Temminck's red colobus

Temminck's red colobus[1]
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	Cercopithecidae
Genus:	Piliocolobus
Species:	P. badius
Subspecies:	P. b. temminckii
Trinomial name
Piliocolobus badius temminckii (Kuhl, 1820)
Temmick's red colobus range shown in yellow
Synonyms
Piliocolobus temminckii

Temminck's red colobus (Piliocolobus badius temminckii) is a type of red colobus monkey from the Gambia, Casamance, Guinea-Bissau and northwestern Guinea. It has historically been regarded as a subspecies of the western red colobus (Piliocolobus badius),^[1] and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and Mammal Diversity Database both maintain this classification,^[3][4] but many less recent taxonomies classify it as a separate species (Piliocolobus temminckii).^[5][6]

Temminck's red colobus generally lives in dry deciduous and gallery forests. In Senegal it also lives in savannah.^[5] No other red colobus lives in savannah.^[5] The use of savannah and open areas may be a recent adaptation to deforestation, since researchers in the 1970s always found Temminck's red colobus in tall, dense forest.^[5] Temminck's red colobus living in savannahs often associate with green monkeys, and sometimes also associate with patas monkeys and bushbucks for defense against predators.^[5][7] Temminck's red colobus differs from the Western red colobus in that the Western red colobus lives in rainforest rather than dry forest and savannah, which may explain differences in behavior.^[6]

The majority of its diet consists of fruit and leaves. Seeds, flowers, buds, bark and nuts account for most of the rest of the diet.^[7]

Temminck's red colobus is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[2] Primary threats include deforestation and hunting.^[7]

References