Uacaries, new world monkeys of the genusCacajao(Cebidae, Platyrrhini): A preliminary taxonomic review with the description of a new subspecies

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Abstract
The two known species of uacaries, inhabitants of the upper Amazonian region, are the black headCacajao melanocephaluswith subspeciesC. m. melanocephalusHumboldt andC. m. ouakarySpix, and the larger bald head uacariC. calvuswith subspeciesC. c. ucayaliiThomas,C. c. rubicundusI. Geoffroy and Deville,C. c. calvusI. Geoffroy, andC. c. novaesidescribed as new. The diagnostic generic characters described are the external, cranial, dental, some postcranial, and cytogenetic. The species are described and compared and their geographic distribution plotted with those of their subspecies delimited. Sexual differences are outlined. Apart from size‐related characters, the species and subspecies are distinguished by pelage pattern of head and coloration in general. It is shown that both species could have diverged from a hairy‐headed melanistic ancestral form. Pelage divergence in the descendants was expressed by the more pilose head ofC. melanocephalus, and less pilose ofC. calvus. Coloration differentiation was geographic and followed metachromic lines with mutation from eumelanism to partial pheomelanism (reddish or golden) inC. melanocephalusand to virtually complete pheomelanism inC. calvus. The subspecies of each species are distinguished by color patterns resulting from selective bleaching or dilution of the pheomelanin fields. The most saturate pheomelanic subspecies ofC. calvusisC. c. ucayaliiand the most dilute is the albinoticC. c. calvus. Correlation between coloration and environment is not evident. A gazetteer identifies all locality records plotted by numbers on the geographic distribution maps.

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