Catarrhini

The catarrhinos (Catarrhini, from the Greek κατά katá, "downwards" and ρινος rhinós, "nose") are a parvorden of simiiform primates whose main characteristic is having their nostrils open downwards and separated by a thin nasal septum. They also have thirty-two teeth, buttocks covered by brightly colored calluses, and a non-prehensile or missing tail. They are often called Old World apes, as opposed to platyrrhines or New World apes.

Evolution

Catarrhines (Old World monkeys) diverged from Platyrrhines (New World monkeys) between thirty-five and forty million years ago.

The divergence between the two Superfamilies (monkeys and hominoids) would have occurred between twenty-five and thirty million years ago, but no fossils older than twenty-five million years have appeared to prove it; Specifically, the oldest known guemon is Nsungwepithecus and the oldest known hominoid is Rukwapithecus, both found in the Nsungwe Formation, in the western part of the Great Rift Valley, in Tanzania.

Gibbons diverged from the great apes, including humans, about fifteen to nineteen million years ago.

Classification

Catarrhines is made up of twenty-nine genera and 163 living species.

• Order Primates
  • Suborden Strepsirrhini
  • Suborden Haplorrhini
    • Infraorden Tarsiiformes
      • Family Tarsiidae
    • Infraorden Simiiformes
      • Parvorden Catarrhini
        • Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
          • Cercopithecidae Family
        • SuperfamilyDendropithecoidea
          • † FamilyDendropithecidae
        • Hominoid Superfamily
          • Hylobatidae family
          • Family Hominidae
        • SuperfamilyProconsuloid
          • † FamilyProconsulidae
        • SuperfamilyPropliopithecoidea
          • † FamilyPropliopithecidae
        • SuperfamilySaadanioidea
          • † FamilySaadaniidae
      • Parvorden Platyrrhini