Pitheciinae

The pitheciines are a subfamily of platyrrhines characterized by their craniodental adaptations for seed predation. The subfamily includes three genera, Pithecia, Chiropotes, and Cacajao. The pitheciines range in body size from 1.5 to 5 kilograms. Pithecia has a broad geographic range throughout the Amazon basin, while Chiropotes and Cacajao have more restricted ranges. Although all pitheciines exhibit a highly specialized dental anatomy for opening hard fruits and consume a heavily seed-based diet, they show considerable variation in social structure. Pithecia lives in small groups of 2 to 12 individuals, while Chiropotes and Cacajao have some of the largest groups of any Neotropical primates. Although the conservation outlook for many pitheciine populations is relatively good, several species are imperiled with hunting and anthropogenic habitat disturbance.