NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Common Squirrel Monkey
Saimiri sciureus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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.
Common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) in the wild on the island of La Mère, French Guiana.
Cayambe · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Guianan squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) is a species of squirrel monkey from Guiana, Venezuela and Brazil. S. sciureus formerly applied to Humboldt's squirrel monkey and Collins' squirrel monkey, but genetic research in 2009 and 2015 revealed that these are distinct species.
Wikipedia contributors, Guianan squirrel monkey; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:41:00.458602+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Saimiri sciureus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Common 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderPrimates Linnaeus, 1758
- suborderHaplorrhini Pocock, 1918
- infraorderSimiiformes Haeckel, 1866
- familyCebidae Bonaparte, 1831
- subfamilySaimiriinae Miller, 1812
- genusSaimiri Voigt in G. Cuvier, 1831
- speciesSaimiri sciureus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Saimiri. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Central American Squirrel MonkeySaimiri oerstedii (Reinhardt, 1872) | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-capped Squirrel MonkeySaimiri boliviensis (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & de Blainville, 1834) | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Humboldt's Squirrel MonkeySaimiri cassiquiarensis (Lesson, 1840) | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Collins' Squirrel MonkeySaimiri collinsi Osgood, 1916 | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ecuadorean Squirrel MonkeySaimiri macrodon Elliot, 1907 | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bare-eared Squirrel MonkeySaimiri ustus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1843) | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black Squirrel MonkeySaimiri vanzolinii Ayres, 1985 | CebidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sapajou saimiri Lacépède, 1803 Lacépède, 1803 | synonym |
| Lemur leucopsis Hermann, 1804 Hermann, 1804 | synonym |
| Simia apedia Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Simia morta Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Saimiri sciureus sciureus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Chrysothrix nigrivittata Wagner, 1848 Wagner, 1848 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180095 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:4TZK2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.