Hiramatsu, C., Tsutsui, T., Matsumoto, Y., Aureli, F., Fedigan, L. M. and Kawamura, S. (2005). Color vision polymorphism in wild capuchins (Cebus capucinus) and spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in Costa Rica. American Journal of Primatology, 67 (4): 447 - 461.

As a first step towards the understanding of vision-behavior relationships, we conducted color-vision typing by analyzing fecal DNA for two wild groups of white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and one group of black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) inhabiting Santa Rosa National Park of Costa Rica. Three and two pigment types were found in the respective species. In one Cebus group and the Ateles group, all alleles were present, whereas in the other Cebus group only two alleles were found with one allele predominating, likely due to inbreeding effect, indicating that wild populations can exhibit a variety of allele compositions. This result also suggests that color vision polymorphism can be easily distorted by natural factors skewing population structure such as inbreeding. The numbers in the tables above are updated after publication of this paper.