Cottontop tamarin
New World monkeys are sometimes also called Neotropical primates and are native to Central and South America. They belong to the infraorder Platyrrhini, based on their round, sid-facing nostrils. The smallest monkey in this group is the 100 gram pygmy marmoset. The largest species are spider and woolly monkeys, weighing up to 12 kilograms. New World monkeys are classified into two general groups, callitrichids and cebids.
Callitrichids include marmosets and tamarins. They are small, diurnal, squirrel-like monkeys. Some distinguishing characteristics include claws rather than nails, lack of a prehensile tail, weight of less than 1 kilogram. Usually only the dominant female breeds. Her pheromones suppress ovulation of subordinate females in the group. Twin births are most common and infants are cared for by both parents, but carried by the male most of the time. Social structure among callitrichids varies from male/ female pairs to multi-male/ multi-female.
Cebids are larger than callitrichids and some possess a prehensile tail. They include owl monkeys, titis, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, sakis, uakaris, howlers, spider monkeys, and woolly monkeys. This group of monkeys includes such diversity that it is difficult to generalize.
Squirrel monkey