Leuscistic macaque from Southern Western Ghats
Description
Partial albinism or leucism is reported to occur due to recessive genes exhibiting partial or total loss of pigmentation in skin or fur but maintaining normal colouration in the eyes. We report opportunistic first sighting data of a leucistic adult male bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata diluta) conspicuous amongst 90-100 individuals from Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, South India. The data was recorded in terms of the time of the sighting, the number of individuals, and phenotypes of individuals in September 2022 with the happenstance of a leucistic individual macaque. We also provide data tables and references on anomalous pigmentation of primates worldwide to understand morphism in primates.
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Upon encountering the troop, the data was recorded in terms of the time of the sighting, the number of individuals, phenotypes of individuals and the time encounter ended. The encounter of the leucistic individual was opportunistic and unplanned thus, the data available here is limited. The observation was aided by Nikon 10-22x50 Aculon A211 Binoculars and One Plus-6 Mobile phone camera. All the bibliographic searches were conducted on Google Scholar using search strings and keywords like Leucism, albinism, colour aberration, and morphism in monkeys. Only articles with clear-cut descriptions, definitions and photographs were considered and included for Table 1 review.