Sapajus

Sapajus is a genus of robust, or tufted, capuchin monkeys in the family Cebidae. Formerly all capuchin monkeys were placed in the genus Cebus; the genus Sapajus was erected in 2012 by Jessica Lynch Alfaro and colleagues to separate the robust capuchins, formerly the Cebus apella group, from the gracile capuchins, formerly the Cebus capucinus group, which remain in Cebus. Genetic studies led by Lynch Alfaro concluded that the robust and gracile capuchin genera diverged about 6.2 million years ago, and that capuchins split from their nearest relative, the squirrel monkeys, over 13 million years ago. The robust capuchins evolved in the Atlantic forest and, about 400,000 years ago in the late Pleistocene, began to expand northwards into the Cerrado and the Amazon, where adaptations for durophagy let them exploit hard nuts, palm fruit and unripe fruit. The species and subspecies within Sapajus are not universally agreed.