The simians

The simians

The simians are split into three groups. The New World monkeys in Platyrrhini parvorder split from the simian line about 40 million years ago (mya), leaving the Catarrhini parvorder occupying the Old World. This group split about 25 mya between the Old World monkeys and the apes. "Monkeys" are a paraphyletic group (i.e. not a single coherent group). Earlier classifications split the primates into two large groups