Catarrhini is a parvorder of the
Primates, one of the three major divisions of the
suborder Haplorrhini. It contains the
Old World monkeys (
superfamily Cercopithecoidea,
family Cercopithecidae) and the
apes (superfamily Hominoidea). The latter is further divided into the lesser apes (family Hylobatidae), consisting of the
gibbons; and the
hominids or great apes (family Hominidae), consisting of the
orangutans,
gorillas,
chimpanzees, and
humans. Older references described humans and their most close extinct relatives/ancestors as a family on its own and placed the great apes in the family Pongidae. The other two major divisions of the suborder Haplorrhini are the
prosimian tarsiers, which were formerly classified with the
strepsirrhines, and the
Platyrrhini (
New World monkeys), which live in both
South America and
Central America.
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