Presbytis
Ten to fifteen species, eight of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.
The taxonomy of this genus has constantly changed over the years, with many of the now-universally-accepted species having been lumped together. It is likely that more of the subspecies of various species listed below will be elevated to full species in the future. There has also been dispute over the divisions of species between the genera
Presbytis and
Trachypithecus.
As a group the common collective names in use for
Presbytis species are "langur", "leaf monkey", and "surili". They can all be used interchangeably. For some reason I tend to use "langur" for
Trachypithecus species and "leaf monkey" for
Presbytis species.
Grizzled Leaf Monkey Presbytis comata
Monotypic. The subspecies
fredericae is no longer considered valid.
Endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, with
comata in west Java and
fredericae in central Java if the two subspecies are recognised.
Photo by
@Sicarius at Ragunan Zoo, Indonesia.
West Javan surili (Presbytis comata comata) - ZooChat
Photo by
@Javan Rhino at Howletts Wild Animal Park, UK.
Grizzled leaf monkey | ZooChat
Raffles' Leaf Monkey Presbytis femoralis
Monotypic.
Formerly there were three subspecies (
femoralis, percura,
robinsoni), but in 2020 a genetic study found that they were all quite distinct from one another and were not each others' closest relatives. They were therefore split into three distinct monotypic species (
P. femoralis, P. percura, and
P. robinsoni). The study can be read here:
Faecal DNA to the rescue: Shotgun sequencing of non-invasive samples reveals two subspecies of Southeast Asian primates to be Critically Endangered species | Scientific Reports
Various other species were formerly (much earlier) also lumped under the Banded Leaf Monkey, including the Mitred Leaf Monkey group of Sumatra (
P. melalophos etc), the Sarawak Langur
P. chrysomelas, the White-thighed Leaf Monkey
P. siamensis, etc.
Found in the south of Peninsular Malaysia and on Singapore.
Photo by
@Nadchew_ in the wild, Singapore.
Raffles Banded Langur - ZooChat
Photo by
@toto98 in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia, showing the whole body.
Raffles' banded langur (Presbytis femoralis) - ZooChat
Mitred Leaf Monkey Presbytis melalophos
Four subspecies:
bicolor, melalophos, mitrata, sumatrana.
Has formerly been treated as a subspecies of the Banded Leaf Monkey
Presbytis femoralis. All four of the subspecies above have been elevated to full species based largely on range and colouration. However even within single populations they are extremely variable in colouration and so I have retained them as subspecies here for simplicity (due to the difficulties of determining species in captive animals). Two of the (sub)species -
bicolor and
sumatrana - are basically black and white in colour; neither of these appear to be depicted in the Zoochat galleries. The other two (sub)species -
melalophos and
mitrata - are generally reddish and grey but range through buff to white; there are various forms of these two in the Zoochat galleries, although I wouldn't be confident in assigning any to a particular subspecies based on the zoo's labelling.
Endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with roughly
bicolor in east-central;
melalophos in the west;
mitrata in the south; and
sumatrana in the north.
Photo by
@LaughingDove in the wild, Sumatra (subspecies
melalophos).
Black-crested Sumatran Langur - ZooChat
Photo by
@Vision at Batu Secret Zoo, Indonesia (labelled as
Presbytis mitrata).
Silver surili, Presbytis mitrata | ZooChat
Photo by
@devilfish at Taman Safari Bogor, Indonesia (labelled as a "Depigmented Mitred Surili", a name which appears to be used only by Zootierliste and refers to
Presbytis (melalophos) mitrata).
Depigmented mitred surili, June 2016 | ZooChat
Natuna Island Leaf Monkey Presbytis natunae
Monotypic.
Has formerly been treated as a subspecies of the Banded Leaf Monkey
P. femoralis (and variously of species then split from
femoralis including the White-thighed Leaf Monkey
P. siamensis and Mitred Leaf Monkey
P. melalophos).
Endemic to the Natuna Islands of Indonesia. It is found only on the main island of Natuna Besar.
Photo by
@devilfish at Ragunan Zoo, Indonesia.
Natuna island surili, June 2016 | ZooChat
Robinson's Leaf Monkey Presbytis robinsoni
Monotypic.
Formerly treated as one of three subspecies of the Banded Leaf Monkey
P. femoralis.
Found on the Thai-Malay Peninsula, from southern Burma and Thailand south to the northwest corner of Peninsular Malaysia.
Photo by
@Chlidonias in the wild, Thailand.
Banded Leaf Monkey (Presbytis femoralis robinsoni) | ZooChat
Maroon Leaf Monkey Presbytis rubicunda
Five subspecies:
carimatae, chrysea, ignita, rubicunda, rubida.
Endemic to Borneo:
carimatae on Karimata Island off south-west Kalimantan;
chrysea in eastern Sabah;
ignita up the western side of the island (Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, and northern Kalimantan);
rubicunda in eastern Kalimantan; and
rubida in southwest Kalimantan.
Photo by
@LaughingDove in the wild, Sabah (Malaysia) (subspecies
chrysea).
Maroon Langur - Danum Valley | ZooChat
White-thighed Leaf Monkey Presbytis siamensis
Four subspecies:
cana, paenulata, rhionis, siamensis.
In the past has also been treated as a subspecies of the Banded Leaf Monkey
P. femoralis. At least some of the above subspecies may prove to be distinct species. A 2020 genetic study on the subspecies of
P. femoralis (linked earlier in this post) found in addition that a faecal sample thought to be from the Sumatran subspecies
P. s. cana was quite different genetically to the subspecies
P. s. siamensis; however there remained the possibility that the sample was misidentified.
Found in the southern part of the Thai-Malay Peninsula and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra:
cana in east-central Sumatra (south Riau Province) and on Kundur Island;
paenulata in north Riau Province on Sumatra;
rhionis on Bintan and Batam Islands in the Riau Archipelago off east Sumatra; and
siamensis on the Thai-Malay Peninsula.
Photo by
@Chlidonias in the wild, Peninsular Malaysia (subspecies
siamensis).
White-thighed Langur (Presbytis siamensis) - ZooChat
Thomas' Leaf Monkey Presbytis thomasi
Monotypic.
Endemic to northern Sumatra in Indonesia.
Both photos below by
@LaughingDove in the wild, Indonesia.
Thomas' Langur Sitting on the Trail - ZooChat
Thomas' Langur - ZooChat