Mico (genus)

Mico is a genus of New World monkeys of the family Callitrichidae, the family containing marmosets and tamarins. The genus was formerly considered a subgenus of the genus Callithrix. Mico differs from Callithrix in dental morphology, genetics and geographic distribution: Callithrix species are distributed in eastern Brazil (mainly the Atlantic Forest), while Mico species are distributed in the Amazon rainforest south of the lower Amazon and Madeira Rivers, though a single species, the black-tailed marmoset, also occurs in the Pantanal and Chaco. Roosmalens' dwarf marmoset (Mico humilis) was briefly considered to be a member of a new monotypic genus, Callibella, due mainly to differences in size, genetics, and its bearing of a single young rather than the two that marmosets usually bear. Roosmalens' dwarf marmoset is significantly smaller than the Mico species, being about midway between the typical Mico species and the pygmy marmoset, Cebuella pygmaea. Mico species differ from the tamarins of the genus Saguinus in that Mico has enlarged incisor teeth the same size as the canine teeth which are used for gouging holes in trees to extract exudates. Species level taxonomy within Mico has also changed significantly in recent decades. Earlier authorities usually treated all as subspecies of M. argentatus (including the bare-eared taxa) or M. humeralifera (including the hairy-eared taxa), or even suggested all were subspecies of M. argentatus. Recent authorities have pointed out that several of the taxa are highly distinctive, and following the phylogenetic species concept all previous subspecies were proposed raised to species status in 2001. This has generally been followed since then.