What are the traits that distinguish a Tarsier and a Lemur as a Primate?
Tarsirs are haplorine primates – they have dry noses, and their nose is not connected to their upper lip or gums like in the “wet-nosed” primates (Suborder strepsirhini) which includes the lemurs. The biggest diagnostic feature of tarsirs that I can think of is that they have a post orbital plate that isn’t completely solid, and is sometimes called a post orbital bar. It probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to describe it (and doesn’t help to identify living specimens!) but when you see the skulls side by side there is a distinct difference from the post-orbital bars that lemurs have. Not to mention tarsiers have much larger eyes in proportion to the rest of them. Tarsier skull: http://www.boneclones.com/images/bc-050-… Lemur (family Lemuridae) skull: http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/… Tarsiers also have elongated tarsal b
