What is "prosimian"

a. Of or from the '''prosimian''' suborder of primates. n. A primate that is not a monkey or an ape, generally nocturnal with large eyes and ears. Such primates were formerly grouped in the suborder ''(taxlink Prosimii suborder noshow=1)'', but are now considered a paraphyletic group and not a clade.

n. primitive primates having large ears and eyes and characterized by nocturnal habits

Prosimians are a type of primate that includes all living and extinct strepsirrhines ( lemurs, lorisoids, and adapiforms), as well as the haplorhine tarsiers and their extinct relatives, the omomyiforms. They are considered to have characteristics that are more " primitive" (ancestral or plesiomorphic) than those of simians (monkeys, apes, and humans).

Prosimians are a paraphyletic group and not a clade (a group consisting of an ancestor and all its descendants), since tarsiers share a more recent common ancestor with all simians than with the strepsirrhines. Consequently, the term "prosimian" is no longer widely used in a taxonomic sense, but is still used to illustrate the behavioral ecology of tarsiers relative to the other primates.

Prosimians are the only primates native to Madagascar, but are also found throughout Africa and in Asia.