ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the origin of higher primates, this reduces to two more specific questions: What were the most primitive higher primates like?; and what were possible precursors at an earlier stage like, and to which of these are primitive anthropoids most similar? In other words the general problem of the origin of higher primates focuses on the question of whether Oligocene Simiiformes more closely resemble Eocene Omomyidae or Eocene Adapidae. Fossil primates, mammalian faunas, and paleogeography have a direct bearing on the origin of South American monkeys. The dental formula of omomyids and adapids is variable and by itself does not suggest special affinity of either group to early simiiform primates. On the other hand, virtually all other dental characteristics distinguish Adapidae and Simiiformes from Omomyidae. The structure of the ectotympanic in Omomyidae is tubular as it is in Tarsius.
