An Amazonian forest monkey distinguished by a long white moustache.
It has a mainly grey body, a reddish-brown tail and a long white moustache hanging to either side.
The Black-chinned Emperor Tamarin (Tamarinus imperator) has a dark chin and short white chin hairs. Its close relative T. subgrisescens, once treated as another subspecies of the same species, has a longer white chin tuft and a reddish tail. The two lineages occur mostly in separate areas, and the study says available records are too sparse to establish where they meet or whether they hybridize.
In 2023, researchers directly examined 60 museum specimens and checked six more from photographs. They measured skulls from 35 adults, but only three were T. imperator. They also compared two mitochondrial genes. Differences in coat, skull and DNA pointed to the same two lineages, and a genomic study that year also supported treating them as separate species.
IUCN Red List (IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group) · Least Concern (LC) · Global (assessment under former name Saguinus imperator ssp. imperator)
The IUCN global assessment, conducted in 2020 and published in 2021, listed the former subspecies Saguinus imperator ssp. imperator as Least Concern (LC). It records a decreasing population trend and gives no numeric estimate of mature individuals. The rationale cites a wide range and common occurrence, while also saying that populations may be declining. Deforestation occurs in parts of the range, making habitat change a conservation concern.