[4][5] The American Society of Mammalogists, IUCN Red List, and ITIS all follow this classification.

[2][3][4][6] It was named in honor of Isabel Godin des Odonais, an 18th-century Ecuadorian noblewoman who trekked across South America to reunite with her husband.

[4] It is known only from a small portion of northern Peru in the vicinity of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve.

In addition, numerous tourist lodges have sprung up within the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve due to increasing ecotourism, and tourist photos indicate that other saki species such as the equatorial saki (P. aequatorialis) and potentially P. napensis have been introduced to these lodges as free-ranging pets; if these animals become established in the wild, they could potentially hybridize with the native P. isabela.

However, this species remains poorly-known and it is thus classified as data deficient on the IUCN Red List.