Kingdom Animalia Order Primates Genus Procolobus Scientific name Piliocolobus foai Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Family Cercopithecidae Subgenus Piliocolobus Higher classification Red colobus | |
Similar Preuss's red colobus, Tenasserim lutung, Ugandan red colobus, Sarawak surili, Shortridge's langur | ||
The Central African red colobus (Procolobus foai) is an Old World monkey in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in humid forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.
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Taxonomy
The taxonomy is potentially confusing. Procolobus foai has, together with all other red colobuses, been considered a subspecies of Procolobus badius. When considered a separate species, the scientific name Procolobus oustaleti (Trouessart, 1906) has been used for the Central African Red Colobus, but this is incorrect, as the taxon foai precedes oustaleti by 7 years. Additionally, the taxon tephrosceles has been considered a subspecies of the Central African red colobus, but following Groves (2001) it is here recognized as a separate species, the Ugandan red colobus. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Central African red colobus should be considered a subspecies of P. rufomitratus. As here defined, the Central African red colobus has 5 subspecies, although these are variable and hard to separate:
Distribution and habitat
The Central African red colobus is endemic to tropical central Africa. It range includes the Republic of Congo, the southern part of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the southern part of South Sudan. The southern limit of the range is the Congo River, the eastern limit is the Aruwimi River and the northern limit is the savannah woodlands north of the Uele River. They are found in lowland primary forest, particularly swampy areas, open woodland and gallery forest. They spend about seventy percent of their time in the canopy, and the rest of the time on the ground. They sometimes wade into water to collect aquatic bulbs.