Question

Prosimian includes
(a) Lemur
(b) Tarsier
(c) New World Monkey
(d) Both A and B

Answer 1

Hint: That belongs to the family of primates that have the primitive or the ancient characteristics and are quite different from the developed and advanced mammals. They are generally having a small body with large eyes and tail.

Complete answer:
Prosimians are the members of the primates group that includes all the organisms that are living or are extinct and also those animals that are related to them and their ancestors. They include Lemur, lorisoids, and their relatives that include the Tarsiers. They are very different from the well-developed humans, and monkeys.
- Their classification is done on the basis of clades and their common ancestry.
- They consist of all members of the group Omomyiforma that includes all the primates but excludes the simians.
- The simians are the new world Monkeys, humans, and apes that are well developed and advanced.
- The prosimians are found in Asian and African continents and are widely found in the Madagascar region.
- They are generally arboreal in nature, that is they live on trees and are fruit eaters, unlike the simians.
- They are mostly nocturnal and might lack a colored vision as in lemurs but the rods a]may be developed and the light is absorbed well in case of tarsiers so that they have a better vision.
- They have a characteristic grooming claw that helps these animals to groom themselves, generally, it is present in the second two of lemurs but in the second and third toes of tarsiers.
- They have a small brain size and two separate chambers of the uterus.
So, the correct answer is ‘Both A and B’.

Note: The word Prosimina was derived from the two Latin words, pro + simian, meaning, before ape’. The name was given by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger in 1811. The term Lemur is derived from the Latin word lemures, meaning ‘ghosts or spirits’. The name lemur was given by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is found that they evolved during the Eocene and the Paleocene era. Tarsiers are the genus of the primates that consist of the longest fossil records.