Revalidation of Saguinus ursula Hoffmannsegg (Primates: Cebidae: Callitrichinae)
Author
Gregorin, Renato
Author
Vivo, Mario De
text
Zootaxa
2013
3721
2
172
182
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3721.2.4
b756ce36-4962-4112-a06c-0c7ca769e240
1175-5326
223025
ED6825F3-9730-4B7B-A445-4ADC9ECCB699
Saguinus ursulus
Hoffmannsegg, 1807
revalidated taxon
Saguinus Ursula
Hoffmannsegg, 1807: 102
.
Simia ursula
: Humboldt, 1812: 361
.
Midas
ursula
: Geoffroy, 1812: 121
Jacchus ursulus
: Desmarest, 1818: 242
Hapale ursulus
: Voight, 1831: 99
Leontocebus ursulus
: Cabrera, 1912: 29
Cercopithecus ursulus
: Elliot, 1913: 192
Mystax ursulus
: Pocock, 1917: 256
Tamarin tamarin
: Hill, 1957: 83, part
Tamarin tamarin
tamarin
: Cruz-Lima, 1945: 215, part
Leontocebus tamarin
: Cabrera, 1958: 197
, part
Saguinus tamarin tamarin
: Carvalho & Toccheton, 1969: 219
Saguinus midas niger
: Hershkovitz, 1969: 19
, part
Saguinus niger
: Groves, 2001: 138
, part
Type-series.
We designate here the
lectotype
based on one specimen of four
syntypes
housed at Museum für Naturkunde. The designation was based on the analysis of photographies of the specimens.
Lectotype—Adult female, skin and skull, collected by F. W. Sieber. Specimen number ZMB_MAM 288a, in good conditions of preservation. Although with pelage slightly faded, specimen presents all diagnostic characters for
S. ursulus
. The designation of
lectotype
is necessary to bear the name “
ursulus
” and provide taxonomic stability.
Diagnosis.
Dorsal striated hairs extending from scapular portions to the rump in hindlimbs; striated hairs reach the base of the tail; mid-dorsal striated hairs with bright and golden buffy intermediary band; intermediary yellow band long (5.0 5.5 mm); dorsal and lateral hairs long (
23–26 mm
) and irregularly arranged (disheveled); face, hands, and fingers not notably haired.
Distribution
.
Saguinus ursulus
occurs south of the Amazonas River, from the east bank of the Tocantins River, State of Pará, to the limits of Amazon forest with Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, in the State of Maranhão (
Fig. 5
).
Saguinus niger
is restricted here to occurs in the south of the Amazonas River, from the east bank of the Xingu River to the west bank of Tocantins River, and in the southwestern portion of Marajó Island, in State of Pará,
Brazil
(
Fig. 5
). Southernmost records of
S. niger
are Gradaús River, based on voucher, and Floresta Nacional de Carajás (not mapped here) based on captures and visual observations (Bergallo
et al
. 2012).
Taxonomic notes.
The taxonomic and nomenclatural history of
S. niger
and
S. ursulus
is quite confusing and complex.
Sagouin niger
Geoffroy
was presumably based on description of
Tamarin
negrè Audebert (1797): “Noir, dos nodule transversalement de fauve, pates noires” (Geoffroy 1803: 13). However, the provenience of the
type
was indicated as “Cayenne” what was pivotal for the confusion, because the black-hand
tamarin
certainly do not occur in
French Guiana
. Hershkovitz (1977: 717) restricted the
type
locality of
S. niger
to Belém, State of Pará,
Brazil
, the same type-locality of
S. ursulus
Hoffmannsegg (1807)
. However, the
type
of
S. niger
is lost (see more explanations in Voss
et al
. 2001) and presently is not possible to know the precise provenience of specimen analyzed by Geoffroy (1803) or even details about its morphology (for example, if is a menalic form of
S. midas
— Voss
et al
. 2001).
FIGURE 4.
Dorsal pelage coloration pattern in
Saguinus midas
group: A—
S. midas
(AMNH 14845), B—
S. ursulus
(AMNH 96481), C—
S. niger
(AMNH 96499). Note some diagnostics characters in
S. ursulus
, such as golden buffy striated and long dorsal hairs, and dorsal disheveled hairs.
Hoffmannsegg (1807: 102) described
Saguinus ursulus
based on material from vicinity of Belém, eastern Tocantins River, State of Pará: “
Niger
, labio fisso, auribus amplis nudis subtriangularibus, dorso posteriore hypochondriisque ferrugineis maculato-virgatis”. Four
syntypes
, one juvenile male, two adult females and one juvenile female are housed at Zoologisches Museum Berlin (N. Lange, pers. com.). What name should be applied to black
tamarin
occurring in the east bank of Tocantins River for long was disputed, whether “
ursulus
” or “
niger
”; More recently
S. niger
was accepted (Groves, 2001, 2005, Gregorin
et al
. 2010, Paglia
et al
. 2012).
Thomas (1922) described
S. umbratus
from Cametá, western portion of Tocantins River, and he referred to it as a darker subspecies of
Mystax
(=
Saguinus
)
ursulus
that was known to occur on the east bank of the Tocantins River: “Similar in essential characters to Pará
ursulus
, but darker throughout...” (Thomas 1922: 265). As mentioned, more recently the name “
ursulus
” has been abandoned and the name “
niger
” has been used to present.
