Editing Simian (section)

{{Short description|Infraorder of primates}}
{{Redirect|Anthropoids|other uses|Anthropoid (disambiguation)|and|Simian (disambiguation)}}
{{For|an explanation of very similar terms|Monkey}}

{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Simians
| fossil_range = [[Middle Eocene]]-[[Holocene]], {{fossil range|40|0}}
| image = Simiiformes.png
| image_caption = 
| taxon = Simiiformes
| authority = [[Ernst Haeckel|Haeckel]], 1866<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Groves | id = 12100177 | page = 128 | heading = Simiiformes}}</ref><ref name=SAP/><ref name="Haekel">{{Cite book |last=Haekel |first=Ernst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dthOAAAAMAAJ&q=simiiformes |title=Generelle Morphologie, Allgemeine Entwicklungsgeschichte der Organismen |year=1866 |pages=CLX}}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Parvorders
| subdivision = *[[Catarrhini]]
*[[Platyrrhini]]
| synonyms = * Anthropoids
* Pithecoidea<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pocock |first=R. I. |date=1918-03-05 |title=On the External Characters of the Lemurs and of Tarsius |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1918.tb02076.x |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |language=en |volume=88 |issue=1–2 |pages=19–53 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1918.tb02076.x |issn=0370-2774}}</ref>
* Simiae<ref name="Haekel"/>
* Pitheci<ref name="Haekel"/>
}}

The '''simians''', '''anthropoids''', or '''higher primates''' are an [[infraorder]] ('''Simiiformes''' {{IPAc-en|'|s|ɪ|m|i|.|ᵻ|f|ɔr|m|iː|z}}) of [[primate]]s containing all animals traditionally called [[monkey]]s and [[ape]]s. More precisely, they consist of the [[parvorder]]s [[New World monkey|Platyrrhini]] (New World monkeys) and [[Catarrhini]], the latter of which consists of the family Cercopithecidae ([[Old World monkey]]s in the stricter sense) and the superfamily [[Hominoidea]] (apes{{dash}}including humans).

The simians are sister group to the [[Tarsiiformes|tarsiers]] (Tarsiiformes), together forming the [[Haplorhini|haplorhines]]. The [[Evolutionary radiation|radiation]] occurred about 60 million years ago (during the [[Cenozoic era]]); 40 million years ago, simians colonized [[South America]], giving rise to the [[New World monkey]]s. The remaining simians (catarrhines) split about 25 million years ago into [[Old World monkey|Cercopithecidae]] and [[ape]]s (including [[human]]s).