Amacrine cells provide inhibitory synaptic input to bipolar, ganglion and other amacrine cells in the retina. Here, we investigated the spatial distribution and morphology of displaced amacrine cells (dACs) located in the ganglion cell layer (GCL). Postmortem human donor retinas and retinas from macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were triple labelled with antibodies to label amacrine cells (AP2-alpha, a generic amacrine cell marker, choline acetyltransferase, ChAT, a marker for starburst amacrine cells, substance P, secretagogin) and ganglion cells (RBPMD) and with DAPI (nuclei marker). Intracellular injections of labelled cells with the lipophilic dye DiI was used to reveal their morphology. In peripheral retina of both macaque and human, dACs constituted ~60% of all cells in the GCL. AP2-alpha labeled only 50% of the dACs in macaque and 70% of dACs in human retina indicating that AP2-alpha does not label all amacrine cells. In both species, substance P expressing cells constituted 2% of dACs and ~5-6% expressed secretagogin. ChAT expressing cells made up ~14% of dACs in macaque and ~21% of dACs in human. Intracellular injections revealed that substance P and secretagogin are expressed by a wide-field amacrine cell type named thorny type 2, which is characterized by thorny dendrites stratifying in the middle of the inner plexiform layer. In conclusion, dACs make up most cells in the GCL in peripheral retina, thorny type 2 cells make up 2%, and starburst amacrine cells make up between 15-20% of the dACs. Thus, a large proportion of dACS has yet to be identified.