Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.4.
A simplified classification of the primates (derived from Young, 1973 and
Fleagle, 1988)
Order: Primates
Suborder: Prosimii
Infraorder: Lemuriformes
Superfamily: Lemuroidea
Family: Omomyidae
Family: Adapidae (extinct)
Family: Lemuridae (lemurs)
Family: Indriidae (indris)
Family: Daubentoniidae [aye-aye (
Daubentonia
)]
Family: Lepilemuridae (
Lepilemur
)
Superfamily: Lorisoidea
Family: Cheirogaleidae
Family: Galagidae [bushbaby (
Galago
)]
Family: Lorisidae (
Loris
, potto)
Infraorder: Tarsiiformes
Family: Tarsiidae (tarsier)
Suborder: Anthropoidea
Infraorder: Platyrrhini (New World monkeys)
Superfamily: Ceboidea
Family: Callitrichidae (marmosets)
Family: Cebidae [capuchins (
Cebus
), owl monkeys (
Aotus
)]
Family: Atelidae [spider monkeys (
Ateles
), howler monkeys (
Alouatta
)]
Infraorder: Catarrhini (Old World monkeys)
Superfamily: Cercopithecoidea
Family: Parapithecidae (extinct)
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae [macaques (
Macaca
), baboon (
Papio
), guenon
(
Cercopithecus
), mandrill, langurs (
Presbytis
)
Subfamily: Colobinae [colobus monkeys (
Colobus
)]
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: Hylobatidae [gibbon (
Hylobates
)]
Family: Pongidae [Apes; orangutan (
Pongo pygmaeus
), gorilla (
Gorilla gorilla
), chim-
panzee (
Pan troglodytes
), pigmy chimpanzee (
Pan paniscus
)]
Family: Hominidae [Human (
Homo
)]
Readers requiring a much more detailed classification of the primates are referred to Groves (1997) or to
the Smithsonian Institution Website at
http://nmnhwww.si.edu/cgi-bin/wdb/msw/children/query/11002
.
Swanson, 1991), the cytochrome P450
CYP21
gene (Kawaguchi
et al
., 1992) and
mitochondrial DNA (Bailey
et al
., 1991; Brown
et al
., 1982; Hixson and Brown,
1986; Horai
et al
., 1992; Perrin-Pecontal
et al
., 1992; Ruvolo
et al
., 1991; Saitou
1991; Saitou and Nei, 1986) as well as from transversion rates in nuclear and mito-
chondrial DNA (Holmquist
et al
., 1988).
However, divergence data from primate protamine P1 (Retief
et al
., 1993) and
-fetoprotein (Nishio
et al
., 1995) gene sequences place gorilla closer to human
than to chimpanzee. These gene sequences are known to have evolved extremely
rapidly and the observed differences may well have been stochastic changes with
no biological consequences for the species concerned or implications for their
phylogeny. Similar explanations probably also apply to other examples of appar-
ent gorilla-human closeness, for example studies of the mitochondrial genome
