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what is meant by hominoidea and prosmians?

Old world monkeys are known as hominoidea. Prosimians are widely distributed in the remaining tropical forests of Africa, Asia and Madagascar. A group that includes lemurs, lorises and galagos, they may be the most ancient of living primates, with an evolutionary history reaching back at least 65 million years, into the last days of the dinosaurs.

The name “pro-simians” means “before the monkeys,” and although today’s species are by no means primitive or unchanged, modern prosimians retain many of the physical features that were common to the earliest true primates. The typical prosimian skull has large eye sockets, a relatively small brain case, an elongated snout and adaptations for well-developed senses of hearing and smell.
 


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