page_title: Panamanian white-faced capuchin
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Panamanian white-faced capuchin / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: English: Panamanian white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator), Gatun Lake, Panama
context_page_description: The Panamanian white-faced capuchin, also known as the Panamanian white-headed capuchin or Central American white-faced capuchin, is a medium-sized New World monkey of the family Cebidae, subfamily Cebinae. Native to the forests of Central America, the white-faced capuchin is important to rainforest ecology for its role in dispersing seeds and pollen.
  Among the best known monkeys, the Panamanian white-faced capuchin is recognized as the typical companion to the organ grinder. In recent years the species has become popular in North American media, particularly in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. It is a highly intelligent monkey and has been trained to assist paraplegic persons. It is a medium-sized monkey, weighing up to 3.9 kg. It is mostly black, but with a pink face and white on much of the front part of the body, giving it its common name. It has a distinctive prehensile tail that is often carried coiled up and is used to help support the monkey when it is feeding beneath a branch.
context_section_description: The Panamanian white-faced capuchin is a member of the family Cebidae, the family of New World monkeys containing capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys.  Until the 21st century the Panamanian white-faced capuchin was considered conspecific with Cebus capucinus, the Colombian white-faced capuchin, but as a separate subspecies C. capucinus imitator.    Some primatologists continue to consider the Panamanian and Colombian white-faced capuchins as a single species.  It is a member of the C. capucinus species group within the genus Cebus which also includes the Colombian white-faced capuchin, white-fronted capuchin, the weeper capuchin and the Kaapori capuchin. This genus is also referred to as "gracile" capuchins.
  In 2012 a study by Boubli, et al. demonstrated that C. imitator and C. capucinus split up to 2 million years ago.  Boubli's study also indicated that the Honduran white-faced capuchins, which had previously been considered a to be a possible separate subspecies, C. capucinus limitaneus, was not genetically distinct from the Panamanian white-faced capuchin.
  The Panamanian white-faced capuchin is the most well-studied capuchin monkey species. Even though many previous studies were performed using the scientific name C. capucinus, as of 2014 there had been no field studies of the Colombian white-faced capuchin, so all these studies were of the Panamanian white-faced capuchin.
caption: in Gatun Lake, Panama
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "6000", "Image ImageLength": "4000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 80D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:08:03 13:15:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1272", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11045", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:05:04 09:43:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:05:04 09:43:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "77/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "51/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "6", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "560", "EXIF SubSecTime": "95", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "95", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "95", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2704", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2704", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1240", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2000000/307", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2000000/297", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "153023001330", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[140, 560, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "3040005246"}