Comparison Of Anthropoidea And New World Monkeys

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There are at least 145 living species of the suborder Anthropoidea . Over 90% of them are monkeys. The remaining species are apes and humans. The anthropoids (members of the suborder Anthropoidea) have been the most successful primates in populating the earth. They are generally larger, more intelligent, and have more highly developed eyes than the prosimians.

There are two distinct infraorders of Anthropoidea that have been evolving independent of each other for at least 30,000,000 years. They are the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) and the Catarrhini (Old World monkeys, apes, and humans). These two diverse groups of species can be distinguished from each other most easily based on the form of their noses and by the number of specific types …show more content…

This not only sets us apart from New World monkeys and prosimians, but it also reflects the evolutionary closeness of the Old World anthropoid species. By comparison, the general placental mammal dental formula is 3.1.4.3.

Patas monkeys in an African grassland environment
In addition to these differences, New World monkeys are almost exclusively arboreal and most of them are smaller than Old World monkey species. Some Old World monkeys and apes are semi-terrestrial. If you see a group of monkeys casually walking around in a grassland environment (like those shown on the right), you can be sure that they are from the Old World.

Many of the larger New World monkeys have prehensile, or grasping, tails that are capable of being used as strong "third hands" for holding onto branches and supporting their bodies. None of the Old World monkeys or apes has this capability.

Many species of Old World monkeys have ischial callosities , or hairless callous pads, on their rumps which may be adaptations for long periods of sitting or sleeping on rough branches and rocks. This trait is shared by the small apes of Southeast Asia (gibbons and siamangs). However, New World monkeys do not have it.

Female hamadryas baboon

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