There are no known adverse affects of A. belzebuth on humans.
Possible predators of this species may include felids or birds of prey such as eagles.
A. belzebuth has a similar shape to A. paniscus, with arms and legs longer than the body. These monkeys also have a prehensile tail. A. belzebuth differs from A. paniscus in that it has a pale or white triangular patch on the forehead. Another distinguishing characteristic of this species is that the dorsal side of the animal can range from black to dark or light brown whereas the ventral side is pale brown to white. These animals have bright whitish eyeshine. The prehensile tail of these monkeys is used for locomotion and foraging, and can range from 61 to 88 cm in length. The legs of this species are long and slender. Weight ranges from 5.9 to 10.4 kg. Male body length that ranges from 42 to 50 cm, whereas females can be anywhere from 34 to 59 cm.
Range mass: 5.9 to 10.4 kg.
Range length: 34 to 59 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
The lifespan of this species is unknown, but is similar to other spider monkeys. In captivity, the lifespan is 30 to 40 years for other species of spider monkeys.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 30 to 40 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 28.0 years.
Average lifespan
Sex: male
Status: captivity: 26.0 years.
Average lifespan
Sex: female
Status: captivity: 26.0 years.
White-bellied spider monkeys are found in the rainforests of northern South America. They live in the upper levels of tall forests and can be found at a maximum elevation of 1,800 m.
Range elevation: 1,800 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: rainforest
White-bellied spider monkeys, Ateles belzebuth, are found in the northeastern portion of the Amazon in South America. Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil are all countries that this species is known to inhabit.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
The diet of A. belzebuth consists mainly of fruits, but these primates will also eat seeds, leaves, and sometimes dead wood. The amount of time an animal spends about 22% if its time foraging versus 15% of its time moving. Of the time these animals spend feeding, about 83% of the time is spent obtaining ripe fruits. About 7% of their foarging time is spent eating leaves, and the remaining 10% is used getting other food items.
Most feeding occurs during the early morning and late afternoon and occasionally the animal is known to feed during nights with a bright moon.
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit; flowers; sap or other plant fluids
Primary Diet: herbivore (Frugivore )
Although it occurs with only a few species of seeds, A. belzebuth is known to occasionally increase the rate of germination of some plants. Because these animals eat mostly fruits that are rich in lipids, they may be the best dispersers for fruits that fall into this category.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
There are no known benefits this species provides to humans.
A. belzebuth is considered endangered by IUCN, and is listed on CITES Appendix I. The major threats to this species are loss of habitat through deforestation and hunting. National parks in Colombia aid to the conservation of A. belzebuth as well as specific protected habitats and isolation of the habitats from development.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix i
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: endangered
A. belzebuth communicates with long calls to identify other members of the group and their territory. It also uses barks and screams which are probably used to signal danger. Tactile communication, in the form of both aggression and affiliative touching (like grooming) also occurs. Visual signals, such as approaching a conspecific, provide important communication about intentions, willingness to mate, and possibly dominance position.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
A. belzebuth live in groups in which there are three times as many females as there are males. The total number of individuals in a group ranges from 20 to 40. Mating occurs randomly, and females will mate with one or several males in one day. The reproduction of this species is similar to that of other members of Atelinae especially the A. geoffroyi and A. paniscus. Variation occurs with the species.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Females give birth to one offspring every 2 to 4 years. Their estrus cycle is 24 to 27 days in length, and gestation length is between 210 and 225 days.
Copulations are initiated by females, who approach males. Like other species of Ateles, it is likely that this pattern of initiating copulation leads to high levels of female mate choice, and reduces aggression between males.
Although not reported for this species, males in other species of spider monkeys which have been studied ejaculate after one mount and one series of thrusts.
The timing of sexual maturity in A. belzebuth is not known, but is probably similar to other species in the genus. In these species, sexual maturity of both males and females occurs sometime between 4 and 5.5 years of age.
Breeding interval: These animals can breed every two years.
Breeding season: Breeding is aseasonal in this species.
Average number of offspring: 1.
Range gestation period: 210 to 225 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 4 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 5 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous
Average number of offspring: 1.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 1826 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 1461 days.
The exact time of weaning in this species is not known, but is similar to that of other spider monkeys. At 12 to 15 months the infants are weaned, but independence is not achieved until at least 17 months of age. As in most primates, females provide the bulk of parental care. Male parental behavior for this species has not been mentioned.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; altricial ; pre-fertilization (Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Protecting: Female); post-independence association with parents; extended period of juvenile learning
The white-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth), also known as the white-fronted or long-haired spider monkey, is an endangered species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey. It is found in the north-western Amazon in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil, ranging as far south as the lower Ucayali River and as far east as the Branco River.[2] In the past, the Peruvian, brown and white-cheeked spider monkeys have been treated as subspecies of A. belzebuth. As presently defined, the white-bellied spider monkey is monotypic.[1] It has a whitish belly and a pale patch on the forehead, which, despite its common name, often is orange-buff, though this might be due to dirt and other stainers.[3][4] They live in groups of 20 to 40 individuals, splitting into small parties of 1 to 9 when in activity.[5]
Vernacular names include mono prieto, mico prieto and marimonda (Colombia).
