NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Scientists yesterday unveiled  the well preserved fossilized remains found in Germany of a  primate from 47 million years ago that may have been a close  relative of the common ancestor of monkeys, apes and people. 
 
It is the most complete fossil primate ever found, only  missing part of one leg below the knee, and could shed light on  an early stage of primate evolution, the scientists said. 
 
Norwegian paleontologist Jorn Hurum, who led a team of  scientists who analyzed the fossil in the past two years, said  it may resemble one of the earliest ancestors of humans but was  not likely to have been a direct ancestor. 
 
“We are not dealing with our grand- grand- grand-  grandmother but perhaps our grand- grand- grand- aunt,” Jens  Franzen of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt told  reporters at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

The primate, which was two feet (58 cm) from the tip of its  nose to the end of its tail, was a female that died before its  first birthday, Hurum said. It was called Darwinius masillae in  honor of Charles Darwin, who advanced the theory of evolution,  but nicknamed Ida.
  
The fossil was found by an amateur collector in 1983 in the  world heritage listed Messel pit, a disused quarry southeast of  Frankfurt where many fossils have been found.
  
Ida was kept in a private collection until it was offered  for sale to Hurum and the University of Oslo in 2006. 
 
The direct ancestors of humans “must have looked something  like” Ida, Hurum said.  
“This is the only clue we’ve got to what they looked like,”  he said. “But being cautious as scientists … we are of course  not stating that this is our direct ancestor. That’s too much,”  Hurum added. “It’s really, really hard to pinpoint who gave  rise to humans at that point, but this is as good as it gets.” 
 
Ida is linked to humans by the talus bone in her ankle  which is the same shape. Scientists also said her opposable big  toes and nails, not claws, confirmed she was a primate.