Platyrrhini and Ceboidea

The Platyrrhini infraorder and the Ceboidea superfamily are essentially synonymous since Ceboidea is the only living platyrrhine superfamily. Platyrrhines are more commonly known as New World monkeys. New World monkeys are found in South America, which is logical since Europeans used to refer to the Americas as the "New World." The Ceboidea superfamily is composed of the Cebidae superfamily and the Callithricidae superfamily.

The word "Platyrrhini" is made up of the roots "platy," meaning flat, and "rhinos," meaning nose. The noses of platyrrhines have nostrils which are rounded and are oriented towards their ears, while the noses of members of Catyrrhini, or Old World primates, have narrow nostrils that face downwards. However, different noses is not the only distinguishing characteristic between New and Old World monkeys. New World monkeys have prehensile tails while the tails of Old World monkeys differ greatly between species, from long tails to no tails at all, but none are prehensile?. Old World monkeys have ischial callosities, which are thick pads of skin upon which they sit. The hands of Old World monkeys resemble our hands more closely, as they are more dexterous and able to manipulate objects. The thumbs of New World monkeys are not as opposable?. Some Old World monkeys are terrestrial?, while all New World monkeys are arboreal?.The eye orbits of New World monkeys are completely enclosed with bone.

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