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Hominoidea Morphology

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

Synonyms

Anatomy; Ape; Evolution; Primate; Taxonomy

Definition

Hominoidea is the taxonomic superfamily name for all living and fossil apes and humans. Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea (the superfamily name for Old World Monkeys) together comprise the Infraorder Catarrhini.

Introduction

The hominoids are a group of primates comprised of the smaller-bodied hylobatids (siamangs and gibbons, body sizes range from 5 to 12 kg) and the much larger hominids (great apes and humans, body sizes range from 33 to 175 kg) (Smith and Jungers 1997). The hylobatids are taxonomically diverse, with ~20 recognized species, but are restricted to the mainland and islands of southeast Asia and are generally similar to one another in terms of overall body plan, ecology, and behavior. For example, the hylobatids are all territorial and highly arboreal, form monogamous pair bonds, have high intermembral indices (much longer forelimbs than hindlimbs), locomote using brachiation (sequential manual suspension),...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Laura MacLatchy, Emily Orlikoff & Miranda Nicole Cosman

Authors
  1. Laura MacLatchy
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  2. Emily Orlikoff
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  3. Miranda Nicole Cosman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura MacLatchy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Ivo Jacobs

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MacLatchy, L., Orlikoff, E., Cosman, M.N. (2021). Hominoidea Morphology. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_2001-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_2001-1

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