Two Monkey specials found in Brazil's Amazon

Pair are named after tributes in region Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Two squirrel size monkeys have been discovered in a remote corner of Brazil's Amazon, an international conservation group said Saturday. The region is rich with biodiversity due to the dozens of rivers there.  Conservation International, a Washington based international conservation group, announced the findings of Marc Von Roosmanlen, a scientist from Brazil's Amazon National Research Institute.  The two monkeys, which were discovered in north western Brazil, about 1,600 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, are the Callithrix Manicorensis, or Manicore Maroset, and the XCallithrix Acariensis, or Acari Marmoset. Average adult of both species measures 9 inches with a 15 inch tail and wieghs around 12 ounces.  The Callithrix Manicorensis has a silvery white upper body, a light gray cap on its head, yellow to orange underparts and black tail.,  The Callithrix Acariensis has a snowy white upper body and underparts, a gray back with a stripe running to the kneee and a black tail with a bright orange tip.

The monkeys are named after Manicore River and Acari tivers, the Amazon river tributes neat where theyu were found. Resiudents of the rtegion keep them as pets.  Formal scientific descriptions of the pair will be ublished in the upcoming edition of the scientific journal Neotropical Primates.

Beyond differences in coloration, the two have genitalia that are markedly different from other related species, Roosemalen said.  He atttributed the abundant biodiversity in the region to the dozens of rivers that crisscross it, cresating natural barriers that tend to isolate the species.  monkeys that may share a common Ancestor developed into speperate species over seeral million years. Roosmalen sad he found the two while searching for th habitat of another small monkey.  That monkey, whose discovery was announced in 1997, turned out to be the worlds second smallest.  "These findings remind us of how much we have yet to learn about earth's diversity of life'" said Russell A. Mittermaier, president of Conservation International and a co author of both scientific descriptions.

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