Santa Sofia Island or Monkies Island

Squirrel monkeys are found widely throughout Central and South America. S. boliviensis is distributed throughout Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. S. b. boliviensis is found in Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia while S. b. peruviensis is found in only in Amazonian Peru (Groves 2001; Gold 2004). The Central American squirrel monkey, S. oerstedti, is found in Costa Rica (both subspecies) and Panama (S. o. oerstedti only) and is completely geographically separated from the other species of squirrel monkeys found in South America (Groves 2001). Once long thought to be separated from the other South American species because of introduction into Central America by early humans, molecular data prove that S. oerstedti is, in fact, endemic to this region (Cropp & Boinski 2000). S. sciureus is distributed across several countries: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. The most restricted in range of the squirrel monkeys is S. vanzolinii which can be found only on the left bank of Lago Mamirauá and at the mouth of the Rio Japura in Brazil (Groves 2001). S. ustus ranges in Brazil south of the Amazon (Groves 2001).