Darwinius
Darwinius | |
---|---|
Main slab of the Darwinius masillae holotype fossil (specimen PMO 214.214) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Strepsirrhini |
Family: | †Adapidae |
Genus: | †Darwinius Franzen et al., 2009 |
Species: | †D. masillae
|
Binomial name | |
†Darwinius masillae Franzen et al., 2009
|
Darwinius is a genus within the infraorder Adapiformes, a group of basal strepsirrhine primates from the middle Eocene epoch. Its only known species, Darwinius masillae, lived approximately 47 million years ago (Lutetian stage) based on dating of the fossil site.[1]
The only known fossil, called Ida, was discovered in 1983
The genus Darwinius was named in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the species name masillae honors Messel where the specimen was found. The creature appeared superficially similar to a modern lemur.[3][4]
The authors of the paper describing Darwinius classified it as a member of the primate
Concerns have been raised about the claims made about the fossil's relative importance and the publicising of the fossil before adequate information was available for scrutiny by the academic community.[4] Some of Norway's leading biologists, among them Nils Christian Stenseth, have called the fossil an "exaggerated hoax" and stated that its presentation and popular dissemination "fundamentally violate scientific principles and ethics."[9][10][11]
Taxonomy
Franzen et al. (2009) place the genus Darwinius in the subfamily Cercamoniinae of the family Notharctidae within the extinct infraorder Adapiformes of early primates.[3]
Darwinius masillae is the third primate species to be discovered at the Messel locality that belongs to the cercamoniine adapiforms, in
addition to
The adapiforms are early primates which are known only from the fossil record, and it is unclear whether they form a
Franzen et al. in their 2009 paper place Darwinius in the "
Concerns over cladistic analysis
Paleontologists have expressed concern that the cladistic analysis compared only 30 traits when standard practice is to analyze 200 to 400 traits and to include fossils such as anthropoids from Egypt and the primate genus Eosimias which were not included in the analysis. This contrasts with the motive openly stated by the authors, which was to list 30 anatomical and morphological characteristics "commonly used" to distinguish extant strepsirrhine and haplorrhine primates.[3] Paleontologist Richard Kay of Duke University thought the data could have been cherry-picked. Paleontologist Callum Ross of the University of Chicago considered the claim that Darwinius should be classified as haplorhine was "unsupportable in light of modern methods of classification."[14] The opinion of Chris Beard, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, was that Darwinius was not a "missing link" between anthropoids and more primitive primates, but that further study of this remarkably complete specimen would be very informative and could reveal relationships amongst "the earliest and least human-like of all known primates, the Eocene adapiforms."[15] In an interview published on 27 May 2009, Jørn Hurum stated that he had an open mind about the possibility that the fossil might turn out to be a lemur and that a paper on systematics to be published within about a year would mainly focus on the partial counterslab containing the inner ear and the foot bones.[16]
Most experts hold that the higher primates (simians) evolved from Tarsiidae, branching off the Strepsirrhini before the appearance of the Adapiformes. A smaller group agrees with Franzen et al. that the higher primates descend from Adapiformes (Adapoidea). The view of paleontologist
Erik Seiffert and colleagues at Stony Brook University argue that Darwinius is on the branch towards the Strepsirrhini and is not a 'missing link' in the evolution of the Anthropoidea.[20] A phylogenetic analysis of 360 morphological characters in 117 extinct and modern primates places Darwinius in a now-extinct group of strepsirrhines along with a newly discovered 37-million-year-old Egyptian primate, Afradapis. Seiffert believes that characteristics that appeared to show a relationship to haplorrhines are due to convergent evolution[21] and has said that "the PR hype surrounding the Darwinius description was very confusing.”[22]
Type specimen
The
The
Digital reconstructions of Ida's
Discovery and acquisition
The events regarding the original unearthing of the fossil are not clear, though some facts are known. It was found at the Messel pit in 1983, a disused
The primary slab remained in Germany in the possession of a private collector who kept it secret for twenty years before deciding to sell it anonymously via a German
After its acquisition it was studied in secret for two years by a team of scientists led by Hurum, who was joined by primate evolution expert Professor
Publication
While studies were in progress, negotiations were put in place for a book and with various broadcasters for documentary programs, all of whom agreed to keep the project secret. A deal went through in the summer of 2008 with
On 15 May
