Kipunji

Taxobox
name = Kipunji
status = CR
status_system = iucn3.1

---

regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Cercopithecidae
genus = "Rungwecebus"
genus_authority = Davenport, 2006
species = "R. kipunji"
binomial = "Rungwecebus kipunji"
binomial_authority = (Jones et al., 2005)

The Kipunji ("Rungwecebus kipunji") is a species of Old World monkey that lives in the highland forests of Tanzania. Also known as the Highland Mangabey, it is about three feet long and has long brown fur, which stands in tufts on the sides and top of its head. Its face and eyelids are uniformly black. The Kipunji is arboreal in its habits. All the males of this mangabey species emit a loud call to coordinate spacing between different groups. The Kipunji has a unique call, described as a 'honk-bark', which distinguishes it from its close relatives the Grey-cheeked Mangabey and the Black Crested Mangabey, whose calls are described as 'whoop-gobbles'.

Approximately 1,100 of the animals live in the highland Ndundulu Forest Reserve, an unprotected forest adjacent to Udzungwa Mountains National Park, and in a disjunct population 250 miles away on Mount Rungwe and in Kitulo National Park, which is adjacent to it. The forest at Rungwe is highly degraded, and fragmentation of the remaining forest threatens to split that population into three smaller populations. The Ndundulu forest is in better shape, but the population there is smaller. The monkey is classified as a critically endangered species. Recently, a Wildlife Conservation Society team found that the monkey’s range is restricted to just 6.82 square miles (17.69 square kilometers) of forest in the two isolated regions. [ [http://newswise.com/articles/view/542963/ Newly Discovered Monkey Is Threatened with Extinction] Newswise, Retrieved on July 28, 2008.]

The Kipunji was independently discovered by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Georgia and Conservation International, in December 2003 and July 2004, making it the first new African monkey species discovered since the Sun-tailed Monkey in 1984.cite journal | first = Trevor | last = Jones| coauthors = Carolyn L. Ehardt, Thomas M. Butynski, Tim R. B. Davenport, Noah E. Mpunga, Sophy J. Machaga, Daniela W. De Luca | year = 2005 | title = The Highland Mangabey "Lopocebus kipunji": A New Species of African Monkey | journal = Science | volume = 308 | pages = 1161–1164 | doi = 10.1126/science.1109191 | issue = 5725 | pmid = 15905399] Originally assigned to the genus "Lophocebus", genetic and morphological tests showed that it is more closely related to the baboons (genus "Papio") than to the other mangabeys in the genus "Lophocebus" and that the genus is diphyletic, meaning that species with differing genealogies have been mistakenly lumped together. Scientists have assigned it to a new genus, "Rungwecebus", named after Mount Rungwe, where it is found.cite journal | last = Davenport | first = Tim R. B. | coauthors = William T. Stanley, Eric J. Sargis, Daniela W. De Luca, Noah E. Mpunga, Sophy J. Machaga, and Link E. Olson | year = 2006 | title = A New Genus of African Monkey, "Rungwecebus": Morphology, Ecology, and Molecular Phylogenetics | journal = Science | doi = 10.1126/science.1125631 | volume = 312 | pages = 1378 | pmid = 16690815]

"Rungwecebus" is the first new monkey genus to be discovered since Allen's Swamp Monkey in 1923, according to researchers. [cite web|first=Ker|last=Than|title=Scientists Discover New Monkey Genus In Africa|url=http://www.livescience.com/animals/060511_monkey_genus.html|work=LiveScience|date=May 11, 2006|accessdate=2008-07-24]

References

External links

* [http://www.kipunji.org/ Kipunji.org]
*ARKive - [http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Rungwecebus_kipunji/ Images and information about the Kipunji ("Rungwecebus kipunji")]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4562589.stm BBC: New African monkey discovered]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4759535.stm BBC: New genus of African monkey found]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12741407/from/RS.1/ African monkey reshapes the tree of life]
* [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7399 New scientist: New monkey species discovered in Africa]
* [http://www.wcs.org/353624/mangabeypressrelease Press release from the Wildlife Conservation Society]
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4759535.stm
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4760000/newsid_4762300/4762373.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&bbcws=1
*http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/Tanzania/highlandmangabey WCS profile of Highland Mangabey]
* [http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104165&org=NSF National Science Foundation press release]
* [http://www.wcs.org/media/file/Highlandmangabeycall.wav Highland Mangabey's honk-bark] (in .WAV format)
* [http://www.wcs.org/media/file/Highlandmangabeyvideo.mpg Video of Highland Mangabey] (in MPEG format)
* [http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=676820 ITIS Report: Lophocebus kipunji] (Accessed September 28, 2005)