The trite taunt of "I told you so" comes to mind when I stumbled upon this story. Not too long ago a mass media frenzy ensued because a fossil find, known as "Ida", was hailed by its discoverers as the great missing link between man and beast. There were scientists who doubted, who questioned it. Yet now there is an even greater consensus than before that Ida is not our great-great-great grandmother. The following are some quotes from a ScieneDaily article, followed by its full citation and a link to the story.

"In an article now available online in the Journal of Human Evolution, four scientists present evidence that the 47-million-year-old Darwinius masillae is not a haplorhine primate like humans, apes and monkeys, as the 2009 research claimed."

"Last spring's much-publicized article on Darwinius was released in conjunction with a book, a History Channel documentary, and an exhibit in the American Museum of Natural History."

"'Just because it's a complete and well-preserved fossil doesn't mean it's going to overthrow all our ideas,' says Williams, the lead author. 'There's this enormous body of literature that has built up over the years. The Darwinius research completely ignored that body of literature.'"

Source:

"'Missing Link' Fossil Was Not Human Ancestor as Claimed, Anthropologists Say", ScienceDaily, March 16th, AD 2010, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302131719.htm, accessed March 16th, AD 2010.