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New World monkey

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: New World monkey
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Any of some 100 species of monkeys (the platyrrhine ["flat-nosed"] monkeys) that inhabit tropical Central and South America. Platyrrhines have a broad nose, with a wide septum separating the outwardly directed nostrils, and relatively unopposable thumbs. Most species have a long tail, which in a few species is prehensile. They are divided by zoologists into five families: the marmosets and tamarins; the titis, sakis, and uakaris; the spider monkeys and woolly monkeys; the capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys; and the durukulis. See also Old World monkey.

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WordNet: New World monkey
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: hairy-faced arboreal monkeys having widely separated nostrils and long usually prehensile tails

Wikipedia: New World monkey
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New World monkeys[1][2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Platyrrhini
E. Geoffroy, 1812
Families

Callitrichidae
Cebidae
Aotidae
Pitheciidae
Atelidae

New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Platyrrhini infraorder and the Ceboidea superfamily, which are essentially synonymous since Ceboidea is the only living platyrrhine superfamily.[3] They differ from other groupings of monkeys and primates, such as the Old World monkeys and the apes.

Contents

Characteristics

New World monkeys are small to mid-sized primates, ranging from the Pygmy Marmoset (the world's smallest monkey), at 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) and a weight of 120 to 190 grams (4.2 to 6.7 oz) to the Southern Muriqui, at 55 to 70 cm (22 to 28 in) and a weight of 12 to 15 kg (26 to 33 lbs). New World monkeys differ slightly from Old World monkeys in several aspects. The most prominent difference is the nose, which is the feature used most commonly to distinguish between the two groups. The scientific name for the New World monkeys, Platyrrhini, means "flat nosed". The noses of New World monkeys are flatter than the narrow noses of the Old World monkeys, and have side-facing nostrils. Male New World monkeys (except for the howler monkeys of genus Alouatta[4]) also lack the trichromatic vision of Old World monkeys.[5] Platyrrhines also differ from Old World monkeys in that they have twelve premolars instead of eight. New World monkeys in the family Atelidae are the only primates with tails that are prehensile. Many New World monkeys are small and almost all are arboreal, so knowledge of them is less comprehensive than that of the more easily observed Old World monkeys. Unlike most Old World monkeys, many New World monkeys form monogamous pair bonds, and show substantial paternal care of young.[6] They eat fruits, nuts, insects, flowers, bird eggs, spiders, and small mammals. Unlike humans and most Old World monkeys, their thumbs are not opposable [7] (except for some Cebids).

Origin

About 40 million years ago the Simiiformes infraorder split into parvorders Platyrrhini (New World monkeys—in South America) and Catarrhini (apes and Old World monkeys—in Africa).[8] The Platyrrhini are currently conjectured to have migrated across the Atlantic Ocean to South America on a raft of vegetation similar to the vast pieces of floating mangrove forest that storms occasionally break off from the tropical African coast.[9] At that time the Atlantic Ocean was less than the present 2,800 km (1,700 mi) wide.

Classification

The following is the listing of the various platyrrhine families, and their placement in the Order Primates:[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Groves, C. (2005). Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M.. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 128-152. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
  2. ^ a b Rylands AB and Mittermeier RA (2009). "The Diversity of the New World Primates (Platyrrhini)". in Garber PA, Estrada A, Bicca-Marques JC, Heymann EW, Strier KB. South American Primates: Comparative Perspectives in the Study of Bahavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-78704-6. 
  3. ^ "Platyrrhini and Ceboidea". ChimpanZoo. 2005. http://www.chimpanzoo.org/ceboidea.html. Retrieved July 2009. 
  4. ^ Jacobs, G. H.; Neitz, M.; Deegan, J. F.; Neitz, J. (1996). "Trichromatic colour vision in New World monkeys". Nature 382: 156–158. doi:10.1038/382156a0. 
  5. ^ Sean B. Carroll (2006). The Making of the Fittest. W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 9780393061635. 
  6. ^ New World Monkeys at Animal Corner
  7. ^ http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_5.htm
  8. ^ Robert W. Shumaker & Benjamin B. Beck (2003). Primates in Question. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1588341763. 
  9. ^ Sellers, Bill (2000-10-20). "Primate Evolution" (PDF). University of Edinburgh. pp. 13-17. http://homepage.mac.com/wis/Personal/lectures/human-origins/PrimateEvolution.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 

Further reading

  • Schneider, H. (2000). "The current status of the New World Monkey phylogeny". Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 72: 165–172. doi:10.1590/S0001-37652000000200005. 
  • Opazo, J. C.; et al. (2006). "Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times among New World monkeys (Platyrrhini, Primates)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 274–280. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.11.015. 

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