| Mangabeys | |
|---|---|
| |
| Young cherry-crowned mangabey | |
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Cercopithecidae |
| Subfamily: | Cercopithecinae |
| Tribe: | Papionini |
| Groups included | |
| Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa | |
Mangabeys are West African Old World monkeys, with species in three of the six genera of tribe Papionini.
The more typical representatives of Cercocebus, also known as the white-eyelid mangabeys, are characterized by their bare, upper eyelids, which are lighter than their facial skin colouring, and the uniformly coloured hairs of their fur.[1] Members of Lophocebus, the crested mangabeys, tend to have dark skin, eyelids that match their facial skin, and crests of hair on their heads.
A new species, the highland mangabey, was discovered in 2003 and was initially placed in Lophocebus.[2] The genus Rungwecebus was later created for this species.[3]
Lophocebus and Cercocebus were once thought to be very closely related, so much so that all the species were in one genus,[4] but the species within genus Lophocebus are now thought to be more closely related to the baboons in genus Papio,[4] while the species within genus Cercocebus are more closely related to the mandrill.[5]
The three genera of mangabeys are:
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "mangabey". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
