The Strepsirrhini suborder contains the following infraorders: Lemuriformes (lemurs), Chiromyiformes (the Aye-Aye lemur), and Lorisiformes (galagos, lorises, and pottos). Distinctive characteristics of strepsirrhines include: a "wet nose" (i.e. rhinarium), large olfactory lobes, a vomeral nasal organ for detecting pheromones, a reflective tapetum lucidum layer in the eye which provides better nocturnal vision, a postorbital bar bone that runs around the eye socket, and a tooth comb.
Today, primates are split into two major suborders: Strepsirrhini (lemurs, galagos, lorises, and pottos) and Haplorhini (tarsiers, New World Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and apes). In the past, this division was contentious. Tarsiers proved particularly troublesome, as these animals exhibit a blend of anatomical features similar to both major groups.The now obselete suborder Prosimii ("prosimians") grouped tarsiers with the species now classified as strepsirrhines while pooling the other primate species (New World Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and apes) under the suborder Anthropoidea. However, this Prosimii-Anthropoidea split has since been disproved; genetic testing has conclusively shown that tarsiers are more closely related to the "anthropoid" species. Thus, Prosimii is a polyphyletic suborder and is therefore obselete.
The Strepsirrhini suborder contains the following infraorders: Lemuriformes (lemurs), Chiromyiformes (the Aye-Aye lemur), and Lorisiformes (galagos, lorises, and pottos). Distinctive characteristics of strepsirrhines include: a "wet nose" (i.e. rhinarium), large olfactory lobes, a vomeral nasal organ for detecting pheromones, a reflective tapetum lucidum layer in the eye which provides better nocturnal vision, a postorbital bar bone that runs around the eye socket, and a tooth comb.
Today, primates are split into two major suborders: Strepsirrhini (lemurs, galagos, lorises, and pottos) and Haplorhini (tarsiers, New World Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and apes). In the past, this division was contentious. Tarsiers proved particularly troublesome, as these animals exhibit a blend of anatomical features similar to both major groups.The now obsolete suborder Prosimii ("prosimians") grouped tarsiers with the species now classified as strepsirrhines while pooling the other primate species (New World Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and apes) under the suborder Anthropoidea. However, this Prosimii-Anthropoidea split has since been disproved; genetic testing has conclusively shown that tarsiers are more closely related to the "anthropoid" species. Thus, Prosimii is a polyphyletic suborder and is therefore obsolete.
Wikipedia description of the Strepsirrhine suborder, which incorporates the following infraorders: Lemuriformes (lemurs), Chiromyiformes (the Aye-Aye), and Lorisiformes (galagos, lorises, pottos, and angwantibos).
