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Northern Pig-tailed Macaque

Macaca leonina (Blyth, 1863)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Northern Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca leonina) mother with baby, Khao Yai National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

Northern Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca leonina) mother with baby, Khao Yai National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina) is a vulnerable species of macaque in the subfamily Cercopithecidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Traditionally, M. leonina was considered a subspecies of the southern pig-tailed macaque (M. nemestrina), but is now classified as an individual species. In the 21st century, the pig-tailed macaque was split into the northern pig-tailed macaque species Macaca leonina and the Sundaland pig-tailed macaque species M. nemestrina. This reclassification was aided by the observation of sexual swellings and basic attributes that distinguish the two. The northern pig-tailed macaque is frugivorous and their social grouping is matriarchal, where sexual dimorphic traits can distinguish males and females. Their adaptation to omnivorous diets occur in periods of fruit scarcity, munching on wild vegetation and crops, human foods, and small insects and mammals. Despite their adaptability, northern-pig tailed macaques experience viral threats such as the human immunodeficiency virus type 1, pathogenic simian immunodeficiency, and coronavirus.

Wikipedia contributors, Northern pig-tailed macaque; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:45:57.899069+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Macaca leonina (Blyth, 1863)
Name authority
(Blyth, 1863)
Common name
Northern Pig-tailed Macaque
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Primates
Family
Cercopithecidae
Genus
Macaca
Extinction status
Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
  9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
  10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
  11. orderPrimates Linnaeus, 1758
  12. suborderHaplorrhini Pocock, 1918
  13. infraorderSimiiformes Haeckel, 1866
  14. superfamilyCercopithecoidea Gray, 1821
  15. familyCercopithecidae Gray, 1821
  16. subfamilyCercopithecinae Gray, 1821
  17. tribePapionini
  18. genusMacaca Lacépède, 1799
  19. speciesMacaca leonina (Blyth, 1863)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Macaca. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Crab-eating MacaqueMacaca fascicularis (Raffles, 1821)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Japanese MacaqueMacaca fuscata (Blyth, 1875)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Southern Pig-tailed MacaqueMacaca nemestrina (Linnaeus, 1766)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Gorontalo MacaqueMacaca nigrescens (Temminck, 1849)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Booted MacaqueMacaca ochreata (Ogilby, 1841)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Pagai Island MacaqueMacaca pagensis (Miller, 1903)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Bonnet MacaqueMacaca radiata (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Siberut MacaqueMacaca siberu Fuentes & Olson, 1995CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Lion-tailed MacaqueMacaca silenus (Linnaeus, 1758)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Barbary MacaqueMacaca sylvanus (Linnaeus, 1758)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Milne-Edwards's MacaqueMacaca thibetana (A. Milne-Edwards, 1870)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Assam MacaqueMacaca assamensis (McClelland, 1840)CercopithecidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 136 records assigned to Cercopithecidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Macacus andamanensis Bartlett, 1869 Bartlett, 1869synonym
Macaca nemestrina indochinensis Kloss, 1919 Kloss, 1919synonym
Macaca adusta Miller, 1906 Miller, 1906synonym
Macaca insulana Miller, 1906 Miller, 1906synonym
Macacus coininus (Kloss, 1903) (Kloss, 1903)synonym
Macaca nemestrina blythii Pocock, 1931 Pocock, 1931synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Southern Asia

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=944196 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3WWNK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.