Linnaeus and Primate Taxonomy

Karl von Linné (his Latinized name is Carolius Linnaeus) is today honored as the father of the binomial system of scientific nomenclature. Several Linnaean Societies celebrate his name and work to preserve the tradition he established. First, let's set a few definitions to aid in understanding the rest of this page:

Nomenclature: A system of names employed by scientists in naming animals and plants.
Taxonomy: The science of classification; the arrangement of animals and plants into groups based on their natural relationships; also called systematics and cladistics.
Taxon: A taxonomic name, group or entity of any rank or size. Any kingdom, class, family, genus or species is a taxon. The plural form is taxa. Taxonomists are scientists who describe and keep track of species and higher ranks of plants and animals.
Species: A taxon or population which, in nature, interbreed producing fertile offspring. Humanity is a taxon, all the members of which constitute just one species, Homo sapiens. There are many taxa or species of primates, however.

Genus: A subdivision of a family of plants or animals which includes one or more closely related species. The genus Canis contains wolves, dogs and other canids. The primate genus Pan contains two species, the Common Chimpanzee and the more gracile Bonobo. The plural of genus is genera.
Binomial Nomenclature: A system in which two nomens or names are employed. The first name must always be capitalized, and represents the genus to which the species belongs. The second name, never capitalized, is the specific name, sometimes called the trivial name. There can never be two species in the same genus with identical specific names.
Trinomens: After Linnaeus' time the concept of the subspecies was introduced. A trinomial name has three parts, the third part designating the subspecies.

Until about 100 years ago there was a great deal of confusion about the proper formal names of animals and plants. The situation was so chaotic that zoologists from around the world finally agreed to a set of rules for nomenclature, and vested authority for making decisions on disputed cases in an International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Botanists and other scientific groups now also have similar international commissions. In the listing below you will see mention of ICZN decisions affecting Linnaeus' names.

Credit for the authorship of a name is given to that person who first publishes a credible reference to it. Once published, a name may not be changed except to correct an error in accordance with the rules.

When you read "Homo sapiens [Linnaeus 1758]" that means that Linnaeus was the author or first publisher of the name Homo sapiens. If you should see "Eulemur mongoz [Linnaeus 1766]" then credit is also being given to Linnaeus for authorship even though he is not the author of the genus name "Eulemur" which was not coined until 1988 by Simmons and Rumpler. Authorship notation after a full species name pertains to the species only. The same is true in the case of a trinomial name, unless it is for the nominate form. For example, Linnaeus is the author of Eulemur macaco macaco, a nominate form, but he is not the author of another subspecies known as Eulemur macaco flavifrons. Regarding generic names, when you look in a book like Walker's Mammals of the World you will find at the headings for each genus something like "Lemur Linnaeus, 1758" and "Eulemur Simmons and Rumpler, 1988."

Over time as more and more species are found, and more about their natural biology is learned, taxonomists have the confidence to "revise" the taxonomy of a genus or family. When a species is "moved" into another genus it retains the original specific or trivial name. However, the ending of that name may be changed, under the rules of nomenclature, so that the Latin gender agrees with that of the new generic name. Thus, you will see below that the Linnaean name Simia capucina became Cebus capucinus, and Simia sciurea became Saimiri sciureus. Despite the change in ending, authorship remains vested in the original describer.

When a family of animals is subjected to intensive study by taxonomists (as is the case with primates today) the scientific names found in popular books may seem to vary widely. Depending upon the book you are reading the names, both scientific and common, may not match those given in the extensive listings of primates on this website. Unless you have found a name for a very recently described species, you will probably locate what you are looking for in a nearby genus. However, no attempt is made to show all the names of subspecies in these listings.

Names originally misspelled may sometimes be corrected. I suspect this was the case regarding mungoz and sphynx in the list below, but need to research this point further. I am also uncertain as to why there seems to be confusion over the situation with chimpanzee/orangutan and attributing the name troglodytes to Linnaeus and conserving his name satyrus. I will undoubtedly revise these comments after seeing a facsimile copy of Systema Naturae 1758 and reading the ICZN decision in the matter.

