Tarsiiformes

{{Short description|Group of primates}}

{{For|an explanation of very similar terms|Omomyiformes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|56|0}} Late Paleocene to Recent

| image = Bohol Tarsier.jpg

| image_caption = Carlito syrichta

| taxon = Tarsiiformes

| authority = Gregory, 1915{{MSW3 Primates|id=12100164}}

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision = See text

sister: Simiiformes

| synonyms = †Omomyiformes (cladistically including the Tarsiidae{{Cite journal|last1=Morse|first1=Paul E.|last2=Chester|first2=Stephen G. B.|last3=Boyer|first3=Doug M.|last4=Smith|first4=Thierry|last5=Smith|first5=Richard|last6=Gigase|first6=Paul|last7=Bloch|first7=Jonathan I.|date=2019-03-01|title=New fossils, systematics, and biogeography of the oldest known crown primate Teilhardina from the earliest Eocene of Asia, Europe, and North America|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248417303585|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|language=en|volume=128|pages=103–131|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.08.005|pmid=30497682 |s2cid=54167483 |issn=0047-2484}})

}}

Tarsiiformes {{IPAc-en|'|t|ɑr|s|i|.|ᵻ|f|ɔr|m|iː|z}} are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members of the infraorder; other members of Tarsiidae include the extinct Tarsius eocaenus from the Eocene,{{cite book | last1 = Gunnell | first1 = G. | last2 = Rose | first2 = K. | editor1-last = Hartwig | editor1-first = W.C. | title = The Primate Fossil Record | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-521-66315-1 | chapter = Tarsiiformes: Evolutionary History and Adaptation| bibcode = 2002prfr.book.....H }} and Tarsius thailandicus from the Miocene.{{cite book | last = Nowak | first = R.M. | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | title = Walker's Mammals of the World | url = https://archive.org/details/walkersmammalsof0001nowa | url-access = registration | edition = 6th | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-8018-5789-8 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/walkersmammalsof0001nowa/page/94 94–97]}} Two extinct genera, Xanthorhysis and Afrotarsius, are considered to be close relatives of the living tarsiers, and are generally classified within Tarsiiformes, with the former grouped within family Tarsiidae, and the latter listed as incertae sedis (undefined). Omomyids are generally considered to be extinct relatives, or even ancestors, of the living tarsiers, and are often classified within Tarsiiformes.

Other fossil primates, including Microchoeridae, Carpolestidae,McKenna, M.C., and Bell, S.K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 337–340 pp. {{ISBN|0-231-11013-8}} and Eosimiidae,{{cite book | last = Simons | first = E.L. | year = 2003 | title = Tarsiers: past, present, and future | editor1-last = Wright | editor1-first = P.C. | editor2-last = Simons | editor2-first = E.L. | editor3-last = Gursky | editor3-first = S. | chapter = The Fossil Record of Tarsier Evolution | publisher = Rutgers University Press | isbn = 978-0-8135-3236-3}} have been included in this classification, although the fossil evidence is debated. Eosimiidae has also been classified under the infraorder Simiiformes (with monkeys and apes), and most experts now consider Eosimiidae to be stem{{clarify|date=March 2024}} simians.{{cite book | last = Beard | first = C. | editor1-last = Hartwig | editor1-first = W.C. | title = The Primate Fossil Record | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-521-66315-1 | chapter = Basal Anthropoids| bibcode = 2002prfr.book.....H }}{{cite journal| title = New perspectives on anthropoid origins|first1=Blythe A | last1=Williams | first2=Richard F | last2=Kay | first3=E Christopher| last3=Kirk| editor-first=Alan | editor-last=Walker | journal = PNAS| date = January 2010 | volume = 107| pages = 4797–4804 | issue = 11 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0908320107|pmid=20212104 | pmc=2841917|bibcode=2010PNAS..107.4797W |doi-access=free }} Likewise, Carpolestidae is often classified within the order Plesiadapiformes, a very close, extinct relative of primates.Fleagle, J. G. 2013. [https://books.google.com/books?id=--PNXm0q2O8C&q=Tarsiiformes Primate Adaptation and Evolution]. San Diego, Academic Press.

These conflicting classifications lie at the heart of the debate over early primate evolution. Even the placement of Tarsiiformes within suborder Haplorhini, as a sister group to the simians (monkeys and apes), is still debated.{{cite book | last = Ankel-Simons | first = F. | title= Primate Anatomy | edition = 3rd | publisher = Academic Press | page = 96 | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-12-372576-9}}