The white-eyelid mangabeys are African

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s belonging to the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Cercocebus''. They are characterized by their bare upper

eyelid An eyelid ( ) is a thin fold of skin that covers and protects an eye. The levator palpebrae superioris muscle retracts the eyelid, exposing the cornea to the outside, giving vision. This can be either voluntarily or involuntarily. "Palpebral ...

s, which are lighter than their facial skin colouring, and the uniformly coloured hairs of the

fur A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

. The other two genera of

mangabey 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 eyel ...

s, ''

Lophocebus The crested mangabeys are West African Old World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Lophocebus''. They tend to have dark skin, eyelids that match their facial skin, and crests of hair on their heads. Another genus of mangabeys, '' Cercocebus'', wa ...

'' and ''

Rungwecebus The kipunji (''Rungwecebus kipunji''), also known as the highland mangabey, is a species of Old World monkey that lives in the highland forests of Tanzania. It was independently described by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the ...

'', were once thought to be very closely related to ''Cercocebus'', so much so that all the species were placed in one genus, but ''Lophocebus'' and ''Rungwecebus'' species are now understood to be more closely related to the

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the biology, genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow ba ...

s in genus ''Papio'', while the ''Cercocebus'' species are more closely related to the

mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is Sexual dimorphism, sexually ...

Species

References

Sources

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External links

Primate Info Net ''Cercocebus'' Factsheets

. Primates of Africa Taxa named by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire {{oldworld-monkey-stub