The white-bellied spider monkey, scientific name Ateles belzebuth, also referred to as the white-fronted or long-haired spider monkey, is an endangered species of spider monkey, a sort of New World monkey.
White-bellied spider monkey facts
The white-bellied spider monkey is discovered within the north-western Amazon in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil, ranging as far south because of the decrease Ucayali River and as far east because of the Branco River.
Prior to now, the Peruvian, brown, and white-cheeked spider monkeys have been handled as subspecies of A. belzebuth. As presently outlined, the white-bellied spider monkey is monotypic.
White-bellied spider monkey has a whitish stomach and a pale patch on the brow, which, regardless of its widespread title, typically is orange-buff. They dwell in teams of 20 to 40 people, splitting into small events of 1 to 9 when in exercise.
The white-bellied spider monkey is extremely frugivorous, feeding largely on ripe fruits of a number of species, and might be thought about as an efficient seed disperser, highlighting the important position these primates play in forest upkeep and regeneration.
The yellow-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth) is exclusive in South America.
In Ecuador, it lives within the Amazon and within the jap foothills of between 200 and 1800 meters, however, it’s mostly present in locations beneath 700 meters above sea stage.
This species relies on the excessive main forests, typically related to the clay soil forests of the mainland.
It is usually generally known as the spider monkey with lengthy hair, which has lengthy and skinny limbs and the shoulder joints are very versatile, which helps him transfer between the branches. Spider monkeys dwell in teams of as much as 30 people.
The females attain sexual maturity between 4-5 years of age after they cease for the primary time after an extended gestation interval of slightly below 240 days (Tirira, 2017).
White-bellied spider monkey Ecology
White-bellied spider monkeys are necessary long-distance seed dispersal brokers for a lot of fruit-bearing species. They’re a dominant disperser for Oenocarpus bataua, a species of palm.
A. belzebuth typically occupies a big territory and can make the most of a number of nesting bushes all through their territory. Seeds of most popular species are sometimes dispersed beneath sleeping bushes.
White-bellied spider monkey dwells in social teams that function utilizing fission-fusion dynamics. These teams are characterized by fragmenting into subgroups that journey, feed, and sleep collectively.
These teams show nice fluidity and can typically change composition, typically altering a number of instances every day. The composition of those teams might be influenced by the reproductive standing of females.
Females are often extra solitary than males, however, females with dependent offspring usually tend to be part of a big group than these without dependent offspring.
Females may even often stay in small core ranges inside their dwelling territories with their offspring whereas males will make the most of extra of their dwelling vary.
These subgroups are introduced along with lengthy distance vocalizations. These lengthy distance vocalizations might be as much as a kilometer away.
There is no such thing as proof of secondary dispersal in wild spider monkeys. Subsequently, males in these teams are carefully associated with one another.
White-bellied spider monkey Reproduction
White-bellied spider monkeys are believed to attain sexual maturity at between Four and 5 years of age and can often produce a single offspring though females giving start to twins has been reported.
Their gestation interval is between 226 and 232 days lengthy. Males have been noticed participating in infanticide.
All victims of noticed infanticide have been from the identical social group as their attackers and all have been younger males.
White-bellied spider monkey Feeding
The diet of White-bellied spider monkeys is 83% mature fruits and they’re necessary to the seed dispersal of many fruit-bearing species.
They carry a comparatively excessive variety of intact seeds of their intestine and consumption comparatively massive quantities of fruit pulp when in comparison with another monkey species inside their vary.
In addition, they are more likely to return to earlier meals sources and spend comparatively little time foraging.
The white-bellied spider monkey is a generalist frugivore that does not focus on a selected fruit kind however do seem to desire fruits with excessive lipid content material, excessive sugar content material, or fruits produced by bushes with excessive fruit productiveness.
They may even feed on different plant components comparable to leaves, flowers, and bulbs, and can very not often devour small bugs. White-bellied spider monkey has additionally been noticed participating in geophagy.
White-bellied spider monkey Locomotion
All members of Ate), and this species has an intermembral index of 105. They have a reasonably dorsally positioned scapula to permit for elevated mobility concerned in brachiation.
Their prehensile tail with a hairless gripping pad on the finish additionally permits for his or her mobility, which then means they’ve elevated caudal vertebrae, with about 31 caudal vertebrae versus one other platyrrhine like Cebus with solely 23 on common.
This tail permits for extra greedy of branches, which implies there may be much less lateral motion whereas brachiating which will increase effectivity.
The hairless gripping pad of the underside of the tip of their tail is usually in comparison with a finger because it permits floor gripping.
Their curved fingers with lengthy metacarpal bones permit for straightforward brachiation. They don’t have an exterior thumb, which units them other than most different primates.
Dentition
White-bellied spider monkey has a dental system of two.1.3.3. So far as patterns throughout the enamel, there may be a whole lot of variation however the next are sometimes discovered inside Ateles.
Bigger incisors and small molars replicate the largely frugivorous diet, with a diastema separating the higher canines from the higher incisors, for the decrease incisor.
The higher premolars have one to 2 cusps, with the primary premolar having just one cusp, a paracone.
The second premolar has a paracone and protocone cusp related by the transverse crest.
The third premolar has three cusps, paracone, metacone, and protocone, with the metacone and protocone related by a crista indirect.
There’s a recorded hypocone on the third premolar. Within the backside premolars, the primary premolar has one cusp though it may be bicuspid.
The second and third premolar typically have 2-3 cusps, though the second backside premolar has an entoconid and hypoconid and the third backside premolar in White-bellied spider monkey has 5 cusps with a small hypoconulid.
Higher molars typically have 4 cusps through the third molar could not have a hypocone (may even have solely two cusps). With the underside molars, there are typically 4 cusps and a fifth cusp on the third molar.
White-bellied spider monkey Threats
The White-bellied spider monkey is listed as Endangered (EN) by the purple lists of Ecuador and IUCN. The principal threats are unlawful attempting to find human consumption of their meat and to have them as pets.
It additionally faces the loss and fragmentation of habitat, resulting from deforestation, to transform forests into websites for agriculture and for logging.
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