The capped langur (''Trachypithecus pileatus'') is a
primate
Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
species in the family
Cercopithecidae
Old World monkeys are primates in the family (biology), family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genus, genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus ''Papio''), red colo ...
native to subtropical and tropical dry
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
s in
northeast India
Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
and
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
. It is arboreal and feeds on 43 plant species.
Taxonomy
The capped langur was described by
Edward Blyth
Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta.
He set about updating the museum ...
in 1843. Four subspecies of the capped langur are recognized as of 2005:
[
*''T. p. pileatus''
*''T. p. durga''
*''T. p. brahma''
*''T. p. tenebricus''
]
Distribution and habitat
The capped langur occurs in northeast India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, where it inhabits subtropical and tropical dry forest
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
s.[
]
Behavior and ecology
Capped langurs observed in Arunachal Pradesh spent nearly 40% of the day time feeding on leaves
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
, flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s and fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
s. Leaves contributed nearly 60% of the diet, and they foraged on as many as 43 different plant species.
References
{{Authority control
capped langur
Primates of South Asia
Mammals of Bangladesh
Mammals of Bhutan
Mammals of Myanmar
Mammals of China
Mammals of India
Mammals of Nepal
Monkeys in India
Vulnerable fauna of Asia
capped langur
capped langur
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot