The World Smallest Monkey

Tarsier in Bohol Philippines Not "The World Smallest Monkey"

"The world's smallest monkey" is an often heard slogan. However, it is not a monkey. In truth, its classification is somewhat problematic. Some scientists consider tarsiers to be a taxonomic suborder among the primates. While, because they are closely related to lemurs, lorises and bushbabies, others classify them with the prosimians to which these animals belong. Monkeys and apes belong to the suborder of anthropoids. The complete taxonomic classification thus is:

Class	Mammalia
Order	Primates
Suborder	Prosimii/Haplorrhini
Infraorder	Tarsiiformes
Superfamily	Tarsioidea

In the Philippines, three very similar species have been described. It is very well possible that these species are actually a single species, developed into three races due to the physical separation on the various islands.

Species	Location
T. philippensis	Samar and Leyte
T. fraterculus	Bohol
T. carbonarius	Mindanao