Primate taxa in Africa (and elsewhere) are not randomly distributed. Most are dispersed in monophyletic groups of allopatric taxa, termed superspecies, but some species cannot be allocated to superspecies because any allopatric sister species that once existed are now extinct. These two categories — superspecies and species not assignable to superspecies — are together termed geospecies. African primates belong in 33 geospecies. The number of geospecies is an index of the continent's faunal diversity and in that sense is the highest of all primate faunas, with implications for conservation strategy.