Posterior parietal cortex of primates has long been known to have sensorimotor functions mediated in part by sensory inputs and outputs to motor and premotor areas of frontal cortex. Our research takes advantage of the fact that stimulation of sites in posterior parietal cortex with relatively long trains of electrical pulses evokes different classes of complex movements from different modular regions, and that similar regions exist in motor and premotor cortex. Such regions exist in prosimian primates, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and probably all primates. Regions for grasping with the forelimb, aggressive movements, defensive movements, and reaching have been found in prosimian galagos, squirrel monkeys, and owl monkeys. While posterior parietal cortex of macaque monkeys has been less extensively studied, grasping and defensive regions have been detected. The sequence of these specific modules is similar across studied primates, but they course lateromedially within the anterior half of posterior parietal cortex in prosimian galagos, and more from anterior to posterior in monkeys. Another difference is that the motor behavior modules in posterior parietal cortex of galagos receive little direct visual information from visual cortical areas, but instead receive more processed visual inputs from the posterior half of posterior parietal cortex. The modules in all these primates also receive dense inputs from areas of somatosensory cortex, and possibly higher order auditory inputs. Posterior parietal modules connect selectively with regions of motor and premotor cortex where similar complex movements can be evoked. Movements are no longer evoked from posterior parietal cortex when the functions of the relevant parts of motor cortex are blocked. The results support the conclusion that posterior parietal cortex of primates contains a number of functionally distinct zones where complex movements that are ethologically relevant can be evoked. These zones are parts of different cortical networks that involve different combinations and types of sensory inputs for guiding motor behavior via different combinations of outputs to motor and premotor areas of frontal cortex.