Another Gap Filled

A recently-discovered fish fossil was touted as a link between fish and animals walking on land. Another fossil found recently has been reported to fill a gap in human evolution. The inside joke I keep hearing is that each new disovery that fills a gap creates two more. Anyway, from an AP story by Seth Borenstein on MSNBC.com:

The 4.2 million-year-old fossil discovered in northeastern Ethiopia helps scientists fill in the gaps of how human ancestors made the giant leap from one species to another. That's because the newest fossil, the species Australopithecus anamensis, was found in the region of the Middle Awash - where seven other human-like species spanning nearly 6 million years and three major phases of human development were previously discovered... The species anamensis is not new, but its location is what helps explain the shift from one early phase of human-like development to the next, scientists say. All eight species were within an easy day's walk of each other. Until now, what scientists had were snapshots of human evolution scattered around the world. Finding everything all in one general area makes those snapshots more of a mini home movie of evolution.