If all that you knew about paleontology came from headlines alone, you could be excused for thinking that the science consists of little more than naming one obscure creature after another. There are a few petrified celebrities which can draw sustained attention – Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops foremost among them – but, in general, it seems that the novelty of newly-discovered fossil creatures wears off very quickly. Shortly after their announcement these animals go underground into the academic literature; the ongoing research, discussion, and debate concerning these fossils at conferences and in journals mostly remains hidden from public view.

So it is with Darwinius, the ballyhooed fossil-primate which debuted