Mura's saddleback tamarin (''Leontocebus fuscicollis mura'') is a subspecies of

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

that was first seen by scientists in 2007 in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The monkey, which is mostly gray and brown, weighs , is tall, and has a tail. According to the discoverers of this new subspecies, Mura's saddleback tamarin is threatened by several planned development projects in the region, including a proposed gas pipeline, two hydroelectric dams currently in the beginning stages of construction, and, most notably, a major highway cutting through the Amazon that is currently being paved. Conservationists fear the highway could fuel wider deforestation in the Amazon over the next two decades.

References

Leontocebus Subspecies Primates of Brazil Endemic mammals of Brazil Mammals described in 2009 {{newworld-monkey-stub