The Lesula: A New Species of Cercopithecus Described In The Democratic Republic of Congo

We have ourselves another new primate species. Yes, one whole new species that no one has seen before. Oh ... the native? They don't count. Just because they know of the existence of this primate species for years doesn't mean that it actually exists. It only exists when said species are described by science. Right? Of course not. I think we need to be careful when we talk about new species, especially media outlet that report these kinda stories. They are not "discovered", they are "described". Science (I'm using this in a broad sense) doesn't get to discover something if it's already known. Anyway ...

Left: Adult male Cercopithecus lomamiensis, Yawende, DRC. Photograph by M. Emetshu. Right: Subadult female Cercopithecus lomamiensis, Opala, DRC. Photograph by J. A. Hart.
Photos from Hart et al. (2012)

Hart et al. (2012) just published a paper in which they described a new monkey species known as the "lesula" to the locals. Their paper "Lesula: A New Species of Cercopithecus Monkey Endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Implications for Conservation of Congo’s Central Basin" is available on PLOS ONE if you are interested in reading it (it's free access).


The lesula or Cercopithecus lomamiensis ranges in the Tshuapa, Lomami and the Lualaba (TL2) area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are found in the lowland rain forests of central DRC  C. lomamiensis belongs to the Cercopithecini family and is closely related to the Hamlyn's monkey or owl-faced monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni). However, C. lomamiensis is genetically distinct from C. hamlyni as well as in morphology and vocalizations. C. lomamiensis has a lighter coat compared to C. hamlyni (see photos below). C. lomamiensis seems to have a light brown face while C. hamlyni a dark face with a white stripe on its nose.

Portraits: Captive adult male Cercopithecus hamlyni (upper left), photo by Noel Rowe, with permission; and captive adult male Cercopithecus lomamiensis (upper right), Yawende, DRC, photo by Maurice Emetshu. Lateral view: Hunter-killed adult male Cercopithecus hamlyni (bottom left), photo by Gilbert Paluku; and eagle-killed subadult female Cercopithecus lomamiensis (bottom right), photo by Gilbert Paluku.
Photos from Hart et al. (2012)

C. lomamiensis are semi terrestrial and subsist on terrestrial herbaceous vegetation (herbivory). And yes, to answer the burning question, both C. lomamiensis and C. hamlyni have blue perineum and scrotum. This is definitely interesting news, if not, an urgent call for conservation efforts in the DRC area. C. lomamiensis is the second new primate species to be described recently in Africa after the kipunji, Rungwecebus kipunji. 

Loris Awareness Week

Since September 16th is Loris Awareness Week, I'd like to call into attention the illegal primate pet trade that is getting worse and needs to be stopped. Primates are taken out of their natural habitat and illegally smuggled out to be turned into "cute" house pets. We won't be helping if we all think that primates make good pets and that you want to own one because "they are cute". Instead we should educate ourselves on why some animals are just not meant to be pets (adopt a shelter dog or cat instead!). Besides being turned into house pets, some primates are also taken from the wild so that they can be "movie stars". I implore you, my readers, to not support any movies or TV shows that use primates as animal actors. If you do not want to boycott the movie or show, at least understand why the only primate that should be actors are humans.

There are purportedly "cute" videos of slow lorises popping up on Youtube, in which, I generally watch in horror and disbelieve. I won't link any of these videos on this post but a quick search for "Tickling Slow Loris" would bring you to one such video. As a New Yorker, I only have one response to that video. "The slow loris is scared and is in a defensive posture, stupid!" But I digress. Besides being turned into pets, slow lorises are also hunted for traditional medicine.

Illegal Wildlife Trade fact sheet from  Dr Anna Nekaris's Little Fireface Project website

I wouldn't do any justice on these cute prosimians but head on to Dr Anna Nekaris's Little Fireface Project to read about her work on slow lorises and her team's effort to save slow lorises through better awareness and education.

Who Else Is Going To The Midwest Primate Interest Group (MPIG) Conference?

This September, the illustrious Ashlee Van Schyndel (of This Is Serious Monkey Business) and I will be presenting in a poster session at Midwest Primate Interest Group (MPIG) Conference. The conference will be held in Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL from Friday (Sept. 28th) till Saturday (Sept. 29).

Our poster topic will be on the foraging preferences (food choice and substrate use) in lemur species in the absence of food availability pressures. Ashlee collected her data at the Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, FL when she was a research assistant.

For more information about the conference, please visit the Midwest Primate Interest Group website. Hope to see y'all at the conference!

Primatologist's Log, Stardate 2012.27.08: I am finally taking an Anthropology/Primate Class

Primatologist's log, supplemental. For the first time in my graduate life, I have finally sat foot inside the Anthropology lab at Hunter College, CUNY for my Primate Ecology and Behavior class. I am elated to be finally back into my home range, namely the Anthropology department, for a primate class. Since I'll have a lot of primate materials to go through, hopefully I'll blog more this semester. Not promising anything though since I'm getting married in October and I am busy rehearsing to be a Bridezilla. Well, not really ... but kinda, really.

I'm a Vagell Now

I interrupt this long silence on my blog for some very important announcements.

First of all, sincere apologies to all my readers for the sporadic and lack of blog posts this year. I was playing catch up with life (I won!) so that rendered me with little to no time for blogging. Follow me on Twitter @PrancingPapio if you would like to follow me in real time, and also please Like my page, The Prancing Papio on Facebook.

I was recently naturalized as a United States citizen. This should open up better opportunities for grants should I want to apply for them in the future. Also, this means that travelling outside of the US will no longer be a pain in the bum. So if any one of you primatologist wants me to be your assistant, this is a good time to let me know ;)

With my naturalization and an impending wedding this October, I have decided to change my last name to Vagell. Not only am I taking my partner's last name, but I'm also tired of people mispronouncing my name for the past 30 years! I might or might not have revealed my age ... oh well. As we all adapt to me being referred to as Raymond Vagell or Mr. Vagell, let's just remember that I am no longer Raymond Ho or that horrid Chinese name that I was given but I shall not mutter.

So that's about it. I promise I'll start blogging more soon but now, I am knee deep in planning for my wedding and my honeymoon.