Abstract
China supports the richest non-human primate diversity in the northern hemisphere, providing an excellent opportunity for Chinese primatologists to take a leading role in advancing the study of primatology. Primatology in China began to flourish after 1979. To date, Chinese primatologists have published more than 1 000 papers in journals indexed by the Chinese Science Citation Database and the Web of Science Core Collection, and universities and academic institutions have trained 107 PhD students and 370 Masters students between 1984 and 2016. In total, the National Science Foundation of China has funded 129 primate projects (RMB 71.7 million) supporting 59 researchers from 28 organizations. However, previous research has also shown obvious species bias. Rhinopithecus roxellana, Rhinopithecus bieti, and Macaca mulatta have received much greater research attention than other species. Researchers have also tended to continue to study the same species (55.2%) they studied during their PhD training. To promote the development of primatology in China, we suggest (1) the need for a comprehensive primatology textbook written in Chinese, (2) continued training of more PhD students, and (3) encouragement to study less well-known primate species.
Highlights
China supports the richest diversity of non-human primates in the northern hemisphere
To provide a basic introduction to primates and primatology in China, we briefly review the development of primatology in China through three indices: that is, number of publications, student training, and funding received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
We found 496 papers published by Chinese authors from the Web of Science Core Collection (WSCC) and 999 papers from the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD)
Summary
China supports the richest diversity of non-human primates (hereafter primate) in the northern hemisphere. More than 20 species from three families currently reside in China (Table 1), with the discovery of new species and populations still adding to the list. Two new species (Hoolock tianxing: Fan et al, 2017; Macaca leucogenys: Li et al, 2015) have been described and new populations of three species (Nomascus nasutus: Chan et al, 2008; Trachypithecus pileatus: Hu et al, 2017; Rhinopithecus strykeri: Long et al, 2012) have been discovered in China since 2006. 32 primate species taxa have been reported in China by different researchers (Table 1). There are currently no populations of eastern hoolock gibbon in China. Excluding species with unconfirmed distribution (Pygathrix nemaeus, Pan et al, 2007) or disputed taxonomy (e.g., Nycticebus sp., Pan et al, 2007) and the two species occurring in Indian controlled areas of southeastern Tibet (Trachypithecus geei and Hoolock hoolock, Ji & Jiang, 2004; Jiang et al, 2017), there are 27 species of primates in China available for study (Table 1)
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