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Spider Monkey (Ateles) species in South America
Map of the distribution of spider monkey species in South America (after van Roosmalen 2003).
The spider monkey (Ateles)
belongs to the Atelidae family,
which also contains woolly monkeys, muriquis, and howler monkeys.
Spider monkeys are widely distributed in the Amazon basin,
comprising at least seven species, of which two have not yet been
named. The most widespread species are A. paniscus in Venezuela, A. belzebuth in Colombian and Ecuador, A. chamek in Peru, and A. marginatus and A. mittermeieri in northern Brazil.
The
spider monkey and other Atelidae monkeys are the only simian family to
use their tails for grasping branches while climbing trees.
Although they do not use tools, spider monkeys are
regarded among the most intelligent primates, behind only orangutans
and chimpanzees, and ahead of gorillas and all other monkeys. This
mental capacity may result from the need to identify and memorize many
different types of foods and their locations across large areas of
forest (Byrne and Whitten 1988).
References:
Byrne, R. and A Whiten 1988. Machiavellian intelligence: social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes, and humans. Oxford University Press
Rosenberger, A., L. Halenar, S. Cooke, and W. Hartwig 2008. Morphology and evolution of the spider monkey, genus Ateles. In Campbell, C. (ed.). Spider Monkeys. Cambridge University Press.
van Roosmalen, M. and T. van Roosmalen, 2003. Geographic distributions of Amazonian primates. http://www.amazonnewspecies.com.
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