Simian

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For other uses, see Simian (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Simien.

Simian^[1]^[2]
Temporal range: Middle Eocene â€“ Recent

Lar gibbon

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Suborder: Haplorrhini

Infraorder: Simiiformes
Haeckel, 1866

Families

Callitrichidae
Cebidae
Aotidae
Pitheciidae
Atelidae
Cercopithecidae
Hylobatidae
Hominidae

The simians (infraorder Simiiformes) are the "higher primates" familiar to most people: the Old World monkeys and apes, including humans, (together being the catarrhines), and the New World monkeys or platyrrhines. Simians tend to be larger than the "lower primates" or prosimians.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Classification and evolution

The simians are split into three groups. The New World monkeys in parvorder Platyrrhini split from the rest of the simian line about 40 mya, leaving the parvorder Catarrhini occupying the Old World. This group split about 25 mya between the Old World monkeys and the apes. "Monkeys" are a paraphyletic group (i.e. not a single coherent group). Earlier classifications split the primates into two large groups: the "Prosimii" (strepsirrhines and tarsiers) and the simians in "Anthropoidea" /an'thro-poy'de-a/ (Gr. anthropos, human).

The following is the listing of the various simian families, and their placement in the order Primates:^[1]^[2]

ORDER PRIMATES

Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians Suborder Haplorrhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes

Infraorder Tarsiiformes Infraorder Simiiformes

Parvorder Platyrrhini: New World monkeys

Family Callitrichidae: marmosets and tamarins Family Cebidae: capuchins and squirrel monkeys Family Aotidae: night or owl monkeys (douroucoulis) Family Pitheciidae: titis, sakis and uakaris Family Atelidae: howler, spider and woolly monkeys

Parvorder Catarrhini

Superfamily Cercopithecoidea

Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys

Superfamily Hominoidea

Family Hylobatidae: gibbons Family Hominidae: great apes, including humans

[edit] See also

Simia, Carolus Linnaeus's original classification of these primates.

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Simians

Wikispecies has information related to: Simian

^ ^a ^b Groves, C. (2005). "INFRAORDER SIMIIFORMES". In Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M, eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 128-184. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=12100177. ^ ^a ^b Rylands AB and Mittermeier RA (2009). "The Diversity of the New World Primates (Platyrrhini)". In Garber PA, Estrada A, Bicca-Marques JC, Heymann EW, Strier KB. South American Primates: Comparative Perspectives in the Study of Bahavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-78704-6.