An inhabitant of Brazil's Atlantic forest. Titis are small primates, weighing from 800 to 1,300 g (Norconk 2007). Diet comprises mainly fruit pulps, leaves, insects and seeds. They form small, pair-bonded, territorial groups and are considered monogamous. A home range size of 10.7 to 12.3 ha and a mean day range of approximately 1 km was reported for this species (Price and Piedade 2001a).

This species occurs in the Atlantic forest of south-eastern Brazil in the state of Espírito Santo, north-western Minas Gerais and northern Rio de Janeiro (Kinzey 1982, M.C. M. Kierulff in Rylands 1988, Oliver and Santos 1991, van Roosmalen et al. 2002). Callicebus personatus occurs further inland into north-western Minas Gerais, east at least as far as Teófilo Otoni (Kinzey 1982, Hershkovitz 1990) and the east (right) bank of the Rio Jequitinhonha (Rylands et al. 1988). The Rio Mucurí, to the north of the Rio Itaúnas, was identified as the northern limit by Hershkovitz (1990), but Oliver and Santos (1991) reported that C. melanochir may occur south of the lower Itaúnas as far as Barra Nova (18º54’S, 39º47’W). Oliver and Santos (1991) indicated that the region of the Rios Itaunas and Mucurí might be a zone of intergradation between personatus (to the south) and melanochir (to the north). Callicebus personatus occurs on the right bank of the Rio Jequitinhonha, but it remains unclear whether this, or another species of titi, occurs to the north-west of this river (van Roosmalen et al. 2002). The range of this species extends westwards along the Rio Doce valley into Minas Gerais as far as the Mantiqueira Mountains (Cosenza 1993). Hershkovitz (in litt. A. B. Rylands, January 1988) listed Buenópolis, near the Serra do Cabral (17º54’S, 44º11’W), north-western Minas Gerais, as a locality for C. personatus, but it was not included as a locality in his publication in 1990 (van Roosmalen et al. 2002). It is possible that the distribution of C. personatus is more restricted that previously supposed, since C. nigrifrons and not C. personatus was recorded at the frontier between Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, an area formerly considered to be within the range of C. personatus (Hirsch et al. 2005).

Its extent of occurrence (EOO), area of occupancy (AOO), and habitat quality are suspected to undergoing continuous decline, as a result of forest conversion into agriculture.

The largest remaining populations occur in the Reserva Biológica de Sooretama and in the Reserva Natural de Linhares. It is listed on CITES Appendix II.