The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2: With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surfaceWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2: With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Paleontology; Zoogeography
_Sub-family_, Cebinæ.--_Cebus_ (18 sp.), is the largest genus of American
monkeys, and ranges from Costa Rica to Paraguay. They are commonly called
sapajous. _Lagothrix_ (5 sp.), the woolly monkeys, are rather larger and
less active than the preceding; they are confined to the forests of the
Upper Amazon Valley, and along the slopes of the Andes to Venezuela and
Bolivia. _Ateles_ (14 sp.), the spider monkeys, have very long limbs and
tail. They range over the whole area of the family, and occur on the west
side of the Equatorial Andes and on the Pacific coast of Guatemala.
_Eriodes_ (3 sp.), are somewhat intermediate between the last two genera,
and are confined to the eastern parts of Brazil south of the equator. The
three last mentioned genera have very powerful prehensile tails, the end
being bare beneath; whereas the species of _Cebus_ have the tail
{175}completely covered with hair, although prehensile, and therefore not
so perfect a grasping organ.
_Sub-family_, Mycetinæ, consists of but a single genus, _Mycetes_ (10 sp.),
the howling monkeys, characterized by having a hollow bony vessel in the
throat formed by an enlargement of the hyoid bone, which enables them to
produce a wonderful howling noise. They are large, heavy animals, with a
powerful and perfect prehensile tail. They range from East Guatemala to
Paraguay. (Plate XIV., vol. ii., p. 24.)
_Sub-family_, Pitheciinæ, the sakis, have a non-prehensile bushy tail.
_Pithecia_ (7 sp.), has the tail of moderate length; while _Brachiurus_ (5
sp.) has it very short. Both appear to be restricted to the great
equatorial forests of South America.
_Sub-family_, Nyctipithecinæ, are small and elegant monkeys, with long,
hairy, non-prehensile tails. _Nyctipithecus_ (5 sp.), the night-monkeys or
douroucoulis, have large eyes, nocturnal habits, and are somewhat lemurine
in their appearance. They range from Nicaragua to the Amazon and eastern
Peru. _Saimiris_ or _Chrysothrix_ (3 sp.), the squirrel-monkeys, are
beautiful and active little creatures, found in most of the tropical
forests from Costa Rica to Brazil and Bolivia. _Callithrix_ (11 sp.), are
somewhat intermediate between the last two genera, and are found all over
South America from Panama to the southern limits of the great forests.
FAMILY 5.--HAPALIDÆ. (2 Genera, 32 Species.)
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.
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/ \
NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN
SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS.
-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
| | | | |
-- 2 -- -- |-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --
| | | | |
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