Over the last 45 years (3 generations), the population has declined by approximately 50% due to habitat loss and hunting.[2] Because of this, A. belzebuth is listed as endangered by the IUCN.[2]
White-bellied spider monkeys are important long-distance seed dispersal agents for many fruit-bearing species.[2] They are a dominant disperser for Oenocarpus bataua, a species of palm.[6] A. belzebuth often occupies a large territory and will utilize multiple nesting trees throughout their territory.[6] Seeds of preferred species are often dispersed below sleeping trees.[6]
They live in social groups that operate using fission-fusion dynamics.[7] These groups are characterized by fragmenting into subgroups that travel, feed and sleep together.[7] These groups display great fluidity and will often change composition, sometimes changing several times each day.[7] The composition of these groups can be influenced by the reproductive status of females.[8] Females are usually more solitary than males, but females with dependent offspring are more likely to join a large group than those without dependent offspring.[8] Females will also usually remain in small core ranges within their home territories with their offspring while males will utilize more of their home range.[9] These subgroups are brought together with long distance vocalizations.[7] These long distance vocalizations can be up to a kilometer away.[7] There is no evidence of secondary dispersal in wild spider monkeys. Therefore, males in these groups are closely related to each other.[10]
White-bellied spider monkeys are believed to achieve sexual maturity at between 4 and 5 years of age and will usually produce a single offspring although females giving birth to twins has been reported.[2][11] Their gestation period is between 226 and 232 days long.[2] Males have been observed engaging in infanticide.[12] All victims of observed infanticide were from the same social group as their attackers and all were young males.[12]
The diet of White-bellied spider monkeys is 83% mature fruits and they are important to the seed dispersal of many fruit-bearing species.[2] They carry a relatively high number of intact seeds in their gut and intake relatively large amounts of fruit pulp when compared to some other monkey species within their range.[13] They also are likely to return to previous food sources and spend relatively little time foraging.[13] A. belzebuth is a generalist frugivore that doesn't specialize in a particular fruit type but do appear to prefer fruits with high lipid content, high sugar content, or fruits produced by trees with high fruit productivity.[14] They will also feed on other plant parts such as leaves, flowers, and bulbs, and will very rarely consume small insects.[2] A. belzebuth has also been observed engaging in geophagy.[15]
All members of Ateles are semi-brachiators, and this species has an intermembral index of 105. They have a fairly dorsally placed scapula to allow for increased mobility involved in brachiation. Their prehensile tail with a hairless gripping pad at the end also allows for this locomotion, which then means they have increased caudal vertebrae, with about 31 caudal vertebrae as opposed to another platyrrhine like Cebus with only 23 on average. This tail allows for additional grasping of branches, which means there is less lateral movement while brachiating which increases efficiency. The hairless gripping pad of the underside of the tip of their tail is often compared to a finger, since it allows surface gripping. Their curved hands with long metacarpal bones allows for easy brachiation. They do not have an external thumb, which sets them apart from most other primates.
Ateles belzebuth has a dental formula of 2.1.3.3. As far as patterns within the teeth, there is a lot of variation but the following are often found within Ateles. Larger incisors and small molars reflect the largely frugivorous diet, with a diastema separating the upper canines from the upper incisors, for the lower incisor. The upper premolars have one to two cusps, with the first premolar having only one cusp, a paracone. The second premolar has a paracone and protocone cusp connected by transverse crest. The third premolar has three cusps, paracone, metacone, and protocone, with the metacone and protocone connected by a crista oblique. There is a recorded hypocone on the third premolar. In the bottom premolars, the first premolar has one cusp although it can be bicuspid. The second and third premolar generally have 2-3 cusps, although the second bottom premolar has an entoconid and hypoconid and the third bottom premolar in belzebuth has five cusps with a small hypoconulid. Upper molars generally have four cusps although the third molar may not have a hypocone (might even have only two cusps). With the bottom molars, there are generally four cusps and a fifth cusp on the third molar.
The white-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth), also known as the white-fronted or long-haired spider monkey, is an endangered species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey. It is found in the north-western Amazon in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil, ranging as far south as the lower Ucayali River and as far east as the Branco River. In the past, the Peruvian, brown and white-cheeked spider monkeys have been treated as subspecies of A. belzebuth. As presently defined, the white-bellied spider monkey is monotypic. It has a whitish belly and a pale patch on the forehead, which, despite its common name, often is orange-buff, though this might be due to dirt and other stainers. They live in groups of 20 to 40 individuals, splitting into small parties of 1 to 9 when in activity.
Vernacular names include mono prieto, mico prieto and marimonda (Colombia).
Over the last 45 years (3 generations), the population has declined by approximately 50% due to habitat loss and hunting. Because of this, A. belzebuth is listed as endangered by the IUCN.
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