© 1985 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Paternal Care in New World Primates1
National Zoological Park, Smithsoman Institution Washington, D C. 20008
Extensive parental care is well developed in several genera of New World primates (genera aCallicebus, Aotus, Callimico, Calltthrix, Cebuella, Leontopithecus, Saguinus) including most of the indirect and direct paternal care behaviors described by Kleiman and Malcolm (1981). Paternal care is correlated with a monogamous (and perhaps polyandrous) mating system and a small group size. Additionally, in genera (e.g., Callithrix) which have a higher reproductive rate and tolerate a larger group size, subadult and juvenile offspring of the breeding pair and perhaps unrelated individuals may contribute substantially to the rearing of infants.
Both within and across genera, there is considerable variability in the type, quantity, and distribution of care provided by the mother, father, and other individuals in the family group. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the basis of this variability and to evaluate the degree to which we can make statements about the evolution of paternal care in this primate radiation.
There are few field studies of those species of monogamous New World primates which exhibit extensive paternal care. Thus, it is currently impossible to correlate the observed variability in paternal care with ecological factors. Also, the taxonomy of the New World primates is in flux which makes phylogenetic interpretation difficult (Rosenberg, 1981). As a result, the following discussion will be based mainly on results from captive studies, and will be concerned with defining those factors that create variability in observed levels of paternal care, both within and across genera.