A monkey long known to local communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has now been formally identified as a new species, and researchers say it may already be endangered.
In a paper published Wednesday in PLOS One, researchers confirmed through genetic analyses that Colobus congoensis, also known as the Likweli, is a distinct species found in Congo’s Lomami National Park. It is closely related to the black colobus and is the fifth new African monkey species identified in the past 75 years.
The monkey weighs about 7 kilograms as an adult. The study authors write that it has a “striking orange cream patch” around its mouth and fine white hair on its butt. Its call, to an untrained ear, sounds a bit like a frog or pig snorting.
The discovery took nearly two decades. The search began in 2008, when a research crew exploring the forest captured the first known photo of the monkey.
Something was “strange” about its face, said Junior Amboko, a co-author on the new study and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University. But the image was blurry, and scientists could not tell at the time if it was a new species.
Later photos showed the monkey did not have a thumb, a trait characteristic of Colobus monkeys.
“But we didn’t know if it was a [new] species or a subspecies,” Amboko says.
In 2020, Amboko and his colleagues launched the Likweli Project to classify the monkey. They collected more pictures, documented its calls and analyzed samples from dead monkeys confiscated from illegal hunting activity in the park.
The genetic analysis of tissue samples confirmed it was a new species.
“We were shocked with the genetic data because it gave us such a signal of deep divergence,” says Kate Detwiler, senior author of the new study and an associate professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University.
Amboko suggested the name Colobus congoensis to recognize the rich biodiversity of the DRC.
Researchers say the species is already under threat from hunting and human population growth. In the paper, they propose that the International Union for Conservation of Nature list it as Endangered.
“Protection of Lomami National Park, within which most of the C. congoensis range occurs, and engagement of local communities in not hunting the species are the most important actions needed to ensure the conservation of C. congoensis,” the authors write in the study.
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