This volume represents a comprehensive examination of the newly recognized callimico marmoset
clade which includes the smallest anthropoid primates on earth. It will explore these
diminutive primates in their entirety with sections on phylogeny taxonomy and functional
anatomy behavioral ecology reproductive physiology as well as address critical conservation
issues and the need for conservation action. The topics specifically selected for this volume
are pivotal for understanding the evolutionary adaptations and divergence of any primate group
and especially one as diverse and curious as this. The discoveries of new taxa over the last
fifteen years along with new genetic data have transformed this group from three genera (one
with only a distant relationship to the others) and five recognized species to five closely
related genera comprising at least 22 species. This volume will be the first to synthesize
data on these newly recognized taxa. This volume is an international endeavor bringing
together primary callimico and marmoset researchers from around the globe including Brazil and
the United States as well as Greece Italy Switzerland and Germany. One of the merits of this
volume is that it will serve as a readily accessible work that includes the major findings of
several key international researchers whose work has not been easily available to
English-speaking scholars. In addition it draws together lab and field researchers
geneticists anatomists and behaviorists in an integrated volume that will provide the most
detailed and thorough work on either callimicos or marmosets to date. This volume will also
provide a timely forum for identifying future avenues of action necessary for more fully
understanding and protecting this intriguing primate radiation.
