The specimen documented in this paper is undoubtedly an important fossil, particularly because it is the most complete adapoid primate skeleton known to date. Although other, partial adapoid skeletons are known (hence 4/5 stars in the "insight" category), Darwinius will be a valuable data point for future studies of primate evolution.

The proposed placement of Darwinius and adapoids with haplorhines will likely be disputed by future workers, particularly due to the absence of a comprehensive cladistic analysis incorporating the new specimen. Cladistic analysis is not perfect (it is relatively easy to pick and choose characters to support any topology), but it would allow another evaluation of the new taxon's (controversial) relationships. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see how other fossil haplorhines (e.g., Eosimias) now fall out in light of the new data. This was not completely evaluated in the paper, unfortunately. In the absence of a parsimony analysis, it is possible to imagine alternative scenarios in which some characters of Darwinius are homoplasies rather than synapomorphies with haplorhines. Additionally, some of the synapomorphies described here probably will be reinterpreted by other workers, which could further affect the hypothesis for where Darwinius lies phylogenetically. So, I have only rated the paper 2/5 stars for reliability.

I have rated the paper 4/5 stars for style, in light of the clear prose and numerous detailed figures within the paper.