On the identity of the tamarin AMNH 98303 ("Saguinus fuscicollis tripartitus"; Primates: Haplorrhini: Simiiformes: Platyrrhini: Callitrichidae).

Eckhard W Heymann

doi:10.5194/pb-9-1-2022

Abstract

The American Museum of Natural History houses the skin of a tamarin (AMNH 98303) labelled as Saguinus fuscicollis tripartitus. However, the specimen does not match the phenotype of this taxon, now named Leontocebus tripartitus, nor that of any other known species or subspecies of Leontocebus. In this note, we review past taxonomic revisions of the genus Saguinus – revisions that were largely driven by the contentious species or subspecies status of the golden-mantled saddleback tamarin S. fuscicollis tripartitus – and compare the phenotype of AMNH 98303 with those of other tamarins in the same genus to discuss the possible status of this specimen.

Highlights

Tamarins are a diverse group of New World primates with a synonymic history of more than nine genera
All were placed in the genus Saguinus Hoffmannsegg by Hershkovitz (1977), but Rylands et al (2016) separated out Hershkovitz’s Saguinus nigricollis or white-mouthed tamarin group as belonging to the genus Leontocebus Lesson
In 2000, I indicated that the lack of evidence for sympatry between the two tamarins meant that tripartitus should be downgraded to a subspecies or that the 13 of the 14 subspecies of S. fuscicollis of Hershkovitz (1977) considered valid at the time be considered species1

Summary

Introduction

Tamarins are a diverse group of New World primates with a synonymic history of more than nine genera. All were placed in the genus Saguinus Hoffmannsegg by Hershkovitz (1977), but Rylands et al (2016) separated out Hershkovitz’s Saguinus nigricollis or white-mouthed tamarin group as belonging to the genus Leontocebus Lesson. Two species comprised Hershkovitz’s S. nigricollis group (the black-mantled tamarin Saguinus nigricollis and the saddleback tamarin Saguinus fuscicollis), and Hershkovitz (1966, 1977) placed the golden-mantled saddleback tamarin S. fuscicollis tripartitus Milne-Edwards, 1878, as a subspecies of S. fuscicollis.

Results

Conclusion