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Where did the earliest monkeylike primates appear about 45 million years ago?

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Illustration comparing the body plans of representative anthropoids, showing a male western lowland gorilla, a male human, a male bonobo, a female Bornean orangutan, and male and female northern white-cheeked gibbons, all labeled and depicted to scale. — primate Representative apes (superfamily Hominoidea).

The earliest monkeylike primates, known as Simiiformes, appeared in southern China approximately 45 million years ago.12

Fossil evidence for these early ancestors is primarily based on the genus Eosimias, which is represented by recovered jaw fragments and foot bones. These findings provide critical insight into the evolutionary origins of the group that would eventually include monkeys, apes, and humans.12