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(01) "MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090519-missing-link-found.html
May 19, 2009—May 19, 2009—Meet "Ida," thesmall "missing link" found inGermany that's created a big mediasplash and will likely continue tomake waves among those whostudy human origins.
In a new book, documentary, andpromotional Web site ,paleontologist Jorn Hurum, wholed the team that analyzed the 47-million-year-old fossil seen above,suggests Ida is a critical missing-linkspecies in primate evolution
(interactive guide to human evolution from National Geographic magazine).
(Among the team members was University of Michigan paleontologist Philip Gingerich, amember of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National GeographicSociety, which owns National Geographic News.)
The fossil, he says, bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys,apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs.
"This is the rst link to all humans," Hurum, of the Natural History Museum in Oslo,Norway, said in a statement. Ida represents "the closest thing we can get to a directancestor."
Ida, properly known as Darwinius masillae, has a unique anatomy. The lemur-likeskeleton features primate-like characteristics, including grasping hands, opposable thumbs,clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs.
"MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?
(01) "MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?
"This specimen looks like a really early fossil monkey that belongs to the group thatincludes us," said Brian Richmond, a biological anthropologist at George WashingtonUniversity in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the study, published this weekin the journal PLoS ONE.
But there's a big gap in the fossil record from this time period, Richmond noted.Researchers are unsure when and where the primate group that includes monkeys, apes,and humans split from the other group of primates that includes lemurs.
"[Ida] is one of the important branching points on the evolutionary tree," Richmond said,"but it's not the only branching point."
At least one aspect of Ida is unquestionably unique: her incredible preservation, unheardof in specimens from the Eocene era, when early primates underwent a period of rapidevolution. (Explore a prehistoric time line.)
"From this time period there are very few fossils, and they tend to be an isolated tooth hereor maybe a tailbone there," Richmond explained. "So you can't say a whole lot of what that[type of fossil] represents in terms of evolutionary history or biology."
In Ida's case, scientists were able to examine fossil evidence of fur and soft tissue and evenpicked through the remains of her last meal: fruits, seeds, and leaves.
What's more, the newly described "missing link" was found in Germany's Messel Pit. Ida'sEuropean origins are intriguing, Richmond said, because they could suggest—contrary tocommon assumptions—that the continent was an important area for primate evolution.
"MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?
(02) Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution |Science
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/may/19/ida-fossil-missing-link
Perfectly preserved fossil Ida, unveiled in New York today, provided unprecedentedinsight into our ancestry
Ida, one of the most complete primate fossils ever found, a 47-million-year-old human ancestor.
Scientists have discovered an exquisitely preserved ancient primate fossil that they believeforms a crucial "missing link" between our own evolutionary branch of life and the rest ofthe animal kingdom.
The 47m-year-old primate – named Ida – has been hailed as the fossil equivalent of a"Rosetta Stone" for understanding the critical early stages of primate evolution.
The top-level international research team, who have studied her in secret for the past twoyears, believe she is the most complete and best preserved primate fossil ever uncovered.The skeleton is 95% complete and thanks to the unique location where she died, it ispossible to see individual hairs covering her body and even the make-up of her nal meal –a last vegetarian snack.
Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution | Science
(02) Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution |Science
"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all the mammals;with cows and sheep, and elephants and anteaters," said Sir David Attenborough who isnarrating a BBC documentary on the nd. "The more you look at Ida, the more you cansee, as it were, the primate in embryo."
"This will be the one pictured in the textbooks for the next hundred years," said Dr JørnHurum, the palaeontologist from Oslo University's Natural History Museum whoassembled the scienti c team to study the fossil. "It tells a part of our evolution that's beenhidden so far. It's been hidden because the only [other] specimens are so incomplete and sobroken there's nothing almost to study." The fossil has been formally named Darwiniusmasillae in honour of Darwin's 200th birthday year.
It has been shipped across the Atlantic for an unveiling ceremony hosted by the mayor ofNew York Michael Bloomberg today. There is even talk of Ida being the rst non-livingthing to feature on the front cover of People magazine.
She will then be transported back to Oslo, via a brief stop at the Natural History Museumin London on Tuesday, 26 May, when Attenborough will host a press conference.
Ida was originally discovered by an amateur fossil hunter in the summer of 1983 at Messelpit, a world renowned fossil site near Darmstadt in Germany. He kept it under wraps forover 20 years before deciding to sell it via a German fossil dealer called Thomas Perner. Itwas Perner who approached Hurum two years ago.
