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| Catarrhini | ||||||||||||
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Cercopithecidae Hylobatidae Hominidae |
Catarrhini is a superfamily of the Primates, one of the three major divisions of the suborder Haplorhini. It contains the family Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), the gibbons or lesser apes (Hylobatidae) and the Hominidae (hominids), which include humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutan). Some count the orangutan as own family, called Pongidae. Older authors described humans and their most close extinct relatives/ancestors as family on its own and placed the great apes in the family Pongidae. (see Primates). They also contain several extinct taxa. The other haplorhines are the prosimian tarsiers, which were formerly classified as strepsirhines, and the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys), which live in South America.
Catarrhini means narrow nose, and the term describes their narrow, downward pointing nostrils. Unlike the platyrrhini, they are generally diurnal and their tails (if they have tails at all) are not prehensile. They have flat fingernails. Their dental formula is
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Most species show considerable sexual dimorphism and do not form a pair bond. Most but not all species live in social groups. They are all native to Africa and Asia. (except for us humans of course)