Tarsiiformes

 ( Haplorhini ) 

Tarsiiformes are a group of that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose Extant taxon species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members of the infraorder; other members of Tarsiidae include the extinct Tarsius eocaenus from the Eocene,

and Tarsius thailandicus from the Miocene.

R.M. Nowak (1999). 9780801857898, Johns Hopkins University Press. . ISBN 9780801857898

Two extinct genera, Xanthorhysis and Afrotarsius, are considered to be close relatives of the living tarsiers, and are generally classified within Tarsiiformes, with the former grouped within family Tarsiidae, and the latter listed as incertae sedis (undefined). are generally considered to be extinct relatives, or even ancestors, of the living tarsiers, and are often classified within Tarsiiformes.

Other fossil primates, including Microchoeridae, Carpolestidae,McKenna, M.C., and Bell, S.K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 337–340 pp. and Eosimiidae,

E.L. Simons (2025). 9780813532363, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813532363

have been included in this classification, although the fossil evidence is debated. Eosimiidae has also been classified under the infraorder Simiiformes (with and ), and most experts now consider Eosimiidae to be stem simians.

C. Beard (2025). 9780521663151, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521663151

Likewise, Carpolestidae is often classified within the order Plesiadapiformes, a very close, extinct relative of primates.Fleagle, J. G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. San Diego, Academic Press.

These conflicting classifications lie at the heart of the debate over early primate evolution. Even the placement of Tarsiiformes within suborder Haplorhini, as a sister group to the simians (monkeys and apes), is still debated.

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Classification Generally accepted members of this infraorder include the living tarsiers, the extinct omomyids, two extinct fossil genera, and two extinct fossil species within the genus Tarsius. As , they are more closely related to monkeys and apes than to the strepsirrhine primates, which include , , and .

Infraorder Tarsiiformes/Omomyiformes

• Archicebidae
• Omomyidae (likely paraphyletic)
• Subfamily Anaptomorphinae
• Subfamily Microchoerinae
• Subfamily Omomyinae
• Family Tarsier: tarsiers
• Genus † Afrotarsius
• Genus † Xanthorhysis
• Genus Tarsius
• Genus Cephalopachus
• Genus Carlito

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Footnotes

Categories: Haplorhini, Tarsiers, Extant Thanetian First Appearances, Taxa Named By William King Gregory, Taxa Described In 1915

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