"My heart started beating extremely fast," said Hurum, "I knew that the dealer had a worldsensation in his hands. I could not sleep for 2 nights. I was just thinking about how to getthis to an o cial museum so that it could be described and published for science." Hurumwould not reveal what the university museum paid for the fossil, but the original askingprice was $1m. He did not see the fossil before buying it – just three photographs,representing a huge gamble.
Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution | Science
(02) Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution |Science
But it appears to have paid o . "You need an icon or two in a museum to drag people in,"said Hurum, "this is our Mona Lisa and it will be our Mona Lisa for the next 100 years."
Hurum chose Ida's nickname because the diminutive creature is at the equivalent stage ofdevelopment as his six-year-old daughter. Hurum said Ida is very excited about hernamesake. "She says, 'there are two Idas now, there's me I'm living and then there's thedead one.'"
"It's caught at a really very interesting moment [in the animal's life] when it fortunately hasall its baby teeth and is in the process of forming all its permanent teeth," said Dr HollySmith, an expert in primate development at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,who was part of the team. "So you have more information in it than almost any fossil youcould think of."
The fossil's amazing preservation means that the scienti c team has managed to glean ahuge amount of information from it, although this required new X-ray techniques thathad not previously been applied to any other specimens.
The researchers believe it comes from the time when the primate lineage, that diversi edinto monkeys, apes and ultimately humans, split from a separate group that went on tobecome lemurs and other less well known species.
Crucially though, Ida is not on the lemur line because she lacks two key characteristicsshared by lemurs – a grooming claw on her second toe and a fused set of teeth called atooth comb. Also, a bone in her ankle called the talus is shaped like members of our branchof the primates. So the researchers believe she may be on our evolutionary line dating fromjust after the split with the lemurs.
According to the team's published description of the skeleton in the journal PLoS ONE,Ida was 53cm long and a juvenile around six to nine months old. The team can be sure Idais a girl because she does not have a penis bone.
Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution | Science
(02) Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution |Science
"She was at this vulnerable age where you are no longer right with your mother," saidSmith, "Just as you leave weaning you are not full grown, but you are on your own."
The unprecedented preservation of Ida meant working out how she died was more like amodern day crime scene investigation than the informed guess-work that palaeontologistsusually make do with. The team noticed that she had a broken wrist that had begun topartially heal. The injury did not kill her, but they speculate that it contributed to herpremature demise.
"It might be that her mother dropped her once or that she fell down from a tree earlier inher life," Smith said. She survived the accident, but her climbing abilities would have beenimpaired. Unable to drink from water trapped by tree leaves, she would have had toventure down to the lake to drink. This would have proved to be a fateful decision.
The huge range of magni cently preserved fossils at Messel suggest that the volcanic lakewas a death trap. Scientists believe that it sporadically let forth giant belches of poisonousvolcanic gases that would have immediately su ocated anything in, around and even overthe water. Ida would then have fallen into the water and been preserved in the sedimentdeep at the bottom.
Fossil Ida: Extraordinary find is 'missing link' in evolution | Science
(03) Missing link found? 47-million-year-old fossil unveiled
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/missing-link-found-scientists-unveil-fossil-47-million-year-old-primate-darwinius-masillae-article-1.409844
Feast your eyes on what a group of scientists call the Holy Grail of human evolution.
A team of researchers Tuesday unveiled an almost perfectly intact fossil of a 47 million-year-old primate they say represents the long-sought missing link between humans andapes.
O cially known as Darwinius masillae, the fossil of the lemur-like creature dubbed Idashows it had opposable thumbs like humans and fingernails instead of claws.
Scientists say the cat-sized animal's hind legs o er evidence of evolutionary changes that ledto primates standing upright - a breakthrough that could nally con rm Charles Darwin'stheory of evolution.
Missing link found? 47-million-year-old fossil unveiled
(03) Missing link found? 47-million-year-old fossil unveiled
"This specimen is like nding the Lost Ark for archeologists," lead scientist Jorn Hurumsaid at a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History.
"It is the scienti c equivalent of the Holy Grail. This fossil will probably be the one thatwill be pictured in all textbooks for the next 100 years."
A team of amateur fossil hunters discovered the near-perfect remains inside a mile-widecrater outside of Frankfurt in 1983.
Experts believe the pit was a volcanic caldera where scores of animals from the Eoceneepoch were killed and their remains were kept remarkably well-preserved.
