Tarsiers

What traits do tarsiers share with strepsirrhines?

grooming claw, nocturnal, small size, mammary glands

Tarsiidae charactersitics

SS: mostly noyau Diet: EXCLUSIVELY FAUNIVOROUS (CARNIVOROUS) AP: Nocturnal Loco: vertical clinging and leaping (large hands and feet)

Where are Tarsiers found?

Southeast Asia

Tarsiers belong to what family

Tarsiidae

One genus

Tarsius

Why has it been it problematic to place tarsiers in the primate phylogenetic tree?* What is unusual about the tarsier diet?

The tarsier diet is exclusively faunivorous (carnivore). they share primitive strepsirrhine traits(grooming claw, nocturnal, small body size, multiple pairs of mammary glands), and share derived haplorhine traits (no rhinarium, lack of tooth comb, absence of tapetum lucidum, reduced olfactory bubble)

Tarsier known as

"living fossils"- is a fossil record, hasn't changed a whole lot, essentially same body plan since eocene

What traits do tarsiers share with haplorhines?

lack of rhinarium, lack of tooth comb, lack of tapetum lucidum, reduced olfactory bulb

Prosimians include

Tarsiers, lorises, lemurs

What is the tarsier activity pattern? What adaptations does it show for this, and why is it unusual?

Activity pattern is nocturnal. They have extremely large eyes, but they do not have a tapetum lucidum because the indication is that it used to be diurnal but reverted back to nocturnality.