Scientist’s Uncover New Species of Marmoset in Amazon

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: August 21, 2021 1:40 pm

The newly described Schneider’s marmoset (Mico schneideri) is pictured in the Brazilian amazon carrying an infant on its back

Photo Credit: Rodrigo Costa-Araújo

Scientist’s working in an area of little-studied forest have described for science a new specie’s of marmoset though the specimens have been known since 1995 having been misidentified until now.

The new species was named Schneider’s marmoset (Mico schneideri) and is described in the latest edition of the journal Scientific Reports. They are found in a region of the Brazilian Amazon.

Their species name was taken from professor Horacio Schneider, a pioneer and major contributor to the research of diversity and evolution of monkeys.

A team led by Rodrigo Costa Araújo, currently an associate researcher at Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi made the discovery. Part of the funding for his research came from the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP), a capacity-building partnership between WCS, BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International (FFI).

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The genus Mico includes a range of Amazon marmosets and is one of the most diverse groups of primates. Unfortunately all are found in threatened forests from an area known as the “arc of deforestation.” This region has seen over half of the global land use change which occurred in the last 30 years.

Unfortunately despite this unfolding ecological issue there are currently no conservation responses working to stop the loss of habitat and population decrease affecting these marmosets. This is in part due to a lack of study.

This is the second new species in the genus Mico described in 3 year with Araújo and his team also describing the  Munduruku marmoset (Mico munduruku) in 2019. At present 16 Mico species are found in the “Arc of deforestation.”

Further study will be required to determine the range of Schneider’s marmoset and their conservation status. It is also needed to determine exactly how many primates inhabit these forests.

Specimen’s of M. schneideri had been known to researchers since 1995 but until now these have been misidentified as Emilia’s marmoset (Mico emiliae).

Learn more about Primates here – Primate Fact File | The Animal Facts

Read the full study published in Scientific Reports on their website – Scientific Reports