Lesula

Lomami - tailed monkey ( Cercopithecus lomamiensis )

The Lomami - tailed monkey ( Cercopithecus lomamiensis ) is an African primate species from the genus of vervet monkeys ( Cercopithecus ) within the family Cercopithecidae ( Cercopithecidae ). The species was discovered in 2007 and described in 2012. The specific epithet is named after the Lomami in the Central African Democratic Republic of Congo, near which the type specimen was found. In various African languages ​​, the animal is called Lesula ', Kifula ' or ' tourism '.

Features

The Lomami Sea cat is a medium-sized, slender monkey with long limbs. Adult males reach a head -body length 47-65 cm and a weight of 4 to 7.1 kg, subadult females have a head-body length of 40 to 42 cm and a weight of 3.5 to 4 kg.

The type is similar to the owl's head guenon ( Cercopithecus hamlyni ), from which it is geographically isolated by the Lomami and the Congo. The two species differ mainly in the coat color. The naked skin of face, eyelids and pinnae vary from pale pink to gray to brown. A vertical nasal strips and a horizontal stripe over eyes, as in the owl's head monkey, can be clearly present more or less. Chin, throat and breast are yellowish, contrasting with the black belly coloration. The fur on the shoulders and arms is black, the back hair at the base banded whitish, gray or black and then yellow or amber. Striking a center strip is on the rear third of the back and on the base of the tail. The upper half of the thigh is silvery - gray, while the rest of the legs and the inside is covered with black hair. The tail is amber-colored at its base and becomes darker toward the rear. The tail tip is always entirely black. Adult males are larger than females, have larger canine teeth and a blue scrotum and perineum.

Distribution and habitat

The Lomami - monkey is found in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the middle and the upper Lomami Tshuapa. The area of ​​known habitat comprises 17,000 km ² and consists of lowland rain forest ( Terra Firme forest ).

The author of the first description of scientific, John A. Hart, was thoroughly, a photograph of a colleague on an individual of the kind that had made the hunting of bushmeat hunter this colleague. A young living specimen discovered Hart shortly thereafter as a pet of a child.

Way of life

As the owl's head monkey survived the Lomami - monkey semi- terrestrial, so partially on the ground, and feeds mainly on herbaceous vegetation.