Though the pit has been a bountiful source of other fossils, the inexperienced archeologistsdidn't realize the value of their find.
Years later, the University of Oslo bought the 95%-intact fossil, and Hurum studied it insecret for two years.
His colleague, Jens Franzen, hailed the discovery as "the eighth wonder of the world."
"We're not dealing with our grand, grand, grandmother, but perhaps with our grand,grand, grand aunt," Franzen said.
The unveiling of the fossil came as part of a carefully-orchestrated publicity campaignunusual for scientific discoveries.
Missing link found? 47-million-year-old fossil unveiled
(04) Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2009/05/20/fascinating-ida/
Yesterday, a remarkably complete, 47-million-year-old fossil of an early primate, namedDarwinius masillae, was unveiled to an audience in New York City at the same time as ascienti c article documenting the discovery, Complete Primate Skeleton from the MiddleEocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology , was published in PLoSONE. 24 hours later and the media response has been impressive, to put it mildly, withover 700 stories listed on Google News. Google even modi ed its homepage logo today inrecognition of the importance of the fossil, nicknamed “Ida” after lead author, JornHurum’s daughter. The Messel Pit, where Ida was discovered, meanwhile, was featured inthe Guardian’s regular In Praise of… column today.
Many reports in the media and in the blogosphere have questioned the use of the term“missing link” to describe this fossil and we addressed this issue in yesterday’s post.Regardless, the fact that the fossil is remarkably complete and well preserved means that itprovides important information on the evolution of primates during a time period wherelittle evidence exists.
Moreover, every reader of each of these news articles and blog posts can read the wholePLoS ONE article, including a number of related images and supporting information files,
Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
(04) Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
online and for free and can then make up his or her own mind about the fossil. Each articlepublished in PLoS ONE has been peer reviewed; however, the Web 2.0 tools on the PLoSONE website allow the scienti c discussion and debate of these articles long after theyhave been published. We encourage interested readers to take advantage of thecommenting and annotation features on the PLoS ONE journal website to discuss thearticle online.
Here is a summary of some of the media coverage of the discovery so far (we will beupdating this list over the next few days and in subsequent posts):
News:News:
Wikipedia –Darwinius_masillae The Los Angeles Times – 47 million years old and still dazzling The Chicago Tribune – Gem of a fossil could offer window to the past
The Boston Globe – Most complete fossil of primate revealed Reuters – Scientists unveil ancient fossil Associated Press – Early skeleton sheds light on primate evolution
CNN – Scientists piece together human ancestryThe Guardian – Fossil Ida: extraordinary nd is ‘missing link’ between humans and
mammals, Is fossil Ida a missing link in evolution?, Fossil Ida at a glance, Ida: the fossilthat links us to the animal kingdom, The palaeontologist who brought fossil Ida to theworld, Fossil Ida’s great big family and Fossils from the Messel site
BBC – Scientists hail stunning fossil, A look inside the fossil- nd pit, ‘Stunning’ fossilfind unveiled, Primate fossil in virtual reality and Scientist on primate fossil find
The Times Online – Fossil nd provides ‘missing link’ in human evolution andAnalysis: there are many missing links
The Telegraph – Scientists unveil stunning fossilPress Association – Fossil unveiled as ‘missing link’Die Welt – Bindeglied von Affe und Mensch gefunden?El Mundo – Descubierto el antepasado humano más primitivo
Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
(04) Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
Javno.com – Scientists Unveil Ancient Fossilised Primate Cosmos Magazine – Astounding primate fossil excites experts The Age – Meet the ancestor: 47-million-year-old human link revealed Nature – Reunion of fossil halves splits scientists National Geographic – “Missing Link” Photos: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs? ScienceNOW – “Revolutionary” Fossil Fails to Dazzle Anthropologists Live Science – Ancient Human Ancestor ‘Ida’ Discovered
Blogs:Blogs:
The LoomPharyngulaLaelapsThe IntersectionFraming ScienceEvolving ThoughtsPaleoblogNot Exactly Rocket ScienceThe Evilutionary BiologistThe Open Source PaleontologistCryptozoology OnlineNeuron CultureThe Sensuous CurmudgeonStarts with a Bang!A Blog Around the Clock
Audio/Video:Audio/Video:
Radio National (Australia) – Key find of fossil primate (mp3)ITNNewsnight (BBC), May 19 (from 32:24)Global TV May 19Good Morning America
Fascinating Ida | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
