May 11, 1914 
\ I ^C)\ 
Vol. XXVII, pp'. 99-102 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THK 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 
GENERAL NOTES. 
TME STATUS OF CEBITS IMITATOR THOMAS. 
A white-throated capuchin from Boquete, western Panama, was de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Oldfield Thomas* as Cebus imitator. The characters 
ascribed to this monkey in contrastinp; it with Cebus hiipoleiicus (Ilnm- 
boldt), from Rio Sinn, Colombia, were elongated frontal tufts, present in 
the female, and certain color differences which Dr. J. A. Allent and Dr. 
D. G. Elliott have regarded as within the range of specific variation. 
Both authors have placed the name in synonymy. Since the i)nblication 
of C. imitator, C. hypohucus has been synonymized with Cebus capucinus 
(Linmens), and the latter name is, therefore, currently taken to apply t(j 
an animal ranging from Colombia northward into Middle America. In 
studying specimens from Panama and adjoiningterritory, however, I find 
two forms difi'ering so conspicuously from each other in dentition that 
they seem worthy of subspecific recognition; One, ranging from eastern 
Panama southward into South America and characterized by the com¬ 
parative narrowness, or reduced transverse extent of the premolars, above 
and below; the other, inhabiting we.stern Panama and adjacent parts of 
Costa Rica and distinguished by the decidedly greater width or transverse 
extent of these teeth. 
For the i)roper application of names to the two closely related forms it 
is necessary to fix on a type region for the Uinnsean species. Since Cebus 
capucinus ( Linnseus) most probably came from South America, and has 
been identified with C. hypoleucus (Humboldt), of Colombia, it seems 
advisable to assign the typical form of the former to the type region of 
the latter. This disposition of the Linneean animal leaves the name 
Cebus imitator Thomas availal)le for the capuchin occupying western 
Panama. Cebus capucinus will therefore stand sub.=pecifically as follows: 
Cebus capucinus capucinus (Linnseus), northern Colombia. 
Cebus capucirms imitator Thomas, Boquete, Panama. 
— E. A. Goldman. 
♦Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, XI, April, 190:S, p. :!7(). 
t Bull, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Fel)ruary 29, 19,)4, p. 89. 
t Review of the Primates, 1912, p. 84. 
22—Pkoc. Biol. Soc. W.vsh., Vol. XXVI 1, 1914. 
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