''Erythrocebus'' is a
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 ...
of
Old World monkey
Old World monkeys are primates in the family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus '' Papio''), red colobus (genus '' Piliocolob ...
. All three species in this genus are found in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, and are known as patas monkeys. While previously considered a
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
genus containing just ''E. patas'', a 2017 review argued that, based on morphological evidence and heavy geographic separation between taxa, ''E. patas'' should be split back into distinct species as recognised in the 19th century.
There are three species recognized.
References
Sources
*
Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa
Taxa named by Édouard Louis Trouessart
Taxa described in 1897
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