EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

A Langur By Any Name

Terai Grey Langur (Semnopithecus hector), Family Cercopithecidae
Royal Chitwan National Park, Chitwan District, Nepal

Explanation:  In a casual repose, this primate knows not that it has been named, renamed, and renamed again.  For the moment, let's still call this a Terai Grey Langur, found in Himalayan foothills and mountains in parts of Bhutan, Nepal, and India.  

It was once considered a subspecies of the Northern Plains Grey Langur (Semnopithecus entellus).  But it is now treated as a separate species, the Terai Grey Langur (Semnophithecus hector), and, recognized as such, is listed by IUCN as "near threatened" with a suite of threats including habitat loss to housing development, mining, logging, agriculture, roadways, and other factors. 

However ... somewhat recently, new data suggest that the Northern Plains Grey Langur -- I mean, the Terai Grey Langur -- is not a separate species at all, but is to be merged with the three other Himalayan langur species of genus Semnopithecus into one overall species, Semnopithecus schistaceus, the Hanuman langur, also called the Nepal Grey Langur whom we previously visited in an EPOW episode of Bhutan.

Whew. 

Note the use of a long, prehensile tail to give balance and
stability high in the tree canopy.

Mom with child.
Truly a langur by any other name.

Information:
     Arekar, K., S. Sathyakumar, and K.P. Karanth.  2021. Integrative taxonomy confirms the species status of the Himalayan langurs, Semnopithecus schistaceus Hodgson, 1840.  Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 59(2):543-556.