NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Central American Black Howler
Alouatta pigra Lawrence, 1933
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.
Yucatán black howler (Alouatta pigra) feeding, Cayo district, Belize
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Yucatán black howler, or Guatemalan black howler, (Alouatta pigra) is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America. It is found in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico, in and near the Yucatán Peninsula. It lives in evergreen, semideciduous and lowland rain forests. It is also known as the baboon in Belize, although it is not closely related to the baboons in Africa.
Wikipedia contributors, Yucatán black howler; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:53:40.243433+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Alouatta pigra Lawrence, 1933
- Name authority
- Lawrence, 1933
- Common name
- Central American Black Howler
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Primates
- Family
- Atelidae
- Genus
- Alouatta
- 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
- familyAtelidae Gray, 1825
- subfamilyAlouattinae Trouessart, 1897
- genusAlouatta Lacépède, 1799
- speciesAlouatta pigra Lawrence, 1933
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Alouatta. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Spix's HowlerAlouatta discolor (Spix, 1823) | AtelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-handed HowlerAlouatta belzebul (Linnaeus, 1766) | AtelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black HowlerAlouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812) | AtelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bolivian Red HowlerAlouatta sara Elliot, 1910 | AtelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Colombian Red HowlerAlouatta seniculus (Linnaeus, 1766) | AtelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Mycetes villosus Gray, 1845 Gray, 1845 | synonym |
| Alouatta palliata luctuosa Lawrence, 1933 Lawrence, 1933 | 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=572940 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:C5QK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.