Monkey

A monkey is any member of two of the three groupings of simian primates. These two groupings are the New World and Old World monkeys of which together there are nearly 200 species. Because of their similarity to monkeys, apes such as chimpanzees and gibbons are sometimes incorrectly called monkeys. Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name. Because they are not a single coherent group, monkeys do not have any important characteristics that they all share and are not shared with the remaining group of simians, the apes.

Classification

The following lists shows where the various monkey families (bolded) are placed in the Primate classification. Note that the smallest grouping that contains them all is the Simiiformes, the simians, also contains the apes. Calling apes monkeys is incorrect. Calling either a simian is correct.

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• ORDER PRIMATES
• Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
• Suborder Haplorrhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
• Infraorder Tarsiiformes
• Family Tarsiidae: tarsiers
• Infraorder Simiiformes: simians
• Platyrrhini: New World monkeys
• Family Cebidae: marmosets, tamarins, capuchins and squirrel monkeys
• Family Aotidae: night monkeys, owl monkeys, douroucoulis
• Family Pitheciidae: titis, sakis and uakaris
• Family Atelidae: howler, spider and woolly monkeys
• Catarrhini
• Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
• Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys
• Superfamily Hominoidea
• Family Hylobatidae: gibbons ("lesser apes")
• Family Hominidae: humans and other great apes