Piliocolobus preussi, Matschie, 1900

Russell A. Mittermeier, Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson, 2013, Cercopithecidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 3 Primates, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 550-755 : 708-709

95.

Preuss’s Red Colobus

Piliocolobus preussi

French: Colobe de Preuss / German: Preuss-Stummelaffe / Spanish: Colobo rojo de Camerun

Taxonomy. Piliocolobus preussi Matschie, 1900 ,

Cameroon, Barombi, Elephant Lake.

Modern taxonomic arrangements of the colobus monkeys either divide the red colobus and the Olive Colobus into two genera, Piliocolobus and Procolobus , respectively, or consider them to belong to one genus, Procolobus , with two subgenera ( Procolobus for the Olive Colobus and Piliocolobus for the red colobus). We follow here C. P. Groves in his publications of 2001 and 2007 in using two genera. Monotypic.

Distribution. SE Nigeria (Ikpan block in the Oban Hills Division in Cross River National Park) and NW Cameroon (Yabassi, Korup National Park, Ebo Forest just N of the Sanaga River and Makombe Forest to the N of Ebo Forest, where they were heard in 2003).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 56-63 cm (males) and ¢.62 cm (females), tail 75— 76 cm (males) and ¢.75 cm (females); no specific data are available for body weight. Fur of Preuss’s Red Colobus is dense and frizzier than in other species of Piliocolobus . Each body hair is ticked red and black, with black predominating on the dorsum and red on flanks. Middle of the back is dark brown, and lower flanks, tail, and limbs (including hands and feet) are bright orange-rufous. Underparts are pale red-gold; this color extends very narrowly up the throat to the chin. Inner surfaces of limbs are white. Cheeks are orange, forehead black, and crown and neck are blackish. Thereis a whorl above the brows, but no whorls above the ears. Infants are black, with gray underparts. Adult females have a large, prominentclitoris. In N. Ting’s mtDNA phylogeny, Preuss’s Red Colobus forms a clade with, and is very closely related to, Pennant’s Red Colobus (P. pennantiz), but its vocalizations are distinct.

Habitat. Tall primary, lowland moist rainforest. Preuss’s Red Colobus is not found in secondary, regenerating forest.

Food and Feeding. Young leaves compose the vast majority of the diet of Preuss’s Red Colobus , supplemented by flowers and buds.

Breeding. Female Preuss’s Red Colobus display an enormous pink sexual swelling during the periovulatory period (the largest of all the red colobus), affecting both the anus and circumanal skin.

Activity patterns. Preuss’s Red Colobusis diurnal and arboreal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Very little is known about these aspects in Preuss’s Red Colobus . Home range size has been estimated at ¢.100 ha. Group sizes of 20 to more than 80 individuals have been recorded.

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List (as Procolobus preussi ). Preuss’s Red Colobusis listed as Class B in the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Major threats are hunting and habitat degradation. Hunting is particularly intense, making up a relatively large proportion of the total primate harvest around Korup National Park, especially in the north-east. In 1996, it was estimated that 10,000-15,000 Preuss’s Red Colobus may have been present in Korup, the stronghold for the taxon, but another estimate around that same time put the total population atjust 8000 individuals. In 1992, group densities in north-eastern Korup were estimated at 0-52-0-56 groups/ km? which are not too dissimilar from more recent estimates of 0-46 groups/km? in 2008 in the same area. No absolute density is available for southern Korup, but J. Linder in 2008 encountered twelve groups in 243 km that he walked. It occurs in Korup and Ebo national parks in Cameroon and Cross River National Park in Nigeria. Recent surveys suggest it has been extirpated from Ejagham Forest Reserve in Cameroon.

Bibliography. Colyer (1940), Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett (2001), Groves (2001, 2007b), Grubb, Butynski et al. (2003), Grubb, Oates et al. (2000), Linder (2008), Oates (1996¢), Oates et al. (2004), Struhsaker (2010), Ting (2008), Usongo & Amubode (2001).

Figures

Distribution. SE Nigeria (Ikpan block in the Oban Hills Division in Cross River National Park) and NW Cameroon (Yabassi, Korup National Park, Ebo Forest just N of the Sanaga River and Makombe Forest to the N of Ebo Forest, where they were heard in 2003).