Buffy-tufted marmoset

Buffy-tufted marmoset
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorrhini
Family:	Callitrichidae
Genus:	Callithrix
Species:	C. aurita
Binomial name
Callithrix aurita (E. Geoffroy in Humboldt, 1812)
Synonyms
chrysopyga Burmeister, 1854 coelestis Miranda Ribeiro, 1924 itatiayae Avila-Pires, 1959 petronius Miranda Ribeiro, 1924

The buffy-tufted marmoset (Callithrix aurita), also known as the buffy tufted-ear marmoset or white-eared marmoset, is a New World monkey that lives in the forests on the Atlantic coast of southeast Brazil. Of all the marmosets, it has the southernmost range.

The buffy-tufted marmoset resembles the common marmoset but is somewhat larger. It has grey-black skin, a touched tail and white ear-tufts which flop over more distinctly than the common marmoset's.

The buffy-tufted marmoset lives in coastal forests from sea-level up to 500 m. It is diurnal and arboreal, living almost all its life in the trees. It lives in small groups of two to eight animals.

Unlike most other marmosets, the buffy-tufted marmoset almost exclusively eats insects. It does not eat tree sap, which is why it has a very small snout.

Little is known about the buffy-tufted marmoset reproductive patterns. Gestation is approximately 170 days and births are typically of twin offspring.