New marmoset species discovered in Brazilian Amazon

'Schneider’s marmoset' is found in the highly threatened, but little-studied forests of Mato Grosso State

Date:: August 12, 2021
Source:: Wildlife Conservation Society
Summary:: A team of scientists has discovered a new marmoset species in the Brazilian Amazon. Schneider's marmoset is named after professor Horacio Schneider, a pioneer and major contributor to the research of diversity and evolution of monkeys.
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A team of scientists has discovered a new marmoset species in the Brazilian Amazon. Schneider's marmoset (Mico schneideri), described in the latest issue of the journalScientific Reports,是named after professor Horacio Schneider, a pioneer and major contributor to the research of diversity and evolution of monkeys.

The discovery was made by a team of researchers led by Rodrigo Costa Araújo, currently an associate researcher at Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Araújo was funded in part by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP), a capacity-building partnership between WCS, BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International (FFI).

The Amazon marmosets of the genusMicoare among the more diverse groups of monkeys and found only in the threatened forests of the "arc of deforestation," a region that accounts for half of the global land use change in the past 30 years. Currently, there is no conservation response to address the losses of habitat and population decreases such marmosets are subjected to, primarily because they are poorly studied.

The total number of Amazon marmoset species remains unknown. In 2019 Araújo and his team discovered the Munduruku marmoset(Mico munduruku) from another area within the arc of deforestation.M. schneideriwas described from marmosets known to researchers since 1995 but misidentified asM. emiliae.

The study notes the existenceof 16Micospecieslocated in the "arc of deforestation" -- an extensive region in the southern Amazon where the highest rates of land clearing and fires are concentrated. Further research is needed to assess the conservation status ofM. schneideriand to investigate the southern portion of its geographical distribution. Additionally, continuing to uncover exactly how many Amazon marmosets occupy these forests will underpin the first step towards conserving this threatened group of monkeys.

The research was possible due to a scholarship provided by CNPq and funding provided by CAPES, FAPESP, FAPEMAT, Conservation Leadership Programme, Primate Action Fund Re:Wild, National Science Foundation, NERC and Idea Wild.