L'Hoest's Guenon

About the L'Hoest's Guenon

L'Hoest's monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti), also known as the mountain monkey, is a guenon found in the upper eastern Congo Basin. They mostly live in mountainous forest areas in small, female-dominated groups. They have a dark coat and can be distinguished by a characteristic white beard.

Philip Lutley Sclater originally gave the specific name Cercopithecus lhoesti in honor of François L'Hoëst, director of the Antwerp Zoo, in 1898. L'Hoest's monkey is currently classified as a member of the genus Allochrocebus. Formerly, L'Hoest's monkey included the taxon preussi from the Gulf of Guinea region as a subspecies, but it is now considered a separate species, Preuss's monkey (A. preussi).

L'Hoest's monkey was formerly included in the genus Cercopithecus. Molecular studies published by Anthony Tosi in 2003 had raised doubts about the classification of L'Hoest's monkey as a member of the genus Cercopithecus. The studies indicated that L'Hoest's monkey (along with the others in its species group) is more closely related to the vervet monkeys of the genus Chlorocebus and the patas monkey (genus Erythrocebus) than to the other guenons of the genus Cercopithecus. Wikipedia →