Saguinus ursulus umbratus
was recognized as a subspecies since its description and its validity until the 1970´s (Cruz Lima 1945, Hill 1945, Carvalho 1960) when it was synonymized by Hershkovitz (1977) under
S. midas niger
.
Saguinus m. niger
was subsequently ranked as a species (Groves
2001 and 2005
, Voss
et al
. 2001, Rylands
et al
. 2012) based on morphological (Hershkovitz 1977, Natori & Hanihara 1988), cytogenetic (Nagamachi
et al
. 1990), biochemical and molecular evidences (Tagliaro
et al
. 2005, Vallinoto
et al
. 2006), and also due to the fact that the ranges of
S. midas
and
S. niger
are separated by the Amazonas River. The species was considered monotypic and occurring from east bank of Xingu River to Amazonian forest in State of Maranhão. Hershkovitz (1977) concluded that “The differences in the color and banding of saddle, evident in our material from east and west of the Tocantins, are too slight and broadly overlapping to merit taxonomic recognition” (p.717). Thus, the names “
ursulus
” and “
umbratus
” are presently junior synonyms of
S
.
niger
.
In order to solve the problem of
type
and type-locality which the name “
niger
” is bearing, Voss
et al
. (2001) designated a
neotype
(AMNH 96500) from Cametá, western bank of Tocantins River. This designation was pivotal to consider, at least,
Mystax umbratus
as junior synonym of
S. niger
. Thus, the names “
niger
” and “
umbratus
” presently refer to populations occurring on left side of Tocantins River, and “
ursulus
” is the oldest and available name to refer to the populations on east bank of Tocantins River.
FIGURE 5.
Distribution of
S. ursulus
(squares),
S. niger
(circles), and
S. midas
(triangles). For the gazetteer of localities, see appendix 2.
Results of the present study disagree with Hershkovitz´s (1977) appraisal. Specimens occurring on each bank of the Tocantins River have a discrete pattern of pelage coloration and no variation was recorded. Comparing samples from both sides of Tocantins River,
S. ursulus
can be easily distinguished from
S. niger
by the following qualitative characteristics (
Fig. 4
): 1) striated hairs usually extend from the scapular region to the base of the tail, and only a narrow proximal portion of the thighs, rarely reaching the knees (in
S. niger
the agouti hairs are distributed from the mid-dorsum, from the sub-scapular region, and usually extending to the lumbar region, thighs and knee portions, but rarely reach the base of the tail), 2) the intermediary stripe of agouti hairs is brilliant golden buffy (it is dark and opaque ochraceous in
S. niger
), 3) the length of the intermediary stripe is about 5.0–5.5 mm in
S. ursulus
(in
S. niger
it is shorter, 4.0 mm), 4) dorsal hairs present irregular directions, disheveled (they are homogeneously parallel and posteriorly directed in
S. niger
), and 5) face, hands and fingers are not notably haired in
S. ursulus
(it is haired in
S. niger
).
From
S. midas
,
S. ursulus
can be easily distinguished (
Fig. 4
) in presenting 1) blackish hairs on the hands and feet (they are orange to ochraceous in
S. midas
), 2) the intermediary stripe of dorsal hairs is bright and golden buffy (it is pale ochraceous to light grayish in
S. midas
), 3) the intermediary dorsal stripe in
S. ursulus
is 5.0–5.5 mm (it is shorter, 2.5–3.2 mm, in
S. midas
), and 3) the striated hairs reach to knees, while in
S. midas
they extend posteriorly, reaching the shank.
Thus, considering current criteria for the definition of species based on unique characters to delimit more inclusive groups (Cracraft 1983, Pinna 1999, Wiley & Lieberman 2011), the morphological divergence (
Fig. 3
), and the disjunct distribution of the two phenotypes, separated by the Tocantins River (
Fig. 4
), the recognition of
S. ursulus
is necessary to better express the evolutionary diversity of the genus
Saguinus
. Moreover, these results corroborate with the genetic divergence revealed by Vallinoto
et al
. (2006), and contribute to our understanding of biogeographical patterns and their recent evolution in the Amazon (Haffer 1992, Goldani
et al
. 2006, Ribas
et al
. 2012), with the differentiation of
S. ursulus
and
S. niger
in accordance with the robust biogeographical hypothesis which identifies the Belém and Xingu centers of diversity as drivers of speciation in the eastern Amazon (see Ribas
et al
. 2012).
Acknowledgments
We thank the curators that allowed us to examine the material under their care: Luiz Flamarion de Oliveira (MNRJ), José de Souza e Silva Júnior (MPEG), Bruce D. Patterson (FMNH), and Robert S. Voss (AMNH). We are most grateful to José de Souza e Silva Júnior for making available the many unpublished records of
S. niger
and
S. umbratus
from
the States
of Pará and Maranhão, and Elisandra A. Chiquito for drawing the map. We kindly thank to Alexandre R. Percequillo, Anthony B. Rylands, and Robert S. Voss, for their valuable suggestions on the text and about
Saguinus
taxonomy. We are in debt and thank very much Eileen Westwig (AMNH) and Nora Lang (ZMB) for assistance and in providing information about
type
series and old literature. This study has supported of CNPq (process number 555491/2009-9).