Graphic: the family tree split

More on Ida: overblown claims and a worrying precedent

A missing link in human evolution may have been filled by a remarkable fossil that could be the common ancestor of all apes and monkeys, including our own species.

Darwinius masillae, a small lemur-like creature that lived 47 million years ago, illuminates a critical chapter in the human story when the primate family tree split into two branches, one of which led ultimately to us. The fossil could even mark the point at which the evolutionary lineage of humans, apes and monkeys diverged from that of more distant primate cousins such as lemurs, lorises and bushbabies. Its anatomical features suggest that it lies close to the origin of the human branch and that the creature, or something like it, could be an ancient ancestor of humans.

Expert View

Thousands of fossils can helpfully be thought of as missing links

Mark Henderson

• More

• Post a comment

Times Archive, 1953: Piltdown Man forgery

It is clear that the archaeologists were victims of a most elaborate hoax

• Topic: Piltdown Man

Related Links

• Analysis: there are many missing links

• Venom is Komodo dragon's lethal weapon

• 'Hobbit’ feet provide clue to ancient race

Multimedia

• Graphic: how the family tree split

Sir David Attenborough, who will present Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, a BBC documentary on the discovery on BBC One on Tuesday at 9pm, said: “This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all mammals. The link they would have said until now is missing, is no longer missing.”

The almost complete skeleton, which is missing only a part of one leg, was unearthed in 1983, in the Messel Pit near Darmstadt, Germany. Its significance had not been noticed before because the fossil was split into two parts. The pieces have now been reunited by a team led by Jørn Hurum, of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum. The first analysis is published in the journal Public Library of Science One. As well as the bones, the fossil preserves soft features of the animal such as fur, and even its last meal: it was a herbivore that ate fruit, seeds and leaves.

“This fossil will probably be pictured in all the textbooks for the next 100 years,” Dr Hurum said. “This is the first link to all humans . . . truly a fossil that links world heritage. This fossil is so complete. Everything is there. It is unheard of in the primate record at all. You have to get to human burial to see something that’s this complete.”

The ancient remains are those of a young female and the presence of both adult and baby teeth suggest that she was about nine months old. She was about 53cm (21ins) long from head to tail, and about 60 per cent grown when she died.

She has been nicknamed Ida, after Dr Hurum’s six-year-old daughter, whose adult teeth were erupting while her father was studying the fossil.

The scientific name honours Charles Darwin, as both the bicentenary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species fall this year. The second part is taken from the Latin for the Messel Pit.

Ida’s importance stems from her anatomical characteristics, which appear to mark her out as a transi- tional form between two types of primate. Modern primates are divided into two suborders: the strepsirrhines, or “wet-nosed” primates, include lemurs, bushbabies and lorises; the haplorrhines or “dry-nosed” include monkeys, apes and humans.

While some of Ida’s features are similar to those of strepsirrhines, she lacks two key characteristics of modern lemurs: a grooming or “toilet claw” on the second digit of her foot, and a fused row of teeth on the lower jaw known as a toothcomb. The absence of these traits is typical of haplorrhines such as human beings.

Jerry Hooker, a mammalian palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “Importantly, this new fossil lacks a number of key characters of lemurs and lorises, but also has a number of key characters of all other primates. Given that D. masillae was at an early stage in haplorrhine evolution, with a mix of primitive and only a few advanced characters, in life it probably looked generally more like a lemur than a monkey, but with a shorter snout and shorter hind limbs.”

Further information is available from www.revealingthelink.com

Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, Tuesday May 26, 9pm, BBC One

Times Recommends

• In Margot Fonteyn's footsteps
• Forget beautiful people, let's have wonky Brits
• Fundamentalist brew: faith and power