Monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes,
also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are count-
ed as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, constitute an incomplete para-
phyletic grouping; however, in the broader sense based on cladistics, apes (Hominoidea) are
also included, making the terms monkeys and simians synonyms in regard to their scope.
In 1812, Étienne Geoffroy grouped the apes and the Cercopithecidae group of monkeys
together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old World monkeys" ("singes de l'Ancien
Monde" in French).[3][4][5] The extant sister of the Catarrhini in the monkey ("singes") group
is the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys).[3] Some nine million years before the divergence
between the Cercopithecidae and the apes,[6] the Platyrrhini emerged within "monkeys" by
migration to South America from Afro-Arabia (the Old World),[citation needed][7][8] likely by
ocean.[9][10][better source needed] Apes are thus deep in the tree of extant and extinct mon-
keys, and any of the apes is distinctly closer related to the Cercopithecidae than the Platyrrhini
are.
Many monkey species are tree-dwelling (arboreal), although there are species that live
primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Most species are mainly active during the day (diur-
nal). Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent, especially the Old World monkeys.
Within suborder Haplorhini, the simians are a sister group to the tarsiers – the two members
diverged some 70 million years ago.[11] New World monkeys and catarrhine monkeys
emerged within the simians roughly 35 million years ago. Old World monkeys and apes
emerged within the catarrhine monkeys about 25 million years ago. Extinct basal simians such
as Aegyptopithecus or Parapithecus (35–32 million years ago) are also considered monkeys by
primatologists.[12][9][13][14][15][16]
Lemurs, lorises, and galagos are not monkeys, but strepsirrhine primates (suborder Strepsir-
rhini). The simians' sister group, the tarsiers, are also haplorhine primates; however, they are
also not monkeys.[citation needed]
Apes emerged within monkeys as sister of the Cercopithecidae in the Catarrhini, so cladistical-
ly they are monkeys as well. However, there has been resistance to directly designate apes
(and thus humans) as monkeys, so "Old World monkey" may be taken to mean either the
Cercopithecoidea (not including apes) or the Catarrhini (including
apes).[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] That apes are monkeys was already realized by
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the 18th century.[26] Linnaeus placed this group in
1758 together with the tarsiers, in a single genus "Simia" (sans Homo), an ensemble now
recognised as the Haplorhini.[27]