Today at 12:08 AM SBfaithful said this in Post #13
Macroevolution (or rather, the formation of new species) has been observed and documented.
are you talking about mutations?
Please explain the observation of one family type changing to another.
i.e. lizard to a bird [/B] [/QUOTE]
The transition you listed is one class to another, not "family". Felines to canines would be a family. In the fossil record?
Transitional individuals from one class to another
1. Principles of Paleontology by DM Raup and SM Stanley, 1971, there are transitional series between classes. (mammals and reptiles are examples of a class)
2. HK Erben, Uber den Ursprung der Ammonoidea. Biol. Rev. 41: 641-658, 1966.
Transitional individuals from one order to another
1. C Teichert "Nautiloidea-Discorsorida" and "Actinoceratoidea" in Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology ed RC Moore, 1964
2. PR Sheldon, Parallel gradualistic evolution of Ordovician trilobites. Nature 330: 561-563, 1987. Rigourous biometric study of the pygidial ribs of 3458 specimens of 8 generic lineages in 7 stratgraphic layers covering about 3 million years. Gradual evolution where at any given time the population was intermediate between the samples before it and after it.
All these are cases where there are
individual fossils in a sequence in successive, undisturbed strata connecting across class or order lines.
Among living species, we haven't been observing speciation long enough to see that. But remember, what is a "family type" such as lizards or birds? They are
collections of SPECIES. Nothing more.
We have seen the formation of a new genus within agriculture.
1. Muntzig, A, Triticale Results and Problems, Parey, Berlin, 1979. Describes whole new *genus* of plants, Triticosecale, of several species. These plants are important in agriculture. Tritocosecale is a hybrid of wheat and rye.