Before we get carried away with all the hype, we refer readers to an article published Thursday 21st May in
New Scientist entitled
“Why Ida is not the Missing Link”. Chris Beard, Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History writes as follows:
What does Ida's anatomy tell us about her place on the family tree of humans and other primates? The fact that she retains primitive features that commonly occurred among all early primates, such as simple incisors rather than a full-fledged toothcomb, indicates that Ida belongs somewhere closer to the base of the tree than living lemurs do. But this does not necessarily make Ida a close relative of anthropoids – the group of primates that includes monkeys, apes – and humans. In order to establish that connection, Ida would have to have anthropoid-like features that evolved after anthropoids split away from lemurs and other early primates. Here, alas, Ida fails miserably.