Sighting of Arunachal Macaque Macaca Munzala Sinha Et Al., 2005 (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan
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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Note Sighting of Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., 2005 (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan Sonam Tobgay, Kumbu Dorji & Norbu Yangdon 26 April 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 6 | Pages: 13805–13807 DOI: 10.11609/jot.3332.11.6.13805-13807 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13805–13807 Note Sighting of Arunachal Macaque bengalensis; Assamese Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., 2005 Macaca assamensis; Rhesus (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) Macaque Macaca mulata; in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan Himalayan Langur Semnopithecus ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) schistaceus; Golden Langur ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Sonam Tobgay 1 , Kumbu Dorji 2 & Trachypithecus geei and Capped PLATINUM Norbu Yangdon 3 Langur Trachypithecus pileatus OPEN ACCESS (Wangchuk et al. 2004; Choudhury 1,2,3 Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Department of Forest and Park 2008). Considering the proximity Services, Phongmey, Trashigang, Bhutan. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), and contnuity of forest cover along 2 [email protected], [email protected] borders of Eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, Arunachal Macaque is also likely to occur in Bhutan (Sinha et al. 2006; Kumar et al. 2008). Although sightng Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., of Arunachal Macaque in Trashi Yangtse and Trashigang 2005, described from the Indian state of Arunachal districts at an elevaton of 900m was reported Pradesh, is amongst the several discoveries from the (Choudhury 2008), its presence and distributon in region during second millennia (Mishra et al. 2004; Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) which is connected to Sinha et al. 2005). Arunachal Pradesh remains unknown (SWS 2016). Morphologically, it is distnguished from rest of According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the sinica species group with predominantly dark Arunachal Macaque is listed under the endangered crown patch, characteristc facial marks on the temple category (Kumar et al. 2008) and forehead with pale collar hair around the neck To explore the possible occurrence of the species in and distnctve relatve short tail (Sinha et al. 2005). SWS, we conducted surveys in the month of December Arunachal Macaque is mostly terrestrial and occurs 2016 and January 2017. Sakteng and Joenkhar ranges at an alttudinal range of 2000–3500 m (Sinha et al. under SWS were classifed into diferent vegetaton 2005). Species is relatvely tolerant to anthropogenic types based on Bhutan land use and land cover 2010 actvites and dwells in an array of habitats, including data. Further, probable sightng sites for any kind of degraded broadleaf forest, degraded open scrub forest, primates within the study area were gathered from the agricultural areas, and undisturbed oak and conifer local inhabitants who are transhumant by profession forest (Sinha et al. 2005). In India, species was reported and have sighted the primates in recent past during to occur in western Arunachal Pradesh with distributon their stay in the wild while herding livestock. Survey mostly restricted in Tawang and West Kameng districts was conducted based on direct observaton along the of the state (Sinha et al. 2005, 2006; Kumar et al. 2008) sightng sites suggested by the local people and in Six species of non-human primates are known to randomly selected suitable vegetaton/habitat types. exist in Bhutan. These include Slow Loris Nyctcebus During the fourteen day survey, a troop of macaques DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3332.11.6.13805-13807 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8DA429AA-E660-4E33-A774-EB8B148EC0C4 Editor: Mewa Singh, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India. Date of publicaton: 26 April 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #3332 | Received 07 February 2017 | Final received 25 July 2018 | Finally accepted 12 April 2019 Citaton: Tobgay, S., K. Dorji & N. Yangdon (2019). Sightng of Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., 2005 (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(6): 13805–13807; htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3332.11.6.13805-13807 Copyright: © Tobgay et al 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Acknowledgements: Authors would like to thank the management of Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary and staf of Sakteng and Jeonkhar Range Ofce for making this survey possible within a short period of tme. 13805 Arunachal Macaque in Sakteng WS Tobgay et al. Image 1. Features based on which the species was confrmed: A - Prognathous head | B - Prominent pale-yellow patch | C - Pale skin around the eye | D - Dark brown facial skin | E - Dorsal ring of lighter colored hair between the head and trunk | F - Dark brown to chocolate color coat | G - White in butock area as suggested by Anwaruddin Choudhury, 2008 | H - Distnctve in relatve tail length, which is intermediate between those of Tibetan and Western Assamese Macaques as suggested by Sinha et al. 2005. © Authors. Figure 1. Macaca munzla sightng site in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary and other regions. 13806 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13805–13807 Arunachal Macaque in Sakteng WS Tobgay et al. was sighted at Joenkhar-teng (alttude 1723m) in the Chetry, D., U. Borthakur & R.K. Das (2015). Short note on frst mixed broadleaved forest near the Gamri River (Fig. 1; distributon record of White-cheeked Macaque Macaca leucegenys from India. Asian Primates Journal 5(1): 45–47. Image 1). Choudhury, A. (2008). Primates of Bhutan and Observatons of Hybrid We looked for distnct characteristcs of the species Langurs. Primate Conservaton 23(1): 65–73. Kumar, S.R., N. Gama, R. Raghunath, A. Sinha & C. Mishra (2008). In in the photo and found its resemblance to Arunachal search of the munzala: distributon and conservaton status of the Macaque. For further confrmaton we consulted newly discovered Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala. Oryx 42(3): numerous literatures in primates of Bhutan and nearby 360–366. htps://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605308006121 Li, C., C. Zhao & P.F. Fan (2015). White-cheeked Macaque (Macaca region (Sinha 2004; Sinha et al. 2005, 2006; Wangchuk leucegenys): a new macaque species from Modog, southeastern et al. 2004; Choudhury 2008; Kumar et al. 2008; Biswas Tibet. American Journal of Primatology 77(7): 753–766. htps://doi. et al. 2011; Chetry et al. 2015; Li et al. 2015) and also org/10.1002/ajp.22394 Mishra, C., M.D. Madhusudan & A. Data (2004). The High Alttude sought an identfcaton from Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury Wildlife of Western:A Survey Report, CERC Technical Report No. 8. and other experts by sending the photographs with other Nature Conservaton Foundaton, Internatonal Snow Leopard Trust necessary morphological descripton of the species. and Wildlife Conservaton Society (India Program), Mysore. Sinha, A. (2004). In search of the Arunachal macaque: A preliminary On the account of our observaton, photographs survey of the status,demography and behavioural ecology of a and expert’s comment, we conclude that the species potentally new macaque species in western Arunachal Pradesh, recorded at Joenkhar-teng under Joenkhar range is northeastern India, Unpublished Report,. Wildlife Conservaton Society (India Program), Bangalore. an Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., Sinha, A., A. Data, M.D. Madhusudan & C. Mishra (2005). Macaca 2005. Local people call it as a ‘Naka-Zala’ (Brami: Forest munzala: a new species from western Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. Internatonal Journal of Primatology 26(4): Monkey) and Borang-Zala (Sharchokpa: Forest Monkey) 977–988. Including the sightng of Macaca munzala, SWS is Sinha, A., R.S. Kumar, N. Gama, M.D. Madhusudan & C. Mishra (2006). home to 38 species of mammals and hope that