Pitheciine Action Group
Dietary Diversity and Feeding Specializations of the
Pitheciins
Boubli, J.P., M. Norconk, L.M. Veiga & A.A. Barnett
Three genera of platyrrhines comprise the Pitheciini (Cacajao,
Chiropotes, and Pithecia) and all are strongly frugivorous. Seeds or fruit
pulp range from 60% to > 95% of annual diets (n = 15 studies) and
young or mature seeds comprise a relatively high proportion of the fruit
in their diets (40% to 87.2% annually). However, most species represent
1% or less of the annual diet. Studies from Brazil and Venezuela
suggest that only two to four fruit species comprise more than 30% of
their annual diet. Top-ranked resources can be large, e.g., 75% of seeds
ingested by black uacaris at Pico da Neblina were > 3 cm in diameter and
50% of fruit opened were > 5 cm in length. Physical characteristics of
fruit ingested by the three pitheciin genera also converge among other
physical parameters – fruits are frequently well protected with hard
husks and are relatively cryptically colored in the ripe stage, 77% green
or brown in one study. Thus a number of pitheciin feeding preferences
signify divergence from other platyrrhine frugivores, including a strong
preference for seeds instead of fruit pulp, preference for slowly maturing
fruit and seeds available in the dry season, and the ability to occupy
oligotrophic, species-poor forests (eg., of the Rio Negro/Orinoco basins)
or habitats that are flooded for up to six months annually.
Return to symposium programme
Pitheciins
Boubli, J.P., M. Norconk, L.M. Veiga & A.A. Barnett
Three genera of platyrrhines comprise the Pitheciini (Cacajao,
Chiropotes, and Pithecia) and all are strongly frugivorous. Seeds or fruit
pulp range from 60% to > 95% of annual diets (n = 15 studies) and
young or mature seeds comprise a relatively high proportion of the fruit
in their diets (40% to 87.2% annually). However, most species represent
1% or less of the annual diet. Studies from Brazil and Venezuela
suggest that only two to four fruit species comprise more than 30% of
their annual diet. Top-ranked resources can be large, e.g., 75% of seeds
ingested by black uacaris at Pico da Neblina were > 3 cm in diameter and
50% of fruit opened were > 5 cm in length. Physical characteristics of
fruit ingested by the three pitheciin genera also converge among other
physical parameters – fruits are frequently well protected with hard
husks and are relatively cryptically colored in the ripe stage, 77% green
or brown in one study. Thus a number of pitheciin feeding preferences
signify divergence from other platyrrhine frugivores, including a strong
preference for seeds instead of fruit pulp, preference for slowly maturing
fruit and seeds available in the dry season, and the ability to occupy
oligotrophic, species-poor forests (eg., of the Rio Negro/Orinoco basins)
or habitats that are flooded for up to six months annually.
Return to symposium programme
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SYMPOSIUM
Pitheciins: Ecology & Conservation
XXI Congress of the International Primatological Society
Pitheciins: Ecology & Conservation
XXI Congress of the International Primatological Society
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