The Central American squirrel monkey is a small primate restricted to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama. It lives in humid forest.
It is slender with a long tail, a yellow-brown body and pale-yellow belly. The crown is black and the back has a golden-red tone.
Central American squirrel monkeys live in forests along Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast. Researchers collected 304 fecal samples and verified genotypes for 233 monkeys from 14 groups. They compared genetic differences among the groups with the types of land separating forest patches.
Large oil-palm plantations were moderate barriers to gene flow between populations. This effect appeared in comparisons over longer distances between populations and weakened within a population. Pasture, rivers and residential areas showed no similar effect. The genetic links among monkeys varied with both the intervening land type and the scale of comparison.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the Costa Rican study, large oil-palm plantations were moderate barriers to gene flow between populations. Pasture and rivers showed no similar effect.