* Darwinius masillae, or Ida, unveiled
* Could be common ancestor for humans, apes
* Missing link 'no longer missing'
SCIENTISTS in New York today unveiled the skeleton of what they said could be the common ancestor to humans, apes and other primates.
The tiny creature, officially known as Darwinius masillae, but dubbed Ida, lived 47 million years ago and is unusually well preserved, missing only part of a leg, or five per cent of the skeleton.
The finding, described today in the PloS ONE scientific journal, was displayed at New York's Natural History Museum, and is due to be the subject of a documentary on the History Channel, BBC and other broadcasters.
Organisers said that scientists led by Norway's fossil expert, professor Jorn Hurum, worked for two years on Ida, first discovered in 1983 by private collectors who failed to understand her importance - and split the bones into two lots.
The monkey-like creature was preserved through the ages in Germany's Messel Pit, a crater rich in Eocene Epoch fossils.
Although bearing a long tail, she had several human characteristics, including an opposable thumb, short arms and legs, and forward facing eyes.
She also lacked two key elements of modern lemurs: a grooming claw and a row of lower teeth known as the toothcomb.
"This is the first link to all humans - truly a fossil that links world heritage," Prof Hurum said.
David Attenborough, the renowned British naturalist and broadcaster, said the "little creature is going to show us our connection with all the rest of the mammals". "The link they would have said until now is missing... it is no longer missing," he said.
Ida gives a glimpse into a time when the world was just taking its present shape. Dinosaurs were extinct, the Himalayas were forming and a huge range of mammals thrived in vast jungles.
According to the international team, Ida had suffered a badly broken wrist and this might have been her undoing. The theory is that while drinking from the Messel lake she was overcome by carbon dioxide fumes and fell in.
"Ida slipped into unconsciousness, was washed into the lake, and sank to the bottom, where the unique conditions preserved her for 47 million years," organisers said.
Her last meal shows she was a herbivore. Gut contents revealed remains of fruits, seeds and leaves.
"This fossil is so complete. Everything's there. It's unheard of in the primate record at all. You have to get to human burial to see something that's this complete," Prof Hurum said.
interesting skeleton, huge leap to say we are descended from it though. too many ifs, if its tail dropped off and then if its face changed etc etc.
my nephew just finished a applied science degree majoring in zoology, now working in that industry, even he admits theres no conclusive evidence for this theory.
As a theory, it's at least making an effort to justify itself though Clive... I guess that is why it's still a theory as such. Otherwise it'd be a fact, and we're a way off that yet. Maybe one day!
"Missing Link" or not it's remarkably well preserved for a creature that lived so many millenia ago. I look forward to seeing more about this find.
Thanks for the link Chris.
Chimps, humans, gorillas are all in the same primate group. This looks very much like a lemur, other than it lacks the extra teeth and has opposable thumbs, which is completely new for the lemur group.
It could be the missing link between lemurs to chimps, yes. It's entirely possible that it could be our very distant relative. It's very hard to probably split where the chimp line started, and where the homo species started.
I once had a customer that wanted to convince me to his way of thinking. He wanted me to read a book that argued against evolution.
The main point in it was that the complexity of evolving from fish or chimps or whatever was too great. Not possible for so many intricacies to have occurred at random.
The strength of his belief was unreal. I had to excuse myself after responding that I respected his beliefs, but I simply did not agree with him.
Creationists had it so simple until the paleontologists came. As with science. That was simple too until Einstein entered the picture.
wow how interesting is that 
