Conservation of neotropical primates: Threatened species and an analysis of primate diversity by country and region

Primates are important indicators for tropical forests as a fundamental component in the establishment of strategies for biodiversity conservation in biomes, regions and countries, Priority setting at the species' level is dependent on taxonomic studies and the evaluation of population status, The most recent listing of the Neotropical primates recognised the existence of 16 genera, 98 species and 202 species and subspecies, Sixteen of these primates are critically endangered, 19 are endangered, and a further 35 are vulnerable according to the Mace-Lande system recently adopted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Thirty-five percent of the Neotropical primate taxa are threatened, In this paper we review the conservation status of these threatened primates, and analyse their distributions in 21 countries and seven phytogeographic regions, evaluating richness, endemism and number of threatened taxa.