Fax + 41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Ó2004 S. Karger AG, Basel 00155713/04/00000000$21.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/fpr Marcio Port-Carvalho Av. EfigŒnio Sales, 2235  Bloco D1 Apt. 304 69.060-020 Manaus (Brazil) Tel. +55 92 642 2734, Fax +55 92 642 1503 E-Mail portcarvalho@mail.com Brief Report Folia Primatol 808 Received: July 1, 2003 DOI: 10.1159/0000XXXXX Accepted: August 12, 2003 Predation of Crabs by Tufted Capuchins (Cebus apella) in Eastern Amazonia Marcio Port-Carvalho a Stephen F. Ferrari a,b CØlio Magalhªes c Departamentos de a Psicologia Experimental, em b GenØtica, Universidade Federal do ParÆ, BelØm; c Coordenaªo de Pesquisas em Biologia AquÆtica, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amaznia, Manaus, Brazil Key Words Predation ` Cebus apella ` Foraging behaviour ` Pseudotelphusid crabs Tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) have the widest geographic range of any platyrrhine species, and they are also the most flexible, both behaviourally and ecologically. Capuchin diets are highly diverse and encompass a wide variety of vegetable and animal material, including non-reproductive plant parts, arthropods and vertebrates [Terborgh, 1983; Fedigan, 1990; Galetti, 1990]. Their physical strength and cognitive skills  which include tool use [Antinucci and Visalberghi, 1986; Chevalier-Skolnikoff, 1990; Fernandes, 1991]  allow capuchins to exploit many items not available to other platyrrhines, such as hard-cased fruits [Peres, 1991; Ferrari and Lopes, 2002] and shellfish [Fernandes, 1991]. Until the observa- tion presented here, however, there were no published reports of capuchins preying on crustaceans. The observation occurred during a survey of mammal populations on the Cel- mar plantation complex in the extreme west of the Brazilian state of Maranhªo [Carvalho, 2002], in an isolated 650-ha forest fragment known as Santa Rosa (0505′S, 4815′W). At 09.40 h on November the 13th, 2001, four capuchins were observed feeding on the ground in close proximity to the small (5- to 10-meter- wide) Traras river. On perceiving the observers approach, one of the monkeys emitted an alarm call, and they all immediately fled into the surrounding tree crowns. A number of pieces of crab carapace (fig. 1) were found at the place where the monkeys had been feeding. One individual was collected for identification, and in February 2002, a second specimen was collected in similar circumstances.