Evolution of New World Monkeys

RESEARCH ON the behavior and ecology of New World primates (infraorder Platyrrhini) began in the 1930s with C. R. Carpenter’s pioneering work on mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta paliatta) and Geoffroy’s spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in Panama (Strier 1994a, for a brief review). It was not until the late 1970s and 1980s, however, that signifi cant work on the ecology and behavior of wild populations of platyrrhines developed (CoimbraFilho & Mittermeier 1981; Mittermeier et al. 1981). For a long time, research on neotropical primates tended to focus more on aspects of the natural history and diversity of New World taxa than on the theoretical issues being debated by researchers focused on Old World monkeys and apes. Thus, by the mid1980s, insuffi cient information was available from longterm studies of platyrrhines to contribute signifi cantly to the canon of primate socioecological theory, or to test most hypotheses and predictions stemming from studies of Old World primates. Even by the late 1990s, most fi eld data on New World primates had been gathered from a few genera (Alouatta, Ateles, Cebus, Leontopithecus, Saimiri) studied at a few research sites, or from studies of one or two social groups at a single location. In the 25 years since the publication of Primate Societies (Smuts et al. 1987), neotropical primatology has grown impressively. In this chapter we provide an overview of our current understanding of the behavior, ecology, and social evolution of platyrrhines. Diversity and Biogeography