Sapajus flavius
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
Cebidae
Sapajus
Sapajus flavius

description: 13.
Blond Capuchin
Sapajus flavius
French: Sapajou blond / German: Gelber Kapuzineraffe / Spanish: Capuchino rubio
Other common names: Blonde Capuchin, Marcgrave’s Capuchin
Taxonomy. Simia flavia Schreber, 1774,
Corrego do Inferno, Usina Maravilha, municipality of Goiana, Pernambuco, Brazil, 7° 28' 35-95" S, 34° 50° 4-35" W,
The provenance and identity of S. flavius, known only from an early illustration, was a mystery until a specimen was collected in 2005. It was described and designated as a neotype by M. Oliveira and A. Langguth in 2006. It was also described as a new species, Cebus queirozi by A. R. M. Pontes and colleagues in 2006. Monotypic.
Distribution. Coastal NE Brazil from the S of Rio Grande do Norte State (as far W as Jucurutu, 6° 12° S, 37° 02° W,in the caatinga dry forest scrub of the Serra do Estreito), through Paraiba State to NE Pernambuco State; it is possible that it extends to the left bank of the Rio Sao Francisco in Alagoas State.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 36.8-40 cm (two males) and 35.1-36.1 cm (two females), tail 37-8 cm (one male) and 42 cm (one female); weight 2.9-3 kg (two males) and 1.8-2.5 kg (two females). The Blond Capuchin is small, distinctive, and untufted. It has a uniformly golden-yellow body and limbs, and lower parts of the body are slightly darker. Hands and feet are black, and the tail is uniformly golden-blond (darker than the rest of the body on the dorsal side). It has a rectangular, snow-white cap on the front of the head, extending to just above the ears, and a furless, pendulous throat flap. The face and forehead are pinkish, and eyes are brown. Sizes of tracks of adults on the ground are, on average, 72-4 mm for the hand (n = 20) and 95 mm for the foot (n = 22).
Habitat. First found in degraded patches of coastal Atlantic Forest and Montrichardia linifera (Araceae) swamp in Pernambuco. In the west of Rio Grande do Norte, the Blond Capuchin has been recorded in shrubby caatinga, a low xerophytic, spiny scrub of profusely branched bushy vegetation up 8-10 m in height, mixed with prickly succulent cacti, and spiny, rigid-leaved bromeliads. It has also been observed using sand dunes, mangroves, sugar cane, and corn plantations, all of which bordered the forest fragments. It uses all layers ofthe forest, including ground.
Food and Feeding. The Blond Capuchin eats fruits, leaves, insects, spiders, and small vertebrates. More than 32 items were recorded in the diet of a population in Paraiba State. Another population in a forest patch north of Mamanguape in north-eastern Paraiba used tools to obtain termites (Nasutitermes) in arboreal nests. Individuals first slapped the nest with both hands and then broke off a small twig, ¢.20-30 cm long, and stuck it into the nest by pushing and rotating the twig, holding it at its tip near the nest. Sometimes they broke the twig to shorten it, evidently needing it to be more rigid or fine. After perforating the nest, they pulled out the twig and ate any termites attached to it. They repeated the procedure three or four times in a bout, and before reinserting the twig, they slapped the nest again with the left hand. Each bout of “termite-fishing” lasted 40-60 seconds before the twig was discarded. Researchers imitated the capuchins and found that rotating the twig helped to perforate the nest (just trying to push the twig in was ineffective—it would break) and slapping the nest increased numbers of termites biting the twig. This termite-fishing behavior has not yet been observed in any other population of Blond Capuchins.
Breeding. There is no specific information for this species, but infant Blond Capuchins have been seen throughout the year.
Activity patterns. Blond Capuchins spend most of their time searching for, handling, and eating food and traveling. In the caatinga scrub, they are very terrestrial.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. There are four research teams studying the Blond Capuchin in the wild and in captivity. Group size varies depending on location: 18-52 individuals in Pernambuco, 45 individuals in caatinga in the Serra do Estreito in south-central Rio Grande do Norte, and 7-72 individuals in forest fragments north of Mamanguape, Paraiba. Camera-trapping showed group sizes of 2-32 individuals, but single individuals were also recorded. Blond Capuchins have a rich vocal repertoire, with at least ten different call types. Call frequencies are 0-5-10 kHz. Some calls seem to carry information about individual age and have a behavioral context. Blond Capuchins apparently have a complex fusion-fission society. Only females carry infants.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix I. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List (as Cebus flavius). The Blond Capuchin may have been one of the first of the South American primates to be taken to Europe, evidenced by a fresco by Andrea del Sarto in the Villa Medici of Poggio a Caiano, near Florence, called “Iributo a Cesare” dating from 1519-1521, which clearly depicts the Blond Capuchin. This underlines the long history of region’s colonization, accompanied by widespread and extremely rapid destruction of natural vegetation in the early 1500s. Enormous quantities of timber were exported, and forests were replaced with cattle pasture, sugar cane plantations, and, in many areas, desert scrub. Today, the Blond Capuchin lives close to highly populated areas in north-eastern of Brazil, north of the Rio Sao Francisco where only 5% of the original forest remains. Although small populations of the Blond Capuchin occurring through a relatively large area, they are restricted to isolated forest patches surrounded by sugar cane plantations. These small populations are extremely vulnerable, susceptible to selective cutting of forest,fires, hunting, and disturbance by tourists and domestic animals. In 2008, the total population was estimated at only 180 individuals, scattered over some two dozen subpopulations. Including the caatinga populations of Blond Capuchins discovered more recently, it is probable the total population is 1000-2000 individuals. Blond Capuchins have been reported in 26 fragments of Atlantic Forest in north-eastern Brazil and 15 fragments in the Paraiba State.
Bibliography. Bastos et al. (2012), Bezerra et al. (2012), Brazil, ICMBio-MMA (2012), Coimbra-Filho & Camara (1996), Ferreira et al. (2009), Masseti & Veracini (2010), de Oliveira & Langguth (2006), Pontes et al. (2006), Souto et al. (2011).
description: Published as part of Russell A. Mittermeier, Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson, 2013, Cebidae, pp. 348-413 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 3 Primates, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 401-402, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6628559