Black-capped Squirrel Monkey

Open encyclopedia reference

The black-capped squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis) is a species of New-World monkey native to the upper Amazon basin in Bolivia, western Brazil and eastern Peru. They weigh between 365 and 1,135 g (13 and 40 oz) and measure, from the head to the base of the tail, between 225 and 370 mm (9 and 15 in). The black-capped squirrel monkey is primarily tree-dwelling and is found in both native and plantation forests as well as some farmed areas near running water. Its diet is omnivorous and mostly consists of flowers, fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, insects, arachnids, eggs and small vertebrates. It mostly lives in female-dominated troops of around 40 to 75 monkeys, with males having been observed to disperse to live in all-male troops after reaching sexual maturation. Its current conservation status according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is 'Least Concern'. The species belongs to the genus Saimiri and has two subspecies, S. b. boliviensis (the Bolivian squirrel monkey) and S. b. peruviensis (the Peruvian squirrel monkey).

Wikipedia contributors, Black-capped squirrel monkey; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:01:01.629076+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Saimiri boliviensis (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & de Blainville, 1834)

Name authority

(I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & de Blainville, 1834)

Common name

Black-capped Squirrel Monkey

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Primates

Family

Cebidae

Genus

Saimiri

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. familyCebidae Bonaparte, 1831
15. subfamilySaimiriinae Miller, 1812
16. genusSaimiri Voigt in G. Cuvier, 1831
17. speciesSaimiri boliviensis (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & de Blainville, 1834)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 15 records assigned to Cebidae.

Documented distribution

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

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=572979 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:4TZJS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.