Disposition of Primate Names Used by Linné

Linnaeus named 42 species of primates. In the counts given below, two of the names fit two categories, so you see 44 items given. Of those 42 names we only use two today exactly as Linnaeus presented them. Of his species still recognized today, all but two have been moved to new genera, one to a new order.

Taxonomies change in response to more precise information.

Great Apes
Picture	Linnaen Name	Date Named	Now Known As	Common name	Taxonomic Notes from Smithsonian Database
	Homo sapiens	1758	Homo sapiens	Human	Linnaeus 1758
	Homo troglodytes	1758	Pan troglodytes	Chimpanzee	Simia troglodytes Blumenbach 1775. Pan Oken 1816. ICZN 1988. Simia given as original name by Smithsonian.
	Simia satyrus	1760	Pan troglodytes	Chimpanzee	Simia troglodytes Blumenbach 1775. Pan Oken 1816. ICZN 1988. Simia given as original name by Smithsonian.
	Simia satyrus	1760	Orangutan	Pongo pygmaeus	Pongo Lacépède 1799
Prosimians
Picture	Linnaen Name	Date Named	Now Known As	Common name	Taxonomic Notes from Smithsonian Database
	Lemur catta	1758	Ring-tailed Lemur	Lemur catta	Linnaeus 1758. Image from Animal Diversity Web
	Lemur macaco	1766	Black Lemur	Eulemur macaco	Eulemur Simons and Rumpler 1988. Type L. mongoz. Image from Bushhouse Madagascar. In this image, the male lemur is black, the female is brown.
	Lemur mungoz	1766	Mongoose lemur	Eulemur mongoz	Eulemur Simons and Rumpler 1988. Type L. mongoz. Image from Wikipedia.
	Lemur tardigradus	1758	Loris tardigradus	Red Slender Loris	Loris É. Geoffroy 1796. Type Lemur tardigradus. Image from Wikipedia.
	Simia syrichta	1758	Tarsius syrichta	Phillippine Tarsier	Tarsius Storr 1780. Image can be found at Wikipedia.
New World Monkeys
Picture	Linnaen Name	Date Named	Now Known As	Common name	Taxonomic Notes from Smithsonian Database
	Simia belzebul	1766	Alouatta belzebul	Redhanded Howler Monkey	Alouatta Lacépède 1799. Image from ambientebrasil. Note, this site is in Portuguese.
	Simia seniculus	1766	Alouatta seniculus	Red Howler Monkey	Alouatta Lacépède 1799.
	Simia paniscus	1758	Ateles paniscus	Black Spider Monkey, Red-faced	Ateles É. Geoffroy 1806. Type S. paniscus L. 1758. Image can be found at Conte créole.
	Simia jacchus	1758	Callithrix jacchus	Common Marmoset	Callithrix Erxleben 1777. Type. S. jacchus L. 1758. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Common Marmoset
	Simia apella, Simia fatuellus, and Simia trepida	1758, 1766, ?, respectively	Cebus apella	Tufted, Brown, or Black-Capped Capuchin	Cebus Erxleben 1777 type = Simia capucina L. 1758. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Tufted Capuchin
	Simia capucinus	1758	Cebus capucinus	White-headed, White-faced, or White-throated Capuchin	Cebus Erxleben 1777 type = Simia capucina L. 1758. Image can be found at Wikipedia: White-headed Capuchin.
	Simia rosalia	1766	Leontopithecus rosalia	Golden Lion Tamarin	Leontopithecus Lesson 1840. L. makikina = S. rosalia. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Golden Lion Tamarin.
	Simia pithecia	1766	Pithecia pithecia	White-faced Saki	Pithecia Desmarest 1804. Type S. pithecia L. 1766. Image can be found at Wikipedia: White-faced Saki
	Simia midas	1758	Saguinus midas	Red-handed Tamarin	Saguinus Hoffmannsegg 1807. Saguinus ursula = Simia midas. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Red-Handed Tamarin
	Simia oedipus	1758	Sanguinus oedipus	Cottontop Tamarin or Pinché Tamarin	Saguinus Hoffmannsegg 1807. Image can be found at Wikpedia: Cottontop Tamarin.
