Crowned Guenon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The crested mona monkey, also known as the crowned guenon, crowned monkey, golden-bellied guenon, or golden-bellied monkey, (''Cercopithecus pogonias''), is a species of African
primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
in the family
Cercopithecidae Old World monkeys are primates in the family (biology), family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genus, genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus ''Papio''), red colo ...
found in west central Africa.


Description

The crested mona monkey is a medium-sized, long tailed arboreal monkey. The females are smaller than the males but show similar colouration and pattern of coat. They have a brown coat speckled with grey which becomes black on its lower arms and legs and on the base of its long tail. The rump, belly and the insides of the legs are golden-yellow contrasting with the rest of the fur. The males have a distinctive blue
scrotum In most terrestrial mammals, the scrotum (: scrotums or scrota; possibly from Latin ''scortum'', meaning "hide" or "skin") or scrotal sac is a part of the external male genitalia located at the base of the penis. It consists of a sac of skin ...
. Their faces are mainly dark blue with a pink muzzle. Around the face the fur is yellow marked with a wide black stripes which runs from the beside the eyes over to the temples and across the centre of the forehead where it forms the characteristic small crest which gives this species its
common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...
.


Distribution

Western central Africa from the Cross River in Nigeria and southern
Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
south to Cabinda,
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, including
Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...
Island, and east into the
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
, eastern Congo and the northern
Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
.


Habitat

The Crested mona monkey occurs in mature lowland rainforest, in both primary and secondary forest, where there is a well developed canopy and with a clear understorey. Will also occur in flooded forest but avoids small forest patches, gallery forests and open secondary forest with a dense understorey.


Habits

The crested mona monkey is a highly vocal species with a wide repertoire of calls. Both males and females have vocal sacs which are inflated to be used as resonators. A typical call is the booming call made by the adult male which can be heard more than 200m away. Social interactions include tail twining between resting monkeys and a ritualised head display. The crested mona monkey is an agile species, which crosses large gaps between trees by jumping. They are normally found in groups of between 8 and 20 individuals which are typically made up of a single male, several females and their dependent offspring. Groups are highly vocal, with the males producing the loud, "boom" mentioned above announcing their presence and status, there is also a sharp hacking call which is used as an alarm. The dominant males are able to establish groups, and therefore the lives of most males are rather solitary and are marked by an absence of social contact. Surprisingly, this appears to lead to some males joining groups of other monkeys such as the
black colobus The black colobus (''Colobus satanas''), or satanic black colobus, is a species of Old World monkey belonging to the genus ''Colobus''. The species is found in a small area of western central Africa. Black colobuses are large, completely covered ...
''Colobus satanas'', where these solitary males can form strong group bonds with the non conspecific monkeys, possibly resulting in a permanent loss of mating opportunities. The social groups of crested mona monkeys will also associate with other guenon species, especially with
moustached guenon The moustached guenon or moustached monkey (''Cercopithecus cephus'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equat ...
''Cercopithecus cephus'' and greater spot-nosed monkey ''Cercopithecus nictitans''. In the Atlantic coastal forests, this includes
red-capped mangabey The collared mangabey (''Cercocebus torquatus''), also called red-capped mangabey and white-collared mangabey, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae of Old World monkeys. It formerly included the sooty mangabey as a subspecies. A ...
as well. These large mixed-species groups grant the monkeys' increased protection from predation, as the greater number of eyes on the sky means that the spotting of predators such as birds of prey is more likely, and it also facilitates the sharing of information between groups about the best foraging sites. The crested mona monkey is mainly
frugivorous A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...
but invertebrates are also frequently taken, along with small quantities of leaves. Unlike most guenons, populations of the crested mona monkey in the northern parts of its range are known to migrate over long distances to forage for seasonally abundant food supplies. The crested mona monkey has a polygynous mating system where the dominant male in each group has exclusive breeding access to all the females in that group. Breeding seem to take place at any time of year, and the females give birth to a single baby after a
gestation period In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once i ...
of roughly five months.


Taxonomy

This species sits within the ''mona''
superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
grouping within ''
Cercopithecus The guenons (, ) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Cercopithecus'' (). Not all members of this genus have the word "guenon" in their common names; also, because of changes in scientific classification, some monkeys in other genera may have c ...
''. There does not seem to be a consensus around how many subspecies of the crested mona monkey are recognised and some which were formerly considered subspecies of this species are now regarded as species in their own right, e.g.
Wolf's mona monkey Wolf's mona monkey (''Cercopithecus wolfi''), also called Wolf's guenon, is a colourful Old World monkey in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in central Africa, primarily between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. It lives in ...
''Cercopithecus wolfi'' and
Dent's mona monkey Dent's mona monkey (''Cercopithecus denti'') is an Old World monkey in the family Cercopithecidae found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo, Rwanda, western Uganda, and the Central African Republic. It was previously classified a ...
''Cercopithecus denti''. Three subspecies appear to be the most widely accepted treatment. The subspecies and their ranges are: *''Cercopithecus pogonias grayi'' Fraser, 1850 (Gray's crested mona):
Sangha River The Sangha River (, , ), a tributary of the Congo River, is located in Central Africa. Geography The Sangha River is formed at the confluence of the Mambéré River and the Kadéï River at Nola in the western Central African Republic (). The ...
basin of southern Cameroon, southern Central African Republic through to the northern Democratic republic and Cabinda. *''Cercopithecus pogonias nigripes'' du Chaillu, 1860 (Black-footed crested mona):
Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
and southwestern
Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
. *''Cercopithecus pogonias pogonias'' Bennett, 1833 (Golden-bellied crested mona): Bioko and the adjacent parts of southern Nigeria, southern Cameroon. The subspecies ''schwarzianus'' is not now generally recognised.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q691238
crested mona monkey The crested mona monkey, also known as the crowned guenon, crowned monkey, golden-bellied guenon, or golden-bellied monkey, (''Cercopithecus pogonias''), is a species of African primate in the family Cercopithecidae found in west central Africa. ...
Mammals of Angola Mammals of Cameroon Mammals of the Central African Republic Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mammals of Equatorial Guinea Mammals of Gabon Mammals of West Africa Mammals of Rwanda Mammals of Uganda Fauna of Central Africa
crested mona monkey The crested mona monkey, also known as the crowned guenon, crowned monkey, golden-bellied guenon, or golden-bellied monkey, (''Cercopithecus pogonias''), is a species of African primate in the family Cercopithecidae found in west central Africa. ...
Taxa named by Edward Turner Bennett Taxonomy articles created by Polbot