Present primates

Abstract

Abstract Primates are Euarchontans, which means that they are more closely related to tree shrews and colugos than to other mammals. Primates are also Euarchontoglires, which means that their next closest relatives are rodents and lagomorphs (rabbits and their relatives). Primates are best understood in the context of these relationships, which strengthen inferences about cortical evolution. The original primates diverged into two descendant groups: strepsirrhines and haplorhines. Other primate classifications include anthropoids, platyrrhines (New World monkeys), catarrhines (Old World primates), cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys), hominoids (apes and humans), hominids (great apes and humans), and hominins (modern humans and extinct relatives such as australopithecines). It is important to recognize that primates are a diverse group of placental mammals, with considerable variety in the size of their neocortex and its complement of functionally distinct areas.