A Monkey First Glimpsed in 2008 Is Confirmed as a New Species in the Congo Basin

A monkey partly captured in a 2008 photograph taken deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and seen again more clearly in 2018, has now been confirmed as a distinct species through genetic, anatomical and acoustic evidence. Named Colobus congoensis and called "Likweli" by local communities, it is only the fifth new monkey species identified in Africa in the past 75 years. The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

The animal lives in a remote part of the Congo Basin between the Lomami and Congo rivers in east-central DRC, an area left undocumented by biologists despite decades of research across Central Africa. C. congoensis weighs about 15 pounds, smaller than related colobus monkeys, with a glossy black coat forming cape-shaped shoulders, an orange-cream patch around its mouth and nose, long black facial hairs, large folded ears and white markings around its rear.

The international team — including Florida Atlantic University (FAU), the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, Yale University, the City University of New York, Lomami National Park and the Frankfurt Zoological Society — found that C. congoensis split from its closest known relative, Colobus satanas, roughly 4 to 5 million years ago, even though that species is found more than 1,200 kilometers away in west-central Africa. "Its closest known relative is Colobus satanas... yet our genetic evidence shows the two species diverged roughly 4 to 5 million years ago, marking one of the oldest known evolutionary splits within the Colobus lineage," said senior author Kate Detwiler of FAU.

"This discovery is both exciting and deeply personal, highlighting the extraordinary biodiversity of my homeland and how much remains undocumented," said co-corresponding author Junior Amboko, a PhD student at FAU and National Geographic Explorer. Researchers say the newly recognized species may already face serious pressure from hunting, habitat loss and its restricted range, and that the discovery further establishes Lomami National Park as a center of primate diversity.