Taxonomy
The white-headed capuchin was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae. It is a member of the family Cebidae, the family of New World monkeys containing capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, tamarins and marmosets. It is the type species for the genus Cebus, the genus that includes all the capuchin monkeys. It is a member of the C. capucinus species group within the genus Cebus, a group that also includes the white-fronted capuchin, the weeper capuchin and the Kaapori capuchin.
There is disagreement among primatologists about whether there are any subspecies of white-headed capuchin. Some authorities consider there to be three subspecies of white-headed capuchin, based on small differences in appearance:
- C. c. capucinus, from the southern part of the range in Ecuador, Colombia and eastern Panama
- C. c. imitator, from most of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western Panama
- C. c. limitaneus, from Honduras and northern Nicaragua
However, other authorities do not recognize any separate subspecies, and regard C. c. imitator and C. c. limitaneus as synonyms of C. capucinus.
Read more about this topic: White-headed Capuchin