ABSTRACT Canine distemper virus (CDV) has markedly expanded its known host range over the recent past decades. CDV infection has been reported in old‐world primates of the genus Macaca , with reports between the 1980s and 2008 in Japan and China. Over the past months, independent research groups in Brazil reported an individual case and two outbreaks of CDV infection affecting free‐ranging marmosets ( Callithrix spp.) from different regions of the country. Clinical manifestations, pathological changes and viral tropism in neotropical primates are discussed. Furthermore, potential consequences on conservation of endangered species of neotropical primates and potential host adaptation to primates that may eventually favor human infections are also discussed. It is still unclear whether these independent reports of CDV infection in neotropical primates in such a short period of time may be due to an epizootic situation or to an increased efficiency of the surveillance system in place in Brazil.