Multimodal Skeletal Morphometry of Darwinius

Study of the compressed skeleton was facilitated by X-radiography and microcomputerized tomography (CT):
Mapping of developing teeth was done using ArcGIS. First a high-resolution digital photograph of the dentition visible on the surface of plate A was mapped, tooth by tooth, using good light and a binocular microscope. The high-resolution digital X-ray was geo-referenced using landmarks visible in the photograph and X-ray. This permitted identification of some teeth that were not visible on the surface. Next in sequence a shaded CT image of the same region (Fig. 4A), a reversed shaded CT image of the same region viewed from the back side of plate A (Fig. 4B), a reversed photograph of the surface of plate B [1: fig. 4] and a reversed X-ray image of plate B were geo-referenced. Each tooth could be viewed, mapped, and checked by toggling between these superimposed images. In this way virtually all teeth and developing teeth in both plates and from all jaw quadrants were identified unambiguously.
Measurements of the holotype of Darwinius masillae n.gen. n.sp. were made using calipers, with the aid of a binocular microscope or hand lens. Comparisons with other specimens from Messel were made in the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main, while comparisons with specimens from Geiseltal were made at the Geiseltalmuseum in Halle.
William Jungers (Stony Brook, New York) provided an extensive set of comparative measurements for multivariate analysis of skeletal proportions. Comparisons with the postcranial skeletons of modern primates were made using skeletons in the Senckenberg Museum (Frankfurt): Eulemur mongoz (SMF-M34725), Varecia variegata (SMF-M38471), Avahi laniger (SMF-M34718), Loris sp. (SMF-M10780), Callithrix jacchus (SMF-M59340, and -343), and Cercopithecus neglectus (SMF-M59230) and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (Ann Arbor): Saguinus oedipus (UMMZ 156437), Saguinus mystax (UMMZ 160148), Callicebus moloch (UMMZ 125576), Cebus capucinus (UMMZ 77296), and Cebus apella (UMMZ 126129). Tarsius sp., Callithrix sp and Saimiri sciureus skeletons were measured on University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology specimens (UMMP 139 and unnumbered).
Comparisons with Notharctus osborni refer to specimens described by Gregory [23] and a cast housed in the Department of Messel Research at the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg at Frankfurt am Main.