Photo Credit: Cliff [CC BY 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons

Scientists have discovered a new species of monkey on an expedition into an unexplored part of the Brazilian Amazon.

The monkey is a new species of titi, or Callicebus, monkey, and features different colored markings on its head and tail never before been observed in other monkeys of the same group.

The discovery, by biologist Júlio Dalponte, took place on an expedition backed by WWF-Brazil in a previously unexplored area between the Guariba and Roosevelt rivers in the northwest part of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.  A specimen has been turned over to experts at the Emílio Goeldi Museum in the Brazilian state of Para, where it will be studied and formally described, according to Live Science.

In 2008, another new species of titi monkey was identified in the Colombian Amazon.

Frequent discoveries of new species in the Amazon rainforest– an average of one every three days! —  highlights the importance of protecting this threatened habitat from illegal deforestation and the unregulated expansion of cattle farms, according to WWF. Mato Grasso has the highest rate of habitat destruction in the Amazon.

Meg Symington, the director of WWF’s Amazon Program, said, “This incredibly exciting discovery shows just how much we still have to learn from the Amazon. WWF has been working with the government of Brazil to increase protection and improve management for the Amazon so that species like this, and thousands of others, don’t disappear before we even know about them.”

Yours in the delight of discovery,

Wendy