Strepsirrhine
| Strepsirrhini Temporal range: Early Eocene–Present |
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| A sample of strepsirrhine diversity; eight biological genera are depicted (from top, left to right): Lemur, Propithecus, Daubentonia, Varecia, Microcebus, †Darwinius, Loris, Otolemur. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: |
Strepsirrhini É. Geoffroy, 1812 |
| Infraorders | |
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†Adapiformes |
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● Eocene-Miocene fossil sites Range of extant strepsirrhine primates |
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†Adapiformes
Lemuriformes(See text)
Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (
i/ˌstrɛpsəˈraɪniː/; STREP-sə-RY-nee) is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and southeast Asia. Collectively they are referred to as strepsirrhines. Also belonging to the suborder are the extinct adapiform primates, a diverse and widespread group that thrived during the Eocene (56 to 34 million years ago [mya]) in Europe, North America, and Asia, but disappeared from most of the Northern Hemisphere as the climate cooled; the last of the adapiforms died out at the end of the Miocene (~7 mya). Adapiforms are sometimes referred to as being "lemur-like", although the diversity of both lemurs and adapiforms does not support this comparison. The two leading taxonomic classifications for the suborder divide living strepsirrhine primates into either two superfamilies (Lemuroidea and Lorisoidea) within the infraorder Lemuriformes or two infraorders, Lemuriformes and Lorisiformes. The suborder represents a related group, and replaced the widely used and now obsolete suborder Prosimii ("prosimians"), which included strepsirrhines and tarsiers, a grouping based primarily on shared anatomical traits. Today, Strepsirrhini excludes the tarsiers, which are now grouped in the other major primate suborder, Haplorhini, along with the monkeys and apes (simians or anthropoids). Strepsirrhines are often inappropriately referred to as "living fossils". Instead, they have evolved for millions of years under natural selection, and have diversified to fill many ecological niches. Some of their traits may be derived from ancestral primates, while others are unique to strepsirrhines.
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