Introduction

The conservation of Neotropical primates is compromised by a lack of information on their distributions (Hirsch et al., 2002). The black-and-gold howler monkey, Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812), has a large range — from eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay and northern Argentina to central and southern Brazil, from the states of Piauí and Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul (Hirsch et al., 1991). It is found mainly in forests and woodlands in the Cerrado, Pantanal, Chaco and Pampa biomes (Hirsch et al., 2003), in continuous forest, gallery forest, and flooded forests (Brown and Zunino, 1994; Eisenberg and Redford, 1999; Zunino et al., 1996, 2001).

The northern limit of its distribution was recently extended to 10°S, following the discovery of groups in the Chapada das Mangabeiras, Piauí (Flesher, 2001). Its possible occurrence in Uruguay (Department of Artigas, 31°S) would also extend its southern limit. The presence of this species in the state of Rio Grande do Sul was only recorded in the beginning of the past decade in Alegrete (Bicca-Marques, 1990), and until recently only a few populations have been recorded from the Campanha region. Following a broad survey of all of Rio Grande do Sul (south of Santa Catarina), Codenotti and Silva (2004; Codenotti et al., 2002) recorded A. caraya throughout its western half, in the physiographic regions of Alto Uruguai (western part), Planalto Médio (western part), Missões, and Campanha.

Methods and Study Area

We found Alouatta caraya during an expedition in August – September 2003 to the municipality of Guaraciaba, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Our aim was to find a study site and habituate a group of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) for an ecological and behavioral study, since we knew that it occurs in the Brazilian pine forest (mixed umbrophilous forest) found in western Santa Catarina (Klein, 1978).

Our study area was the district of Ouro Verde, about 30 km west of the city of Guaraciaba. The vegetation there is typically seasonal semideciduous forest (Klein, 1978). Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia) is scarce, but found in some places as this is a transition region. The area is bisected by the Rio Maria Preta (tributary of the left bank of the Rio Peperiguaçu), marking the limit between the municipalities of Guaraciaba and São José do Cedro. The landscape is a mix of pasture and corn and bean plantations, with the forest cover restricted to a few small remnants, mostly on the banks of the Rio Maria Preta and other small streams.

Results and Discussion

The first group was sighted on 25 August 2003, resting in a Brazilian pine, in a forest fragment (26°30.731′S, 53°41.117′W) connected to the riparian forest of the Rio Maria Preta. There were five of them: one adult male, two adult females and two juveniles. Another group was seen on 12 September 2003, in an isolated fragment close to the first (c. 300 m). A few sparse trees provided a scanty connection between the two forest fragments. We were unable to count the entire group in this case, since they spread out when they saw us. We saw an adult male and two adult females, but the group was certainly larger.

This is the first record of A. caraya in Santa Catarina. This is not unexpected, however. following the surveys of Codenotti and Silva (2004) in Rio Grande do Sul. In some areas they found A. caraya to be sympatric — overlapping in its range — with A. guariba, and this might well be the case in Santa Catarina. A. guariba has been confirmed for the municipality of São Miguel do Oeste, near Guaraciaba (see Hirsch et al., 2003).

Black-horned capuchin monkeys (Cebus nigritus) also occur in Santa Catarina, and are sympatric with A. caraya in the district of Ouro Verde, as they are in Tobuna (Brown and Zunino, 1994) and Foz do Iguaçu (Parera and Bosso, 1992). We did not see them in the same forest patches, however. The capuchin group we sighted was in an isolated fragment (26°31.015′S, 53°39.970′W) about 1 km away.

The nearest municipalities in southern Brazil where blackand- gold howlers have been recorded previously are Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná (Hirsch et al., 2003), and Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul (Codenotti et al., 2002; Codenotti and Silva, 2004), about 160 km north and 225 km south from Guaraciaba, respectively. Black howlers also occur at Puerto Iguazú, Paraguay, along the Brazilian frontier (Parera and Bosso, 1992). In Argentina, the closest record is in the municipality of Tobuna, Misiones (Brown and Zunino, 1994), about 50 km west from our locality (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.

The new locality for the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya), municipality of Guaraciaba, and the nearest localities where the species has been recorded previously.

The discovery of A. caraya at this locality is not unexpected, since it is within the known potential limit of its geographical distribution (Fig. 2). It emphasizes, however, the lack of primatological studies in the region, and the urgency of conducting more detailed and intensive studies there in order to achieve a better knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of primates for their conservation in the state of Santa Catarina.

Figure 2.

Geographic distribution of black-and-gold and brown howler monkeys (adapted from Hirsch et al., 2003). The new locality is indicated by the arrow.