On May 19, 2009 the team revealed their findings to the world at a press conference simultaneously with online publication of the paper in PLoS ONE (for naming purposes, the paper was officially published in print on May 21, 2009).[3] The paper included a statement that the authors were not advocating the possibility that the species could be ancestral to later anthropoid primates; Professor John Fleagle, of Stony Brook University in New York state, asserted that he was one of the anonymous scientific reviewers of the paper and that he had explicitly requested before publication that the authors tone down their original claims that the fossil was on the human evolutionary line.[36] At the press conference the fossil was described as the "missing link" in human evolution. Hurum said that “this fossil rewrites our understanding of the evolution of primates...it will probably be pictured in all the textbooks for the next 100 years" and compared its importance to the Mona Lisa.[37] He also said that Darwinius was "the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor" and that finding it was "a dream come true". Team member Jens Franzen said the state of preservation was "like the Eighth Wonder of the World", with information "palaeontologists can normally only dream of", but while he said it bore "a close resemblance to ourselves" in some aspects, other features indicated that it was not a direct ancestor.[4]
Independent experts were quick to question the claims. Henry Gee, a senior editor at Nature, said the term "missing link" was misleading and that the scientific community would need to evaluate its significance, which was unlikely to match that of Homo floresiensis or feathered dinosaurs. Chris Beard, curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said he "would be absolutely dumbfounded if it turns out to be a potential ancestor to humans."[4]
Publicity and media coverage
Having previously experienced how the
One of the paper's co-authors, paleontologist Philip D. Gingerich, expressed dissatisfaction with the media campaign, telling The Wall Street Journal that they had chosen to publish in PLoS ONE as "There was a TV company involved and time pressure" and they had been pushed to finish the study. "It's not how I like to do science", Gingerich concluded.[17] In an interview, Jørn Hurum said that PLoS ONE had been chosen as it was open access and the research had been funded by Norwegian taxpayers who would benefit from free access, it did not restrict the length of manuscript or number of illustrations, and "PLoS ONE is the quickest way to publish a large work in the world!"[38]
At the time its discovery was announced in the scientific[3] and the popular[41] press, the fossil was characterized as the "most complete fossil primate ever discovered"; Sir David Attenborough has described it as "extraordinary".[42] Google commemorated the unveiling with a themed logo on May 20, 2009.[43] During a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History Hurum said that "This specimen is like finding the Lost Ark for archeologists" and "It is the scientific equivalent of the Holy Grail. This fossil will probably be the one that will be pictured in all textbooks for the next 100 years."[40] Regarding the publicity, Matt Cartmill an anthropologist from Duke University said "The P.R. campaign on this fossil is I think more of a story than the fossil itself".[44]
Independent experts have raised concern about publicity exaggerating the importance of the find before information was available for scrutiny. Chris Beard, curator of the
Hurum considered that the risk of buying the fossil had paid off, and said that "You need an icon or two in a museum to drag people in, this is our Mona Lisa and it will be our Mona Lisa for the next 100 years."[29] He has been described as "a modern-era, media-savvy scientist with the right amounts of showmanship, populist sensibility, and disregard for the normal avenues of scientific prestige required to pull this off". The debut in "an astonishingly slick, multi-component media package" required exceptional coordination between networks, museums, producers and scientists while maintaining a level of secrecy which is hard to attain in modern circumstances.[32] In interviews published on 27 May, Hurum stated that it was good that they had got the message out that primates were rooted deep in time, but that some of the slogans were too much and the publicity got completely out of control.[16] He disclosed that he paid nearly $750,000 (£465,000) for the specimen, but felt it was worthwhile to make the fossil available for scientific investigation instead of it being bought by a private collector and hidden away. Others including Chris Beard were concerned that the price and publicity could lead to profiteering by amateur collectors, and make acquisition of specimens for research purposes more difficult.[48]
Television documentary
The following television documentary about Ida has been broadcast. The US version is available on DVD.[49]
- Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, BBC, UK, broadcast on 26 May 2009.
- The Link, History Channel, USA, broadcast 25 May 2009.
- Terra X: Die geheime Entdeckung, broadcast multiple times on multiple German TV channels, the last time on 14 March 2013 on ZDF Neo.
See also
- List of fossil primates
- List of transitional fossils
- Notharctus
References
- ^ Mertz, D. F., Renne, P. R. (2005): A numerical age for the Messel fossil deposit (UNESCO World Heritage Site) derived from 40Ar/39Ar dating on a basaltic rock fragment. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg no 255: pp 7–75.
- ^ Randerson, James (May 20, 2009). "Deal in Hamburg bar led scientist to Ida fossil, the 'eighth wonder of the world'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ PMID 19492084.
