Simian

Simian Temporal range: Middle Eocene – Recent
Lar Gibbon
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes Haeckel, 1866
Families
Parvorder Platyrrhini: Callitrichidae Cebidae Aotidae Pitheciidae Atelidae Parvorder Catarrhini: Cercopithecidae Hylobatidae Hominidae

The simians (infraorder Simiiformes) are the "higher primates". Familiar to most people are the Old World monkeys and apes, including humans and the New World monkeys. Simians tend to be larger than the "lower primates" or prosimians.

The simians are sister to the tarsiers: together they make up the haplorhines. The radiation occurred about 60 million years ago during the Cenozoic era.

40 million years ago, simians from Afro-Arabia colonized South America (by what route is not known). This gave rise to the New World monkeys. The remaining simians (catarrhines) split 25 million years ago into Old World monkeys and apes.

This short article about biology can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.