Colobus vellerosus
Creators: name: Russell A. Mittermeier
name: Anthony B. Rylands
name: Don E. Wilson
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Primates
Cercopithecidae
Colobus
Colobus vellerosus

description: 86.
White-thighed Colobus
Colobus vellerosus
French: Colobe de Geoffroy / German: WeiRschenkel-Stummelaffe / Spanish: Colobo de muslos blancos
Other common names: Geoffroy’s Black-and-white Colobus, Ursine Colobus, White-thighed Black-and-white Colobus
Taxonomy. Semnopithecus vellerosus 1. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1834,
Afrique.
A form known as “Dollman’s Colobus ” dollmani (a cross of C. vellerosus x C. polykomos, although phenotypically much closer to C. vellerosus) formerly occurred in an area between the Sassandra River and the Nzi-Bandama River system in Ivory Coast as a hybrid swarm. Monotypic.
Distribution. E Ivory Coast (E of Nuzi-Bandama River system), S Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and SW Nigeria.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 56—64-5 cm (males) and 58-66 cm (females), tail 81-97 cm; weight 8:4.9-9 kg (males) and 7.8-3 kg (females). The White-thighed Colobus is largely black, with a broad, bushy, snowy-white circumfacial ruff (not extending back onto the crown or far back under the throat) and either no epaulettes or just a few white hairs on shoulders. There is no whorl on the crown. Tail is not as long as that of the King Colobus (C. polykomos), being somewhat less than 160% of head—body length; it is also entirely white, with a slight tuft. There is a white patch on each upper thigh that extends all around ischial callosities in males and around ventral and lateral margins in females. Hair on the throat is thick. Nose is long and convex. In its cranium and mtDNA, the White-thighed Colobusis very similar to the King Colobus, but the loud call of the male is derived and shared with the Guereza (C. guereza).
Habitat. L.owland rainforest and deciduous gallery, swamp, semi-deciduous, gallery, and dry forest. In the northern part of its distribution, the White-thighed Colobusis also found in forest patches in savanna areas, where groups have been known to travel across open ground between trees.
Food and Feeding. The White-thighed Colobus eats mainly young leaves, along with mature leaves, seeds, and fruit pulp.
Breeding. Female White-thighed Colobus lack a perineal sexual swelling, and infants are born with a white coat that darkens to the adult pattern within a few months.
Activity patterns. White-thighed Colobus are diurnal and arboreal. At Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, J. Teichroeb and colleagues found them to spend 59% of their time resting, 24% feeding, 14% moving, and 3% engaging in social behavior.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Daily movements of the Whitethighed Colobus are 250-367 m, with home ranges of 1148 ha. Group sizes vary from two to 33 individuals, with multiple adult males and females. Dispersal is sex-biased,; males leave their natal group, but females are also known to disperse.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. The White-thighed Colobusislisted as Class A in the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. It is threatened primarily by hunting and secondarily by habitat loss. The region it inhabits has a dense and rapidly growing human population, forest destruction has been extensive, and wildlife hunting is uncontrolled in most places. There has been no systematic survey of the White-thighed Colobus, but it is known to have become rare in several national parks in Ghana where it had been assumed to be secure. It is now also very rare in Benin, Togo, and Nigeria. It occurs in 18 protected areas: Bia, Bui, Digya, Mole, and Nini-Suhien national parks, Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Bomfobiri Wildlife Sanctuary, Ankasa and Kalakpa game reserves, Kogyae Strict Nature Reserve and Willi Falls Reserve in Ghana; Comoe National Park in Ivory Coast; Kainji Lake National Park, Igangan Ohosu and Olokemeji forest reserves and Upper Ogun game reserve in Nigeria; and Fazao-Malfakassa National Park and Keran Reserve in Togo. It is most secure in Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary where monkeys are considered sacred by the local community and are not hunted.
Bibliography. Brent et al. (2008), Campbell, Teichroeb & Paterson (2008), Fashing (2011), Gonedelé Bi et al. (2006), Groves (2001, 2007b), Groves et al. (1993), Saj & Sicotte (2007a, 2007b), Saj, Marteinson et al. (2007), Saj, Mather & Sicotte (2006), Sicotte & Macintosh (2004), Sicotte et al. (2007), Teichroeb, Saj et al. (2003), Teichroeb, Wikberg & Sicotte (2009), Ting (2008), Wong et al. (2006).
description: Published as part of Russell A. Mittermeier, Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson, 2013, Cercopithecidae, pp. 550-755 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 3 Primates, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 702, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6867065