Lorises first appear in the Asian fossil record in the Miocene, with records in Thailand around 18 million years ago (mya) and in Pakistan 16 mya.
Several more species were named around 1900, including Nycticebus menagensis (originally Lemur menagensis) by Richard Lydekker in 1893 and Nycticebus pygmaeus by John James Lewis Bonhote in 1907.