Fossil Wiki:Featured articles/Darwinius



Darwinius is a genus of extinct Adapiformes, a group of basal or stem group primates from the Eocene epoch, 47 million years ago (Lutetian stage) based on dating of the fossil site. The genus name, Darwinius, was named to celebrate Charles Darwin on his bicentenary and the species name, masillae, honors the Messel pit, where the specimen was found.) The only known fossil, dubbed Ida, was discovered in 1983 at the Messel pit, a disused shale quarry noted for its astonishing fossil preservation, near the village of Messel, about 35 kilometers (22 mi) southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The fossil, divided into a positive and negative slab after the amateur excavation and sold separately, was not reassembled until the early months of 2007, and formally published in 2009. The fossil is of a juvenile female, approximately 58 cm (23 in) overall length, and it is estimated that Ida died at about 80–85% of her projected adult body and limb length. The scientists who published the initial paper on Darwinius described it as a significant transitional form between early primitive primates and the later prosimian and simian lineages. The creature appeared superficially similar to a modern lemur. The fossil is classified as lying near the separation of two major primate clades: one leading to the prosimians, the other to the anthropoid monkeys and, eventually, to the great apes, including Homo sapiens. However, concerns have been raised about the claims made about its relative importance, and the publicizing of the fossil before adequate information was available for scrutiny by other scientists. (Read more...)