	Simia sciurea	1758	Saimiri sciureus	Common Squirrel Monkey	Saimiri Voigt, 1831. Type S. sciurea L. 1758. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Common Squirrel Monkey.
Old World Monkeys
Picture	Linnaen Name	Date Named	Now Known As	Common name	Taxonomic Notes from Smithsonian Database
	Simia cephus	1758	Cercopithecus cephus	Moustached Monkey	C. Linnaeus 1758 (where?) Type S. diana L. 1758. Designated a subgroup of Simia by Linnaeus. Simia suppressed by Opinion 114 of ICZN 1929. Image can be found at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
	Simia diana, Simia faunus	1758	Cercopithecus diana	Diana Monkey	C. Linnaeus 1758 (where?) Type S. diana L. 1758. Designated a subgroup of Simia by Linnaeus. Simia suppressed by Opinion 114 of ICZN 1929. Image can be found at humaterra.net. This site is in French.
	Simia nictitans	1766	Cercopithecus nictitans	Greater White-nosed Monkey	C. Linnaeus 1758 (where?) Type S. diana L. 1758. Designated a subgroup of Simia by Linnaeus. Simia suppressed by Opinion 114 of ICZN 1929. Image can be found at ecplanet.com. This site is in Italian.
	Simia aethiops (May also be Simia sabaea)	1766	Chlorocebus aethiops (May also be Chlorocebus sabaeus)	Vervet (Grivet, Savannah, or Green) Monkey	Chlorocebus Gray 1870. Type S. sabaea = S. aethiops. Image can be found at Primate Fact Sheets: Vervet (Chlorocebus).
	Simia cynomolgos	?	Macaca fascicularis	Crab-Eating Macaque, Cynomolgus Monkey, Long-tailed Macaque	The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Crab-Eating Macaque.
	Simia nemestrina	1766	Macaca nemestrina	Pig-tailed Macaque	Macaca Lacépède 1799. Type S. inuus = S.sylvanus. Image can be found at Primate Factsheets: Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina).
	Simia silenus (Simia veter?)	1758	Macaca silenus	Lion-tailed Macaque	Macaca Lacépède 1799. Type S. inuus = S.sylvanus. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Lion-tailed Macaque.
	Simia sylvanus (Simia inuus)	1758	Macaca sylvanus	Barbary Macaque	Macaca Lacépède 1799. Type S. inuus = S.sylvanus. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Barbary Macaque.
	Simia sphynx, Simia maimon	1758, 1766	Mandrillus sphynx	Mandrill	Mandrillus Ritgen 1824. Type S. maimon = S. sphinx. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Mandrill.
	Simia hamadryas	1777	Papio hamadryas	Hamadryas Baboon	Papio Erxleben 1777 = Cynocephalus Desmarest 1820. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Hamadryas Baboon.
	Simia cynocephalus	1758	Papio cynocephalus	Yellow Baboon	Seen by some taxonomists as a distinct species from Papio hamadryas. Image can be found at Wikipedia: Yellow Baboon
	Simia aygula	?	Presbytis comata	Grizzled Leaf-Monkey	Desmarest 1822. Orig. name Semnopithecus comatus. P. aygula is a nomen oblitum for Macaca fascicularis. No mention of Linnaeus found. Image can be found at Animalinfo.org.
No picture to show	Simia apedia	?	?	?	No information yet regarding disposition of this name.
No picture to show	Simia morta	?	?	?	No information yet regarding disposition of this name.
	Lemur volans	1758	Cynocephalus volans	Colugo, or flying lemur (although not a lemur at all)	Cynocephalus Boddaert 1768. Type L. volans L. 1758. (Flying Lemurs). Taxonomists now consider the Flying Lemurs closely related to the Primates but in their own Order Dermoptera. They are non-primate.