Difference between revisions of "New World monkey" - New World Encyclopedia
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| − | A '''New World monkey''' is any member of the four [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America | + | A '''New World monkey''' is any member of the [[primate]] clade '''Platyrrhini''', comprised of four [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]] families: '''Cebidae''' ([[marmoset]]s, [[capuchin]]s, [[squirrel monkey]]s, tamarins), '''Aotidae''' (night or owl monkeys), '''Pitheciidae''' (titis, sakis, uakaris), any '''Atelidae''' ([[howler monkey|howler]], [[spider monkey|spider]], and woolly monkeys). Members of the Platyrrhini ("flat-nosed") [[Order (biology)|parvorder]] are typically characterized by relatively broad noses with side-facing, widely separated nostrils, as opposed to the close-set, downward or forward facing nostrils of the [[Old World monkey]]s placed in the parvorder Catarrhini. In addition, New World monkeys, many of which have long tails, have a number of species with prehensile tails (adapted for grasping or holding), whereas the tails of Old World monkeys, if present, are never prehensile. |
==Overview and characteristics== | ==Overview and characteristics== | ||
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A New World monkey is any member of the primate clade Platyrrhini, comprised of four Central and South America families: Cebidae (marmosets, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, tamarins), Aotidae (night or owl monkeys), Pitheciidae (titis, sakis, uakaris), any Atelidae (howler, spider, and woolly monkeys). Members of the Platyrrhini ("flat-nosed") parvorder are typically characterized by relatively broad noses with side-facing, widely separated nostrils, as opposed to the close-set, downward or forward facing nostrils of the Old World monkeys placed in the parvorder Catarrhini. In addition, New World monkeys, many of which have long tails, have a number of species with prehensile tails (adapted for grasping or holding), whereas the tails of Old World monkeys, if present, are never prehensile.
Overview and characteristics
New World monkeys are one of three major informal groups of the biological order Primates, the other two groups being (1) prosimians and (2) monkeys and apes of the Old World. Together, the New World monkeys and the Old World monkeys and apes are considered to be "higher primates," or simians (infraorder Similformes), while the prosimians (such as lemurs) are considered to be the "lower primates." The term monkey thus refers to any simian that is not an ape or any primate that is neither an ape or a prosimian. In reality, monkeys are not a single coherent group and therefore do not have any particular traits that they all share.The New World monkeys are found in Mexico, Central America, and South America, and the Old World monkeys are located in Africa, central to southern Asia, Japan, and India.
Technically, the distinction of platyrrhines (New World monkeys) from catarrhines (Old World monkeys and apes) depends on the structure of the nose, which is the feature most commonly used to distinguish between the two groups. The scientific name for the New World monkeys, Platyrrhini, means "flat nosed." The noses of New World monkeys are flatter than the narrow noses of the Old World monkeys, and New World monkeys have side facing nostrils versus the close-set, downward or forward facing nostrils of Old World monkeys.
New World monkeys differ slightly from Old World monkeys in several other aspects. New World monkeys (except for the howler monkeys of genus Alouatta (Jacobs et al. 1996)) lack the trichromatic vision of Old World monkeys (Carroll 2006). Other distinctions include the presence of a tubular ectotympanic (ear bone) in Old World monkeys and the presence of twelve premolars in catarrhines, versus eight in platyrrhines. New World monkeys in the family Atelidae are the only primates with tails that are prehensile. Catarrhines lack prehensile tails.
New World monkeys are small to mid-sized primates, ranging from the pygmy marmoset (the world's smallest monkey), at 14 to 16 centimeters (5.5 to 6.3 inches) and a weight of 120 to 190 grams (4.2 to 6.7 ouches) to the southern muriqui, at 55 to 70 centimeters (22 to 28 inches) and a weight of 12 to 15 kilograms (26 to 33 pounds).
Many New World monkeys are small and almost all are arboreal, so knowledge of them is less comprehensive than that of the more easily observed Old World monkeys. Unlike most Old World monkeys, many New World monkeys form monogamous pair bonds, and show substantial paternal care of young.
Origin
About 40 million years ago the Simiiformes infraorder split into parvorders Platyrrhini (New World monkeys—in South America) and Catarrhini (apes and Old World monkeys—in Africa).[2] The Platyrrhini are currently conjectured to have migrated across the Atlantic Ocean to South America on a raft of vegetation similar to the vast pieces of floating mangrove forest that storms occasionally break off from the tropical African coast.[citation needed] At that time the Atlantic Ocean was less than the present 2,800 km (1,700 mi) wide.
Classification
- ORDER PRIMATES
- Suborder Strepsirrhini: lemurs, lorises, etc.
- Suborder Haplorrhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
- Infraorder Tarsiiformes
- Family Tarsiidae: tarsiers
- Infraorder Simiiformes
- Parvorder Platyrrhini: New World monkeys
- Family Cebidae: marmosets, tamarins, capuchins and squirrel monkeys
- Family Aotidae: night or owl monkeys (douroucoulis)
- Family Pitheciidae: titis, sakis and uakaris
- Family Atelidae: howler, spider and woolly monkeys
- Parvorder Catarrhini: Old World monkeys, apes and humans
- Parvorder Platyrrhini: New World monkeys
- Infraorder Tarsiiformes
he following is the relationship of the various groups of primates.
- Order Primates
- Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
- Suborder Haplorrhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
- Infraorder Tarsiiformes
- Infraorder Simiiformes
- Parvorder Platyrrhini: New World monkeys
- Parvorder Catarrhini
- Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
- Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys
- Superfamily Hominoidea: Apes (gibbons, gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, humans)
- Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ C. Groves, "Order Primates," "Order Monotremata," (and select other orders). Page(s) 128-152 in D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds., Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press (2005). ISBN 0801882214.
- ↑ Robert W. Shumaker & Benjamin B. Beck (2003). Primates in Question. Smithsonian Institute Press. ISBN 1588341763.
- Carroll, S. B. 2006. The Making of the Fittest. W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 9780393061635.
- Jacobs, G. H., M. Neitz, J. F. Deegan, and J. Neitz. 1996. Trichromatic colour vision in New World monkeys. Nature 382: 156–158.
Further reading
- Schneider, H. (2000). The current status of the New World Monkey phylogeny. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 72: 165–172.
- Opazo, J. C. and et al. (2006). Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times among New World monkeys (Platyrrhini, Primates). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 274–280.
External links
- "Primate Hunting Reaches Crisis Point in Latin America", Spiegel Online international, March 13, 2007.
- Geographic Distributions of Amazonian Primates - Tomas and Marc van Roosmalen, Pdf 3,2 Mb
[[Category::Primates]]
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