Mona monkey or mona guenon (Cercopithecus mona) is found in Ghana and Cameroon. This is has been introduced to the Lesser Antilles Islands of the Caribbean. In working with this species it is important to understand that several of the subspecies have now been raised to full species status. Consequently when one works with older literature one must be cautious.

The male length can reach 24 inches head and body length. The mona monkey has a brown upper back and a black lower back. The face is white, except for a black mask across the eyes. The chest and underside and the front of the front legs are white to pale white-yellow-orange.

Guenons (Cercopithecus genus) is found in tropical Africa. There are, depending on how subspecies are counted, about 25 species. This genus has almost doubled in size recently due to numerous instances of raising subspecies to full species levels. The genus is found primarily in Central Africa. It is found as far west as Ghana and Nigeria and as far east as Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. The males can be twice as big as the females. The smallest members of the genus can be about 13 inches in head and body length, while the largest can be up to about 28 inches in head and body length. Several of the better known species are listed here:

SPECIES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LOCATION
Cercopithecus aethiops (Green or Vervet) - Most of Africa
Cercopithecus ascanius (Black Cheeked) - South central Africa
Cercopithecus albogularis (White Throat) - East and southeast Africa
Cercopithecus cephus (Moustache) - Gabon & Zaire, etc
Cercopithecus erythrogaster (Red Belly) - Nigeria
Cercopithecus erythrotis (Russet Eared) - North Cameroon, etc
Cercopithecus diana (Diana Monkey) - West & central Africa
Cercopithecus hamlyni (Owl Faced) - Congo Basin
Cercopithecus l'hoesti (L'Hoest) - Central Africa
Cercopithecus mitis (Blue or Diademed) - South central Africa
Cercopithecus mona (Mona Monkey) - West and central Africa
Cercopithecus nictitans (Greater White Nose) - West, west central Africa
Cercopithecus neglectus (Brazzas Monkey) - Most of Africa
Cercopithecus petaurista (Less White Nose) - West Africa
Cercopithecus pogonias (Crowned) - Cameroon to Congo

C. erythrotis is sometimes considered a subspecies of C. cephus.
C. mitis and C. albogulatus might be forms of the same species. The Kingdon African mammal guide first published in 1997 has an excellent series of colored drawings for this genus. Since Mr. Kingdon is referenced several times in the mammal check list by Wilson Reeder for this genus, we can probably place great faith into his analyses of this genus.

Long tailed Old World monkeys and Guenons (Cercopithecinae) contains several genera including Cercopithecus (25 species), Chlorocebus(6 species), Erythrocebus(1), Miopithecus (2 species), and Allenopithecus(1 species). This group is found in Africa. Here there are thirty-five species in this group.

(The Genus Erythrocebus (Patas Monkey) can be placed in this group, or perhaps it could be placed in the previous group. We have placed it here.)

Old World Monkeys and Baboons (Cercopithecidae) form a large family with about 132 species of which about half are found in Africa and the other half are found in the Oriental and Indo-Australian region. This family has seen numerous new species recently due to raising subspecies to full species status. By grouping related species here, this family has been arbitrarily divided into four subfamilies to facilitate study.

The 2005 Wilson-Reeder World Check list of Mammals lists 132 species in this group. They do not divide this group into subfamilies in the beginning tables. However, they do divide this group into two subfamilies in the list. Ian Redmond in his Primate Family Tree also divides this family into two groups: Cercopithecinae and Colobinae.

Lemurs, Monkeys, Apes, and Man are combined into the single order of Primates. This order contains about 390 different species. The Wilson Reeder 2005 world check list of mammals lists 376 species. (They did not include the newer order Scandentia of tree shrews with its 20 species.)

Ian Redmond presents a taxonomy tree that involves the order, two sub-orders, several infraorders, several superfamilies, several families, and several subfamilies. We support this complicated and valuable analyses of the primate order. However, our mission is to help identify species, and we have reduced the five intermediate taxonomic levels between order and genus to two levels to facilitate a quick taxonomic drill down.

Mammals (Class Mammalia), together with the birds, are among the youngest of the classes of animals. In species count, mammals number about fifty-one hundred, trailing reptiles (approximately fifty-five hundred), fish (approximately eighteen thousand), and birds (approximately eighty-six hundred).

There are three sub-types of mammals:

monotremes, the most primitive:
Develop in reptilian-like eggs and suckle milk emerging (i.e., spiny anteater, duckbilled platypus)
marsupials
Newborn emerges very underdeveloped and continue to mature in a pouch on its mother's abdomen (i.e., opossums, koala, kangaroo)
placental
Embryo develops within the uterus of the female and is dependent on a placenta for nutrition and waste removal (i.e., humans, lions, monkeys)

About sixty-five million years ago, the Tertiary era produced thirty-five orders of mammals. Of this number, eighteen have survived to represent Earth's most diversified as well as its most highly developed classification of animals.

Extinction of mammals is fast becoming a serious issue. Duff and Lawson present a list of forty-one extinct species that reached extinction prior to 1800. These forty-one species are not acknowledged in the counts of the various families. Duff and Lawson also present a list of forty-six species including three gazelles, one zebra, one seal, one deer, and one wolf that have probably gone extinct since 1800. These forty-six species are included in the family counts. Science is adding about forty to fifty new species a year to the list. Many of these are the result of divisions of prior species; some are recent discoveries.

Mammals owe their survival to adaptive capabilities that include the ability to exploit whatever sources of food are available to them, as well as their ability to adjust to various climes. Food specialization influenced evolution to such a great extent that the teeth structure can and has been used to provide extensive information on the food needs and various lifestyles of extinct species.

Despite the vast diversity among mammals in terms of size, habitats and adaptations, they share without exception many characteristics such as:

a. body hair
b. mammary glands
c. certain skull characteristics
d. four limbs that permit speed
e. parallel not perpendicular limbs
f. compartmentalized internal organs
g. a four-chambered heart and pulmonary circulation

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

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