Anthropomorpha

Main article: Primate § Historical and modern terminology

Anthropomorpha, from the 1760 dissertation by C. E. Hoppius[1]
1. Troglodyta Bontii, 2. Lucifer Aldrovandi, 3. Satyrus Tulpii, 4. Pygmaeus Edwardi

Anthropomorpha (original spelling: Antropomorpha[2]) is a defunct taxon, replaced by Primates.[3]

The order was established by Carl Linnaeus in the first edition of his book Systema Naturae (1735) for genera Homo (humans), Simia (monkeys and apes in general) and Bradypus (sloths).[4] The taxon is notable for the history of human taxonomy as the first to combine apes (Linnaeus' Simia) and humans under the same clade.[5]

In the 1758 edition of the same book, Linnaeus discarded this name and began to use the word Primates, which has replaced Anthropomorpha completely. A dissertation on the Anthropomorpha was published by Linnaeus' student Christian Emmanuel Hoppius in 1760.[6]

The name is no longer considered valid, as the animals that were included within Anthropomorpha are now believed to belong to multiple clades. For example, two-toed sloths were included within Anthropomorpha,[7] but are now considered to be in the family Choloepodidae, which is not closely related to the primates.[8] Comte de Buffon ^[year needed] correctly rejected the combination of sloths and primates within the same order.[7]

References

1. C. E. Hoppius, "Anthropomorpha", Amoenitates Academicae vol. 6 (1763).
2. Linnaeus, C.: Systema Naturae 1748
3. Porter, N., ed. (1913). "Anthropomorpha". Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. G & C. Merriam.
4. Linnaeus, C. (1735). Systema naturae sive regna tria Naturae systematice proposita per classes, ordines, genera, & species. apud Theodorum Haak, Lugduni Batavorum. pp. s.p.
5. Sven Horstadius, Linnaeus, animals and man, Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 6 (December 1974), 269–275 (p. 273).
6. C. E. Hoppius (6 September 1760). "Anthropomorpha" (PDF). Amoenitates Academicae. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-13.
7. Conniff, R. (December 30, 2007). "Forgotten, Yes. But Happy Birthday Anyway". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-22.^[unreliable source?]
8. Gardner, A. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.