New Primate South Sudan
African Primates 19(1): 45-52 (2025)
A New Primate for South Sudan: Boutourline’s Blue Monkey Cercopithecus mitis boutourlinii Giglioli, 1887
By Megan Claase¹, Thomas M. Butynski², Willem Krynauw¹, Matthias de Beenhouwer³, Mike Fay¹, and Yvonne A. de Jong²
¹Boma and Badingilo National Parks, African Parks, Juba, South Sudan
²Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program, Nanyuki, Kenya
³African Parks Network, Johannesburg, South Africa
Boutourline’s Blue Monkey Cercopithecus mitis boutourlinii Giglioli, 1887 is considered to be endemic to western Ethiopia. The limits of its geographic distribution are poorly understood. The reported geographic distribution extends from near the northern end of Lake Turkana, northwards along the western side of the Eastern (Gregory) Rift Valley, with two, presumably isolated, populations between Lake Fincha and Lake Tana, northwestern Ethiopia. Here we present the first record for C. m. boutourlinii in South Sudan, in Boma National Park, southeastern South Sudan.
Adult male Boutourline’s blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis boutourlinii, Boma Forest, southeastern South Sudan. Photograph by Megan Claase.