Question

2) Make an argument either for or against the current taxonomic placement of the Tarsier among primates. As you know from this week's lecture, our textbook, and from the cladogram activity we did a few weeks ago, the Tarsier is now classified as a haplorhine. Under this new classification it is considered to be the only living member of the infraorder Tarsiiformes, and the family Tarsiidae. Prior to this change, the Tarsier was classified as a strepsirhine. You can use any reputable source to make your argument (for this assignment this includes Wikipedia). You do not need to provide in text citations but you should include links/descriptions of all of the sources you use at the end of your submission. Your argument should include a description of the traits that you consider important to your argument and an explanation of why of these traits support your argument. Make sure to consider morphological (soft tissue, skeletal, and dental) traits as well as molecular (enzymes) and molecular genetics (X- linked color vision) traits.

Answer 1

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Suborder: Haplorhini

Infraorder: Tarsiiformes

Family: Tarsiidae

Genus: Tarsius

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