The Colombian white-faced capuchin was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae. It is a member of the family Cebidae, the family of New World monkeys containing capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys. It is the type species for the genus Cebus, the genus that includes all the capuchin monkeys. Until the 21st century the Panamanian white-faced capuchin, Cebus imitator, was considered conspecific with the Colombian white-faced capuchin, as the subspecies C. capucinus imitator. Some primatologists continue to consider the Panamanian and Colombian white-faced capuchins as a single species. In 2012 a study by Boubli, et al demonstrated that C. imitator and C. capucinus split up to 2 million years ago. Although the Panamanian white-faced capuchin is the most well-studied capuchin monkey species, as of 2014 there had been no field studies of the Colombian white-faced capuchin. Learn more about White-Faced Capuchin