Jack Fooden

Provisional Classification and Key to Living Species of Macaques (Primates: Macaca)

19 recognized species of macaques (Macaca) are allocated to four species groups (fascicularis group, silenus-sylvanus group, sinica group, arctoides group) based primarily on structure of male external genitalia. Geographic ranges of all four species groups are partly sympatric; ranges of species within each group apparently are allopatric. Distribution patterns suggest that the silenus-sylvanus group probably dispersed earliest, the sinica group next, and the fascicularis group most recently; successively more recent dispersals probably contributed to reduction and disjunction of ranges of species groups that dispersed earlier. An artificial key to external characters of recognized species is presented. Deficiencies are noted in Hills recently published taxonomic traeatment of macaques; these criticisms concern Hills classification, key, nomenclature and range maps.

Ecogeographic segregation of macaque species

Sympatry in the genusMacaca is restricted to a heartland area in South Asia that is inhabited by eight species. All heartland species apparently are segregated either ecologically or geographically. Available evidence is compatible with the hypothesis that interspecific competition has been a major factor in the evolution of this pattern of ecogeographic segregation.

Rhesus and Crab-Eating Macaques: Intergradation in Thailand

Conspecificity of the rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta mulatta (Zimmermann, 1780), and the crab-eating macaque Macaca mulatta fascicularis (Raffles [1821]), is established by a geographically intermediate series of three specimens transitional in tail length and coat color.

The bear macaque,Macaca arctoides: a systematic review

The bear macaque,Macaca arctoides I. Geoffroy, [1831], is systematically reviewed, based on the study of 144 museum specimens and survey of relevant literature. This species inhabits hilly areas in continental Southeast Asia, southeast of the Brahmaputra River, from eastern India, northern Burma, and southern China southward to northernmost West Malaysia. Analysis of external variation inM. arctoides does not support recognition of subspecies, contrary to current taxonomic practice. Aspects ofM. arctoides that are investigated in this paper include pelage, external measurements and proportions, cranial characters, tail, male genitalia, female reproductive tract, copulatory behavior, natural history, life history, blood proteins, karyology, hybridization, and fossil record. An interpretation of the evolutionary history ofM. arctoides is presented. All known locality records ofM. arctoides are documented in an annotated gazetteer.

Zoogeography of Vietnamese primates

Based on geographic complementarity of congeneric taxa, the 22 species or well-defined subspecies of primates that inhabit Vietnam may be allocated to nine zoogeographic groups (lorises, two; macaques, three; langurs, three; gibbons, one). Analysis of group distributions reveals two major patterns: (1) four of the six non-macaque groups are essentially restricted to the eastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula, east of the Mekong River; and (2) species and subspecies in seven of the nine groups reach their northern or southern limits of distribution in central Vietnam, at 14–17‡N. The first pattern suggests that the Mekong River has been an important barrier to westward dispersal of nonmacaque primates in continental Southeast Asia. The second pattern suggests that a Zoogeographic barrier formerly extended east and west across Vietnam at ca. 14–17‡N.

Tail-length evolution in Fascicularis-group macaques (Cercopithecidae : Macaca)

In the four species of macaques that constitute the fascicularis-group, relative tail length generally decreases with increasing latitude, in accord with Allens Rule. Although this generalization applies to Macaca mulatta in the northern part of its range—north of ca. 26°N, it does not apply south of ca. 26°N, where the tail is anomalously short in Macaca mulatta. This suggests that the anomalously short-tailed population of Macaca mulatta did not originate within its present latitudinal range, but instead dispersed there from farther north. The anomalously short-tailed population apparently replaced a now-extinct longer-tailed population, from which founders of insular Macaca cyclopis previously had been derived. Southward dispersal of the anomalously short-tailed population of Macaca mulatta, and correlated extinction of the longer-tailed population that it apparently replaced, may have been induced by a major glacial advance.

Malaria in macaques

Seven species of malaria naturally infect eight species of macaques in southwestern India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Within malarious areas, the frequency of infections in infected species of macaques varies from 9 to 61%. Natural malarial infections in macaques are relatively benign. The proved or probable vectors of macaque malaria are seven species of mosquitoes that belong to the Leucosphyrus Group of the genus Anopheles. The geographic distribution of macaque malaria apparently is determined by the distribution of the Leucosphyrus Group of mosquitoes, which in turn apparently is determined by the distribution of tropical evergreen rain forest. Experimental infections with three species of macaque malaria frequently are lethal to populations or species of macaques that inhabit areas outside the geographic ranges of the parasites. In populations or species of macaques that are sympatric with experimentally virulent species of malaria, partial resistance probably evolved as a consequence of natural selection acting on favorable mutations.

Primates obtained in Peninsular Thailand June–July, 1973, with notes on the distribution of continental Southeast Asian leaf-monkeys (Presbytis)

During five weeks of field work 50 specimens of seven species of primates were obtained in peninsular Thailand. For each of these species information is given concerning external measurements, habitats, troop size, reproductive biology, and stomach contents. Peninsular primate specimens are compared with specimens previously collected in west-central Thailand. The distribution of species of leaf-monkeys (Presbytis) in continental Southeast Asia is comprehensively surveyed and mapped for the first time: theTrachypithecus-group of leaf-monkeys is widely distributed in continental Southeast Asia; thePresbytis-group is restricted to the Burmo-Thai-Malay Peninsula, where it is sympatric with theTrachypithecus-group; species in theTrachypithecus-group are largely allopatric.

Systematic Review of the Barbary Macaque, Macaca Sylvanus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract The Barbary macaque, Macaca sylvanus (Linnaeus, 1758), is systematically reviewed, based on a study of 103 specimens and survey of relevant literature. This review includes analyses of external characters, cranial characters, DNA variation, and karyology. Information also is presented concerning natural history, reproduction, fossils, and taxonomic history. Current knowledge of geographic variation in M. sylvanus is insufficient to warrant recognition of subspecies. Although M. sylvanus is now restricted to northwestern Africa, fossil evidence suggests that this species is a relict of the ancestral macaque stock that originated in Africa ca. 7-6 million years ago (Ma) and dispersed to Eurasia ca. 6–5 Ma. Macaques formerly were widely distributed in Europe, but became extinct there ca. 0.100–0.020 Ma; macaques have survived in Asia and are now represented there by ca. 20 species. An annotated gazetteer lists 166 localities where M. sylvanus has been collected, observed, or reported.

Birth-season variation in Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata

Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, exhibit an annual reproductive cycle that apparently is maintained intrinsically. Translocation of nine troops to new latitudes within the northern hemisphere has had minimal effect on the timing of birth seasonality in these troops; translocation of one troop to the southern hemisphere has resulted in a 6-month forward displacement of birth seasonality in this troop. Limited available evidence indicates that, in the latitudinal zone between Toimisaki (31°22′N) and Kinkazan (38°17′N), mean birth date in in-situ troops becomes earlier as latitude of troop localities increases; the same relationship between mean birth date and latitude apparently does not apply to in-situ troops south and north of the Toimisaki–Kinkazan latitudinal zone. Within the Toimisaki–Kinkazan latitudinal zone, earlier mean birth dates at higher latitudes may permit infants to achieve an adequate level of development before the earlier onset of poor winter food conditions. South of the Toimisaki–Kinkazan latitudinal zone, winters are relatively mild and may be less of a factor in infant survival; north of this zone, poor winter food conditions persist so long that earlier infant births may be maladaptive.