A Linnæan genus of Quadrumana which included the types of numerous modern genera. By modern writers it is usually restricted to the genus which includes the orang-outang.

(Ape). Norway. Simia from Greek-word, snub-nosed, i.e., unattractive appearance. Anthropoid, man-like, e.g., gorillas, chimpanzees, orang-outangs.

In his Systema Naturae of 1758, Carolus Linnaeus divided the Order Primates into four genera: Homo, Simia, Lemur, and Vespertilio. His Vespertilio included all bats, and has since been moved from Primates to Chiroptera. Homo contained humans (Homo sapiens and Homo troglodytes), Lemur contained four lemurs and a colugo, and Simia contained all the rest — it was, in modern terms, a wastebasket taxon for the primates.