Tarsiiformes are a group of
primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
s that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose
extant
Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to:
* Extant hereditary titles
* Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English
* Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
are all found in the islands of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
.
Tarsier
Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all of its species living today are found in Maritime Southeast ...
s (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members of the
infraorder
Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...
; other members of Tarsiidae include the extinct ''
Tarsius eocaenus
''Tarsius'' is a genus of tarsiers, small primates native to islands of Southeast Asia. Until 2010, all tarsier species were typically assigned to this genus, but a revision of the family Tarsiidae restored the generic status of ''Cephalopachus ...
'' from the
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
,
and ''
Tarsius thailandicus'' from the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
.
Two extinct genera, ''
Xanthorhysis'' and ''
Afrotarsius
''Afrotarsius'' is a primate found in the Paleogene of Africa.
The first species to be named, ''Afrotarsius chatrathi'', was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw from the Oligocene of Fayum, Egypt, and tentatively referred to the ...
'', are considered to be close relatives of the living tarsiers, and are generally classified within Tarsiiformes, with the former grouped within family Tarsiidae, and the latter listed as ''
incertae sedis
' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...
'' (undefined).
[ ]Omomyid
Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning h ...
s are generally considered to be extinct relatives, or even ancestors, of the living tarsiers, and are often classified within Tarsiiformes.
Other fossil primates, including Microchoeridae, Carpolestidae
Carpolestidae is a family of primate-like Plesiadapiformes that were prevalent in North America and Asia from the mid Paleocene through the early Eocene. Typically, they are characterized by two large upper posterior premolars and one large lo ...
,[McKenna, M.C., and Bell, S.K. 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level.'' Columbia University Press, New York, 337–340 pp. ] and Eosimiidae
Eosimiidae is the possible family of extinct primates believed to be the earliest simians.
Taxonomy
When they were discovered the possibility that Eosimians were outside and ancestral to Simians was considered (Culotta 1992), but subsequent ...
, have been included in this classification, although the fossil evidence is debated. Eosimiidae has also been classified under the infraorder Simiiformes
The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhi ...
(with monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
s and ape
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...
s), and most experts now consider Eosimiidae to be stem simians. Likewise, Carpolestidae is often classified within the order Plesiadapiformes
Plesiadapiformes (" Adapid-like" or "near Adapiformes") is a group of Primates, a sister of the Dermoptera. While none of the groups normally directly assigned to this group survived, the group appears actually not to be literally extinct (in t ...
, a very close, extinct relative of primates.[Fleagle, J. G. 2013]
Primate Adaptation and Evolution
San Diego, Academic Press.
These conflicting classifications lie at the heart of the debate over early primate evolution. Even the placement of Tarsiiformes within suborder Haplorhini
Haplorhini (), the haplorhines (Greek for "simple-nosed") or the "dry-nosed" primates, is a suborder of primates containing the tarsiers and the simians (Simiiformes or anthropoids), as sister of the Strepsirrhini ("moist-nosed"). The name is some ...
, as a sister group to the simians (monkeys and apes), is still debated.
Classification
Generally accepted members of this infraorder include the living tarsiers,[ the extinct omomyids, two extinct fossil genera, and two extinct fossil species within the genus ''Tarsius''.][ As ]haplorhine
Haplorhini (), the haplorhines (Greek for "simple-nosed") or the "dry-nosed" primates, is a suborder of primates containing the tarsiers and the simians (Simiiformes or anthropoids), as sister of the Strepsirrhini ("moist-nosed"). The name is so ...
s, they are more closely related to monkeys and apes than to the strepsirrhine
Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (; ) is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and southeast Asia. Colle ...
primates, which include lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 exist ...
s, galago
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They ar ...
s, and loris
Loris is the common name for the strepsirrhine mammals of the subfamily Lorinae (sometimes spelled Lorisinae) in the family Lorisidae. ''Loris'' is one genus in this subfamily and includes the slender lorises, ''Nycticebus'' is the genus contain ...
es.
* Order Primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
s
** Suborder Strepsirrhini
Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (; ) is a Order (biology), suborder of primates that includes the Lemuriformes, lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Fauna of Madagascar, Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Fauna of A ...
: lemurs, lorises, and galagos
** Suborder Haplorhini
Haplorhini (), the haplorhines (Greek for "simple-nosed") or the "dry-nosed" primates, is a suborder of primates containing the tarsiers and the simians (Simiiformes or anthropoids), as sister of the Strepsirrhini ("moist-nosed"). The name is some ...
*** Infraorder Simiiformes
The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhi ...
: monkeys and apes
*** Infraorder Tarsiiformes/Omomyiformes
**** Archicebidae
**** Family Tarsiidae: tarsiers
***** Genus †''Afrotarsius
''Afrotarsius'' is a primate found in the Paleogene of Africa.
The first species to be named, ''Afrotarsius chatrathi'', was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw from the Oligocene of Fayum, Egypt, and tentatively referred to the ...
''
***** Genus †'' Xanthorhysis''
***** Genus ''Tarsius
''Tarsius'' is a genus of tarsiers, small primates native to islands of Southeast Asia. Until 2010, all tarsier species were typically assigned to this genus, but a revision of the family Tarsiidae restored the generic status of ''Cephalopachus ...
''
***** Genus ''Cephalopachus
Horsfield's tarsier (''Cephalopachus bancanus''), also known as the western tarsier, is the only species of tarsier in the genus ''Cephalopachus''. Named for American naturalist Thomas Horsfield, it occurs on Borneo, Sumatra and nearby islands a ...
''
***** Genus '' Carlito
Footnotes
References
{{Authority control
Tarsiers
Extant Thanetian first appearances
Taxa named by William King Gregory
Taxa described in 1915