{{Short description|Species of New World monkey}} {{Speciesbox | name = Brown weeper capuchin | image = Cebus brunneus in Parque Cachamay.jpg | status = EN | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |author=Urbani, B. |author2=Boubli, J.P. |author3=Lynch Alfaro, J.W. |year=2021 |title=''Cebus brunneus'' |article-number=e.T81237954A17981252 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T81237954A17981252.en}}</ref> | genus = Cebus | species = brunneus | authority = (Allen, 1914) | range_map = | range_map_caption = }}
The '''brown weeper capuchin''' ('''''Cebus brunneus''''') or '''Venezuelan brown capuchin''' is a species of gracile capuchin monkey endemic to Venezuela, although some sources also consider it to occur on Trinidad.
==Taxonomy== This taxon had previously been considered to be both ''Cebus albifrons trinitanus'' and ''C. olivaceus'', and in 1981 had been interpreted doubtfully distinct and likely conspecific with ''C. capucinus'' by some taxonomists.<ref name=msw>{{cite book|title=Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference |year=2005 |isbn= |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |editor=Wilson, Don E. |editor2=DeeAnn M. Reeder |url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=12100260}}</ref> Boubli, Mittermeier and Rylands considered the taxon to be called ''C. olivaceus'' ssp. ''brunneus'' when they wrote the IUCN Red List assessment in 2008, classifying the subspecies within the Guianan weeper capuchin.<ref name=iucn />
In 2012, Boubli ''et al''., found divergences in mitochondrial DNA of ''C. brunneus'' to be significant enough to recognise it as a separate species, and also synonymized the Trinidad white-fronted capuchin (''C. trinitatis'') with it based on the mitochondrial genes of the single sampled specimen.<ref name="boubli">{{cite journal|author=Boubli, Jean P.|display-authors=etal|year=2012|title=''Cebus'' Phylogenetic Relationships: A Preliminary Reassessment of the Diversity of the Untufted Capuchin Monkeys|url=http://socgen.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CebusPhylogeneticRelationships.pdf|journal=American Journal of Primatology|volume=74|issue=4|pages=1–13|doi=10.1002/ajp.21998|pmid=22311697|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103046/http://socgen.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CebusPhylogeneticRelationships.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|access-date=2018-12-30|s2cid=12171529}}</ref><ref name="handbook">{{cite book|author=Mittermeier, Russell A.|title=Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Volume 3, Primates|author2=Rylands, Anthony B.|publisher=Lynx|year=2013|isbn=978-84-96553-89-7|editor=Mittermeier, Russell A.|pages=410–411|editor2=Rylands, Anthony B.|editor3=Wilson, Don E.}}</ref><ref name="all2">{{cite book|author=Phillips, Kimberly A.|title=All the World's Primates|author2=Jack, Katherine M.|publisher=Pogonias Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-940496-06-1|editor=Rowe, Noel|pages=291–292|editor2=Myers, Marc}}</ref> However, subsequent morphological inspection of the ''C. brunneus'' specimens used for the study found them to be distinct from the actual type specimen of ''C. brunneus''.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=Seyjagat, J. |author2=Biptah, N. |author3=Ramsubage, S. |author4=Lynch Alfaro, J.W. |year=2021 |title=''Cebus trinitatis'' |volume=2021 |article-number=e.T4085A115560059 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T4085A115560059.en |access-date=24 December 2025}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{ITIS |taxon= Cebus albifrons|id=572975|access-date=2021-12-07}}</ref> Although the American Society of Mammalogists still recognizes the Trinidad capuchins as conspecific with ''C. brunneus'', the ITIS recognizes them as a subspecies of Humboldt's white-fronted capuchin (''C. albifrons'').<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore the Database|url=https://www.mammaldiversity.org/explore.html#species-id=1000830|access-date=2021-12-07|website=www.mammaldiversity.org}}</ref>
== Description == The brown weeper capuchin has brown, thick fur with a dark wedge on the forehead and lighter face, cheeks and chin.<ref name=handbook/> Its head and body are about {{convert|42|cm|in}} with a {{convert|44|cm|in|abbr=on}} tail.<ref name=handbook/>
The different species known as white-fronted capuchins are extremely difficult to tell apart, and also appear to intergrade with each other where different taxa meet, as well as other ''Cebus'' taxa recognised as distinct. ''C. brunneus'' may be conspecific with white-faced capuchins, which often cannot reliably be distinguished from it physically.<ref name=boubli/><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Hernández-Camacho | first1 = J.I. | last2 = Cooper | first2 = G.W. | title = Neotropical Primates | chapter = The non-human primates of Columbia | year = 1976 | publisher = The National Academies Press | location = Washington, DC | pages = 35–69 | doi = 10.17226/18666| isbn = 978-0-309-02442-6 }}</ref><ref name="Ruiz-García2010">{{Cite journal | last1 = Ruiz-García | first1 = M. | last2 = Castillo | first2 = M. I. | last3 = Vásquez | first3 = C.| last4 = Rodriguez | first4 = K. | last5 = Pinedo-Castro | first5 = M. | last6 = Shostell | first6 = J. | last7 = Leguizamon | first7 = N. | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.09.002 | title = Molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of the white-fronted capuchin (''Cebus albifrons''; Cebidae, Primates) by means of mtCOII gene sequences | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 57 | issue = 3 | pages = 1049–61 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20854917 | bibcode = 2010MolPE..57.1049R }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== It lives in various types of forest in the Cordillera de la Costa in northern Venezuela, in dry semi-deciduous forests and gallery forests in the Western Venezuelan Llanos, as well as in Trinidad (under the assumption that the Trinidad white-fronted capuchin is synonymous).<ref name=handbook/>
==Tool use== Trinidad white-fronted capuchins have been observed using leaves as cups to drink water from tree cavities. The leaves used were modified before by changing the shape of the leaf. The leaves are discarded after one use, meaning that a different leaf is used for repeat visits. These observations suggest that, like the common chimpanzee, wild capuchins demonstrate tool manufacture and use in foraging-related contexts.<ref name="Phillips1998">{{Cite journal|last1=Phillips|first1=K. A.|year=1998|title=Tool use in wild capuchin monkeys (''Cebus albifrons trinitatis'')|journal=American Journal of Primatology|volume=46|issue=3|pages=259–261|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1998)46:3<259::AID-AJP6>3.0.CO;2-R|pmid=9802515|s2cid=24298276 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Cebidae nav}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q113865570}}
Category:Tool-using mammals Category:Capuchin monkeys Category:Mammals of Venezuela Category:Endemic fauna of Venezuela Category:Primates of South America Category:Mammals described in 1914 Category:Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen Category:Arboreal mammals