The Scientist

This is an interesting development in zoonoses.  The image that accompanies the report, however, is not of a titi monkey (the speciose New World monkey genus Callicebus in the family Pitheciidae); rather, you have provided a picture of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldi, a member of the New World primate subfamily Callitrichinae).  While the genera names Callicebus and Callimico appear similar, the two taxonomic groups are not very closely related; it is thought they last shared a common ancestor approximately 26.0 million years ago (Opazo et al. 2006. Mol.Phylogenet.Evol. 40: 274-280).  On the Taxonomy Fail Index (TFI: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09... ), which is calculated as T/H, where T = time (in millions of years) since species A and B shared a common ancestor, and H = time (in millions of years) since human and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor (i.e., approx. 6 million years ago), confusing Callimico with Callicebus produces a score of 26/6 = 4.33.

This is an interesting development in zoonoses.  The image that accompanies the report, however, is not of a titi monkey (the speciose New World monkey genus Callicebus in the family Pitheciidae); rather, you have provided a picture of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldi, a member of the New World primate subfamily Callitrichinae).  While the genera names Callicebus and Callimico appear similar, the two taxonomic groups are not very closely related; it is thought they last shared a common ancestor approximately 26.0 million years ago (Opazo et al. 2006. Mol.Phylogenet.Evol. 40: 274-280).  On the Taxonomy Fail Index (TFI: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09... ), which is calculated as T/H, where T = time (in millions of years) since species A and B shared a common ancestor, and H = time (in millions of years) since human and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor (i.e., approx. 6 million years ago), confusing Callimico with Callicebus produces a score of 26/6 = 4.33.

This is an interesting development in zoonoses.  The image that accompanies the report, however, is not of a titi monkey (the speciose New World monkey genus Callicebus in the family Pitheciidae); rather, you have provided a picture of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldi, a member of the New World primate subfamily Callitrichinae).  While the genera names Callicebus and Callimico appear similar, the two taxonomic groups are not very closely related; it is thought they last shared a common ancestor approximately 26.0 million years ago (Opazo et al. 2006. Mol.Phylogenet.Evol. 40: 274-280).  On the Taxonomy Fail Index (TFI: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09... ), which is calculated as T/H, where T = time (in millions of years) since species A and B shared a common ancestor, and H = time (in millions of years) since human and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor (i.e., approx. 6 million years ago), confusing Callimico with Callicebus produces a score of 26/6 = 4.33.

Interesting story, with implications for research on zoonoses; this finding also opens the possibility that adenoviruses could be an additional source of horizontal gene transfer between species. But, marring the report is the fact that a story dealing with titi monkeys (genus Callicebus, subfamily Callicebinae, family Pitheciidae) uses a photo of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldii, subfamily Callitrichinae, family Cebidae) that is mis-labelled as a titi monkey (see http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa... , vs. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa.... If the source cited for the photo (i.e., Wikimedia Commons, Jeff Kubina) also had the photo mis-labelled, this adenovirus story succeeds in propogating an inaccuracy. 
Despite the apparent similarity in the genera names Callicebus and Callimico, and despite the fact that both are New World monkeys (infraorder Platyrrhini, Order Primates), titi monkeys and Goeldi's marmoset do not have a particularly close phylogenetic relationship -- recent research indicates that these two New World monkey genera last shared a common ancestor approximately 26 million years ago, during the late Oligocene (see Opazo et al., 2006. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 274-280).
On the Taxonomy Fail Index (see: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09..., or TFI, where TFI = T/H, and T = the number of million years since A and B shared a common ancestor (with A being the actual taxon of the pictured organism and B being the taxon as misidentified), H = the number of million years since humans and our closest relatives, the chimps, shared a common ancestor; i.e., ~ 6 million years), confusing Callicebus with Callimico results in a TFI = 26/6 = 4.3 ; in other words, this is a case of taxonomic confusion over four times worse than mistaking a chimpanzee for a human!

Interesting story, with implications for research on zoonoses; this finding also opens the possibility that adenoviruses could be an additional source of horizontal gene transfer between species. But, marring the report is the fact that a story dealing with titi monkeys (genus Callicebus, subfamily Callicebinae, family Pitheciidae) uses a photo of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldii, subfamily Callitrichinae, family Cebidae) that is mis-labelled as a titi monkey (see http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa... , vs. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa.... If the source cited for the photo (i.e., Wikimedia Commons, Jeff Kubina) also had the photo mis-labelled, this adenovirus story succeeds in propogating an inaccuracy. 
Despite the apparent similarity in the genera names Callicebus and Callimico, and despite the fact that both are New World monkeys (infraorder Platyrrhini, Order Primates), titi monkeys and Goeldi's marmoset do not have a particularly close phylogenetic relationship -- recent research indicates that these two New World monkey genera last shared a common ancestor approximately 26 million years ago, during the late Oligocene (see Opazo et al., 2006. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 274-280).
On the Taxonomy Fail Index (see: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09..., or TFI, where TFI = T/H, and T = the number of million years since A and B shared a common ancestor (with A being the actual taxon of the pictured organism and B being the taxon as misidentified), H = the number of million years since humans and our closest relatives, the chimps, shared a common ancestor; i.e., ~ 6 million years), confusing Callicebus with Callimico results in a TFI = 26/6 = 4.3 ; in other words, this is a case of taxonomic confusion over four times worse than mistaking a chimpanzee for a human!

Interesting story, with implications for research on zoonoses; this finding also opens the possibility that adenoviruses could be an additional source of horizontal gene transfer between species. But, marring the report is the fact that a story dealing with titi monkeys (genus Callicebus, subfamily Callicebinae, family Pitheciidae) uses a photo of a Goeldi's marmoset (Callimico goeldii, subfamily Callitrichinae, family Cebidae) that is mis-labelled as a titi monkey (see http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa... , vs. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fa.... If the source cited for the photo (i.e., Wikimedia Commons, Jeff Kubina) also had the photo mis-labelled, this adenovirus story succeeds in propogating an inaccuracy. 
Despite the apparent similarity in the genera names Callicebus and Callimico, and despite the fact that both are New World monkeys (infraorder Platyrrhini, Order Primates), titi monkeys and Goeldi's marmoset do not have a particularly close phylogenetic relationship -- recent research indicates that these two New World monkey genera last shared a common ancestor approximately 26 million years ago, during the late Oligocene (see Opazo et al., 2006. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 274-280).
On the Taxonomy Fail Index (see: http://myrmecos.net/2010/09/09..., or TFI, where TFI = T/H, and T = the number of million years since A and B shared a common ancestor (with A being the actual taxon of the pictured organism and B being the taxon as misidentified), H = the number of million years since humans and our closest relatives, the chimps, shared a common ancestor; i.e., ~ 6 million years), confusing Callicebus with Callimico results in a TFI = 26/6 = 4.3 ; in other words, this is a case of taxonomic confusion over four times worse than mistaking a chimpanzee for a human!