It is endemic to Brazil, where restricted to the Amazon between the Xingu and Tocantins Rivers.

[1] It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the more easterly C. satanas, but its back is pale brownish.

[3][4] It was named in honor of Uta Hick, a German primatologist who cared for bearded sakis at the Cologne Zoo.

[8] The specific name utahicki is often corrected to utahickae,[1] as -ae is the appropriate suffix for the genitive of a woman honoree's name (meaning "Uta Hick's") according to ICZN rules.

[8][9] Even though -i technically indicates a male honoree, some sources discourage modifying the earlier utahicki,[10] because there is no official way to make such corrections under the current (1999) ICZN.