- ^ a b c d e f Christine McGourty (19 May 2009). "Science & Environment; Scientists hail stunning fossil". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ Wilford, John Noble (May 16, 2009). "Analysis Shows German Fossil to Be Early Primate". The New York Times.
- ^ Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
- ^ Fossil primate challenges Ida's place Nature 461, 1040 (2009)
- ^ "'Missing link' primate isn't a link after all". NBC News. October 21, 2009.
- ^ Amundsen, Trond; Folstad, Ivar; Giske, Jarl; Slagsvold, Tore; Stenseth, Nils Chr. 'Ida' er oversolgt Archived 2009-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, Aftenposten
- ^ – Ida er en oversolgt bløff, Nettavisen
- ^ – Dette er ingen 'missing link', Dagbladet, 20 May 2009
- ISBN 978-0-306-48120-8, p. 100
- OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Ann Gibbons (19 May 2009). ""Revolutionary" Fossil Fails to Dazzle Paleontologists -- Gibbons 2009 (519): 1 -- ScienceNOW". ScienceNOW Daily News. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ Chris Beard. "Why Ida fossil is not the missing link - opinion - 21 May 2009 - New Scientist". Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ a b Rowan Hooper; Colin Barras (27 May 2009). "Q&A: Jørn Hurum on Ida, media hype and primate evolution - life - 27 May 2009 - New Scientist". Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ a b c Dayton, Leigh (May 21, 2009). "Scientists divided on Ida as the missing link". The Australian. Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ Philip D. Gingerich (June 2, 2009). "Research on the Origin and Early Evolution of Primates". Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- ^ "Revealing the Link - Who Is Ida? - From Ida to Us". Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- S2CID 205218204.
- ^ Barras, Colin (21 October 2009). "'Missing link' Ida lacks evolutionary insights". New Scientist. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ Henderson, Mark (21 October 2009). "Fossil hailed as Man's ancestor is 'not even close relative'". The Times. London. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ "Norske forskere: – Har funnet "the missing link"". Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ a b ""MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?". National Geographic. May 19, 2009. Archived from the original on May 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ "Early Primate Provides Evolution Clues". ABC News. May 19, 2009.
- PMID 26473056.
- Yahoo.com
- ^ Franzen, J.L. (1994), in Anthropoid Origins (eds Fleagle, J. F. & Kay, R. F.)pp 99-122 (Plenum, New York)
- ^ a b Fossil Ida: extraordinary find is 'missing link' in human evolution, a 19 May 2009 article from The Guardian
- ^ James Randerson (19 May 2009). "Fossil Ida: A profile of palaeontologist Jørn Hurum | Science | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
- ^ a b Tudge, Colin. (2009). The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestors. Little Brown.
- ^ a b c Elizabeth Cline (May 22, 2009). "Ida-lized! The Branding of a Fossil § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM". Seed. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ Brian Switek (May 18, 2009). "A Discovery That Will Change Everything (!!!) ... Or Not : Laelaps". Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ "Ida the fossil will reveal her secrets slowly | Adam Rutherford | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. London. 20 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ James Randerson (19 May 2009). "Is the Ida fossil a missing evolutionary link? | Science". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ Jonathan Leake; John Harlow (May 24, 2009). "Origin of the Specious — Times Online". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ a b "Introducing Darwinius masillae « everyONE – the PLoS ONE community blog". Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ Hurum, Jørn (2009). "revealingthelink.com". Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ a b Samantha Strong and Rich Schapiro (May 19, 2009). "Missing link found? Scientists unveil fossil of 47 million-year-old primate, Darwinius masillae". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- History Channeldocumentary, The Link, devoted to the discovery is slated to air 25 May 2009.
- ^ The Implications Archived 2022-09-26 at the Wayback Machine from revealingthelink.com
- ^ "The Missing Link – Google Fossil Logo 2009". May 20, 2009. Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ "Amid Media Circus, Scientists Doubt 'Ida' Is Your Ancestor". Livescience. May 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ Etheridge, Eric (May 20, 2009). "Let's Not Go Ape Over Ida". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ Brian Switek (May 19, 2009). "Poor, poor Ida, Or: "Overselling an Adapid": Laelaps". Archived from the original on 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ Switek, Brian (26 May 2009). "The dangerous link between science and hype". The Times. London. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
- ^ Hannah Devlin (May 28, 2009). "Jorn Hurum: I paid $750,000 for Ida the fossil and have no regrets - Times Online". The Times. London. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ The Link DVD and Book (2011-01-21). "The Link DVD | The Missing Link - History Channel Store". Shop.history.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-11. Retrieved 2011-03-27.