Ida the fossil
Ida is 47 million years old and bridges the gap in Evolution between the first primates and modern humans
Darwinius masillae, new genus and species, from Messel in Germany.
Plate A (PMO 214.214) showing holotype skeleton in right lateral view. (B)— Plate B (WDC-MG-210) left side of holotype (reversed for comparison with plate A). Plates show part and counterpart of the same skeleton. Plates have different museum numbers because they are in different museum collections. Note the exceptional completeness of the articulated skeleton in plate A, with left and right hands and the right foot complete, including distal phalanges, and the tail complete to the tip. Stained matrix shows the soft-tissue body outline. Abdomen contains organic remains of food in the digestive tract. All of plate A and parts 1 and 2 on plate B (enclosed in dashed lines) are genuine; remainder of plate B was fabricated during preparation.
Published (Under: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license): http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005723
Authors: Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer1, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith
Scientific paper: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005723
From the Press Release
Scientists announce the discovery of a 47 million year old primate fossil that is set to revolutionise our understanding of human evolution.
Scientists have announced today in New York the discovery of a 47 million
year old human ancestor. Discovered in Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil is
twenty times older than most fossils that explain human evolution. Known
as Ida, the fossil is a transitional species showing characteristics from
the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as
lemurs), but she is more related to the human evolutionary line
(anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans). This places Ida at the
very root of anthropoid evolution
when primates were first developing
the features that would evolve into our own. The scientists findings are
published today by PLoS ONE, the peer reviewed open access journal from
the Public Library of Science.
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