Black-Faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara Lorini and Persson, 1990 Brazil (2000, 2002, 2004) Barely three hundred black-faced lion tamarins survive today — almost all of them confined to a single small island off the coast of Brazil.

For over a century and a half, biologists heard rumors of an unknown primate living in seaside forests on the far southeastern coast of Brazil. Despite expeditions throughout the 20th century, nothing conclusive was found — until in 1990, two Brazilian researchers, Maria Lorini and Vanessa Persson, surveyed the island of Superagüi in the state of Paraná and discovered the black-faced lion tamarin, the fourth and least-known species of the genus Leontopithecus. Named Leontopithecus caissara after the caiçaras, the local people of the island, the black-faced lion tamarin survives only in low-lying coastal forests, including the specialized dune forests known as restingas and the swamp forests called caxetal on the island and mainland. Probably never common or widespread, today there are fewer than 400 black-faced lion tamarins, surviving in less than 300 km² of remnant forests. Recent surveys by IPÉ — Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas indicate a population of about 180 individuals on the island of Superagüi (11,000 ha) in the Superagüi National Park (33,928 ha), the most representative population. The researchers also found that its geographic range on the mainland is much more restricted than was previously thought. Like other lion tamarins, Leontopithecus caissara feeds mainly on small fruits and invertebrates, including insects, spiders and snails. They also drink the nectar of certain flowers, and will eat the leaf bases of young bromeliads, as well as certain seasonally available mushrooms. In addition to sometimes sheltering in clumps of bromeliads, the lion tamarins depend on these sturdy plants to provide habitat for their invertebrate prey, which they feel out and catch with nimble, grasping fingers. Bromeliads are thus a vital part of lion tamarin habitat, and their dense presence in untouched primary forest — such as the coastal forests and restingas of Superagüi — is one reason why this rare habitat is crucial to the survival of L. caissara and the other lion tamarins. John M. Aguiar, Alexandre T. Amaral, Cláudio B. Valladares-Pádua & Fabiana Prado

References Amaral, A. T., Prado, F., Valladares-Pádua, C. B., Marco Jr., P. and Scoss, L. M. In press. Population estimate for the black-faced lion tamarin (Leontopithecus caissara) on the Island of Superagüi, Guaraqueçaba, Paraná, Brazil. American Journal of Primatology. Ballou, J. D., Lacy, R. C., Kleiman, D. G., Rylands, A. B. and Ellis, S. (compilers). 1998. Leontopithecus II: Final Report. The Second Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 20–22 May 1997. Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN), Apple Valley, MN. Kleiman, D. G. and Rylands, A. B. (eds.). 2002. Lion Tamarins: Biology and Conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. Prado, F. and Valladares-Pádua, C. B. In press. Ecologia alimentar de um grupo de mico-leão-da-cara-preta, Leontopithecus caissara (Primates: Callitrichidae), no Parque Nacional de Superagüi, Guaraqueçaba — PR, Brasil. A Primatologia no Brasil — 8. Rylands, A. B. 1994. Mico-leão-da-cara-preta, Leontopithecus caissara Lorini & Persson, 1990. In: Livro Vermelho dos Mamíferos Brasileiros Ameaçados de Extinçáo, G. A. B. da Fonseca, A. B. Rylands, C. M. R. Costa, R. B. Machado & Y. L. R. Leite (eds.), pp.73-81. Fundaçáo Biodiversitas, Belo Horizonte. Schmidlin, L. A. J. 2004. Análise da disponibilidade de habitat para o mico-leão-da-cara-preta (Leontopithecus caissara Lorini & Persson, 1990) e identificaçáo de Áreas preferénciais para o manejo da espécie por técnicas de geoprocessamento. Master's thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba. Suggested citation: Aguiar, J. M., Amaral, A. T., Valladares-Pádua, C. B. and Prado, F. 2005. Black-Faced Lion Tamarin, Leontopithecus caissara Lorini and Persson, 1990. In: Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates 2004-2006, R. A. Mittermeier, C. Valladares-Pádua, A. B. Rylands, A. A. Eudey, T. M. Butynski, J. U. Ganzhorn, R. Kormos, J. M. Aguiar and S. Walker (eds.), p. 22. Report to IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG), International Primatological Society (IPS) and Conservation International (CI), Washington, DC.