If the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey is classified under the genus Oreonax rather than Lagothrix, what does this taxonomic shift suggest about its evolutionary relationship?

It suggests a deeper evolutionary split than a species-level distinction within Lagothrix

When scientific classification shifts a population from being considered a species within one genus (e.g., *Lagothrix flavicauda*) to being placed in an entirely separate genus (e.g., *Oreonax flavicauda*), this change carries significant evolutionary weight. Placing a population into a new genus implies that the genetic divergence and morphological separation from the established group are substantial enough to warrant a higher-level classification change. This suggests a deeper split in their evolutionary timeline, meaning the lineage leading to *Oreonax* separated from the lineage leading to *Lagothrix* further back in history than if they were merely considered different species under the same genus umbrella.