In total, we collected 3–5 kilobases of new mtDNA sequence
data for each of 23 samples from seven different putative species
of spider monkeys as well as one species of Alouatta (A. seniculus
from Ecuador). Sequence data from one additional sample of Ateles
belzebuth (sampled within a few dozen kilometers of the one
sequenced here) and for other primates (Table 2) were obtained
from GenBank. The alignment matrix among these samples contained
3892 characters, including 3480 for the combined NAD5,
NAD6, and cytochrome B coding regions (Table 3). As noted above,
the sample of Ateles marginatus was highly degraded and it was
only possible for us to obtain sequence data for 2137 bp of these