Editing Prosimian (section)

{{Short description|Obsolete primate taxon}}
{{Paraphyletic group
| name = Prosimian
| fossil_range = {{Geological range|Early Eocene|Present|earliest=Early Paleocene}}
| image = Tarsius syrichta03.jpg
| image_caption = [[Tarsier]]s are prosimian primates, but more closely related to monkeys and apes ([[simian]]s) than to other prosimians.
| auto = yes
| taxon = Prosimii
| authority = [[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger|Illiger]], 1811{{efn|The division of the order Primates into two [[evolutionary grade]]s, Prosimii ("lower primates") and Anthropoidea ("higher primates") is sometimes used, but has been shown through morphological and genetic evidence to be incorrect. Alternatively, a three-way split in the order Primates—Prosimii, Tarsiiformes, and Anthropoidea—has also been suggested.{{Sfn|Rose|2006|p=166}}}}
| includes =
:[[Strepsirrhini]]{{efn|name=Lemuriformes|Although the [[Monophyly|monophyletic relationship]] between lemurs and lorisoids is widely accepted, their clade name is not. The term "lemuriform" is used here because it derives from one popular taxonomy that clumps the [[clade]] of toothcombed primates into one [[Taxonomic rank|infraorder]] and the extinct, non-toothcombed [[Adapiformes|adapiforms]] into another, both within the [[Taxonomic rank|suborder]] Strepsirrhini.{{Sfn|Szalay|Delson|1980|p=149}}{{Sfn|Cartmill|2010|p=15}} However, another popular alternative taxonomy places the [[Lorisoidea|lorisoids]] in their own infraorder, Lorisiformes.{{Sfn|Hartwig|2011|pp=20–21}}}}
:[[Tarsiiformes]]
| excludes=
[[Simiiformes]]
}}

'''Prosimians''' are a group of [[primate]]s that includes all living and extinct [[Strepsirrhini|strepsirrhines]] ([[lemur]]s, [[Lorisoidea|lorisoids]], and [[Adapiformes|adapiforms]]),<ref name="WhittenBrockman2001" /> as well as the [[Haplorhini|haplorhine]] [[tarsier]]s and their extinct relatives, the [[Omomyidae|omomyiforms]], i.e. all primates excluding the [[simians]]. They are considered to have characteristics that are more "[[Primitive (biology)|primitive]]" (ancestral or [[Cladistics#Terminology for character states|plesiomorphic]]) than those of [[simian]]s (monkeys, apes, and humans).<ref name="WhittenBrockman2001">{{cite book | last1 = Whitten | first1 = P. L. | last2 = Brockman | first2 = D. K. | year = 2001 | chapter = Chapter 14: Strepsirrhine reproductive ecology | pages = 321–350 | editor1-last = Ellison | editor1-first = P. T | title = Reproductive Ecology and Human Evolution | publisher = Transaction Publishers | isbn = 978-0-202-30658-2 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M4VJ5ee_1YoC&pg=PA321}}</ref>

[[Simian]]s emerged within the Prosimians as sister group of the [[Haplorhini|haplorhine]] [[tarsier]]s, and therefore [[Cladistics|cladistically]] belong to this group. Simians are thus distinctly closer related to tarsiers than lemurs are. Strepsirrhines bifurcated some 20 million years earlier than the tarsier - simian bifurcation. However, simians are traditionally excluded, rendering prosimians [[paraphyletic]]. Consequently, the term "prosimian" is no longer widely used in a taxonomic sense, but is still used to illustrate the behavioral ecology of tarsiers relative to the other primates.

Prosimians are the only primates native to [[Madagascar]], but are also found throughout Africa and in Asia.