Neotropical primates from the Cologne Zoo

Cologne Zoo was a major place for the captive care of primates of the family Pitheciidae in the second half of the last century. Various species of the genera Cacajao, Chiropotes and Pithecia, which until then had a poor survival record in human care, lived at the Cologne Zoo for years. This offered the unique possibility to gather important information on their biology and care in captivity. Moreover several individuals were featured in a diverse array of technical publications and/or were mentioned in respective texts. However, at that time knowledge on the taxonomy of South American primates was still incomplete. New species and subspecies were named, some of which were kept in the zoo unnoticed. After their death Cologne Zoo donated specimens as vouchers to the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig. We evaluate their species identity in the context of the ongoing debate on the taxonomy of these three genera and also address the potential importance of zoo specimens for the scientific study of taxonomic and biological questions. Furthermore, based on our data the status of Chiropotes israelita and C. sagulatus as valid species is questioned.