology, and pelage patterns and coloration, they have been divided into six species groups: (1) nigricollis, (2) mystax, (3) midas, (4) inustus, (5) bicolor and (6) oedipus...

The taxonomic history of the howler monkeys, genus Alouatta, has been long, complex, and filled with omissions and mistakes. This has created confusion over the validity of different taxa. Here we review the taxonomic history of the genus and evaluate the validity of the different taxa based on current knowledge generated through morphological and...

Humans depend on biodiversity in myriad ways, yet species are being rapidly lost due to human activities. The ecosystem services approach to conservation tries to establish the value that society derives from the natural world such that the true cost of proposed development actions becomes apparent to decision makers. Species are an integral compon...

Cruz Lima’s saddle-back tamarin Saguinus fuscicollis cruzlimai Hershkovitz, 1966, was described from a painting by Eládio da Cruz Lima in his book Mammals of Amazonia, Vol. 1, Primates (1945). The painting was of four saddle-back tamarins from the upper Rio Purus, one of them distinct and the inspiration for Hershkovitz to describe it as a new subs...