This article is found here:
http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/chapter5.php
and was cited by Dutchunter. This is my response and I would expect him to reply with a scientific response. Due to length, it is divided into two sections. The original article text is in black, my response is in blue and materials I quote are in green:
If this were the case, then innumerable intermediate species should have lived during the immense period of time when these transformations were supposedly occurring.
Well, yes and no. There would never be a species which was simply a "transitional" or an "intermediate". Each species at a given point in time would be a complete species in and of itself. It is not species X, then a series of intermediates, then species Y. This is a common misconception about how evolution works.
For instance, there should have lived in the past some half-fish/half-reptile creatures which had acquired some reptilian traits in addition to the fish traits they already had. Or there should have existed some reptile/bird creatures, which had acquired some avian traits in addition to the reptilian traits they already possessed. Evolutionists refer to these imaginary creatures, which they believe to have lived in the past, as "transitional forms".
Well, no, they don’t. We would definitely have species which showed traits of earlier forms and the beginnings of traits of later forms in the process, but each species along this progression would have every trait be something useful for itself. These forms would be transitional only in the relativistic sense if you picked two spots, one before and one after, you could then say the one in between shows the transition between the two. But no, we would not expect to see a species that we call a Transitional between two real species. In reality EVERY species in the fossil record is a transitional between the earlier forms and the later forms. And, yes, we do have tons of examples of fossils which show the transition between one form and another in a clear progression over time. Lucaspa has a good list of them, I will ask him to put it up.
If such animals had really existed, there would have been millions, even billions, of them. More importantly, the remains of these creatures should be present in the fossil record. The number of these transitional forms should have been even greater than that of present animal species, and their remains should be found all over the world. [discussion of Darwin clipped]
This shows a lack of understanding of the transitional issue. This is an example of how YEC’s make a mistake and then build a theory around it. Again, every species that has ever been found in the fossil record is, when viewed in evolutionary terms, a transition. So, they are found all over the world. The YEC’s are looking for something that evolution never says would exist.
The only explanation Darwin could come up with to counter this objection was the argument that the fossil record uncovered so far was inadequate. He asserted that when the fossil record had been studied in detail, the missing links would be found.
And they have been, although they are not really missing links as much as ongoing links in the extended chain. Here is a good explanation and a better response than I can give:
There are many transitional fossils. The only way that the claim of their absence may beremotely justified, aside from ignoring the evidence completely, is to redefine "transitional" as referring to a fossil which is a direct ancestor of one organism and a direct descendant of another. However, direct lineages are not required; they couldn't be verified even if found. What a transitional fossil is, in keeping with what the theory of evolution predicts, is a fossil which shows a mosaic of features from an older and a more recent organism.
Transitional fossils may coexist with gaps. We do not expect to find finely detailed sequences of fossils lasting for millions of years. Nevertheless, we do find several fine gradations of fossils between species and genera, and we find many other sequences between higher taxa that are still very well filled out.
Fossil transitions between species and genera:
Human ancestry. There are many fossils of human ancestors, and the differences between species are so gradual that it is not always clear where to draw the lines between them.
A gradual transitional fossil sequence connects the foraminifera Globigerinoides trilobus and Orbulina universa [Pearson et al, 1997]. O. universa, the later fossil, features a spherical test surrounding a "Globigerinoides-like" shell, showing that a feature is added, not lost. The evidence is seen in all major tropical ocean basins. Several intermediate morphospecies connect the two species, as may be seen in the figure included in [Lindsay, 1997].
The fossil record shows transitions between species of Phacops (a trilobite; Phacops rana is the Pennsylvania state fossil.). [Eldredge, 1972, 1974; Strapple, 1978]
Planktonic forminifera (an example of "punctuated gradualism") [Malmgren, B. A., Berggren, W. A., and Lohmann, G. P., 1984. Species formation through punctuated gradualism in planktonic foraminifera. Science 225: 317-319.] This describes a 10-million-year foraminifera fossil record which shows long periods of stasis and other periods of relatively rapid but still gradual morphologic change.
Fossils of the diatom Rhizosolenia are very common (they are mined as diatomaceous earth), and they show a continuous record of almost 2 million years which includes a record of a speciation event. [Miller, 1999]
Lake Turkana mollusc species [Lewin R 1981, No gap here in the fossil record, Science 214: 645-646]
Cenozoic marine ostracodes [Cronin TM 1985, Speciation and stasis in marine ostracoda: climatic modulation of evolution, Science 227: 60-63]
the Eocene primate genus Cantius [Gingerich PD, 1983, Evidence for evolution from the vertebrate fossil record, Journal of Geological Education 31: 140-144; see also Gingerich PD 1976, Paleontology and phylogeny: Patterns of evolution of the species level in early Tertiary mammals, American Journal of Science 276(1): 1-28; Gingerich PD 1980, Evolutionary patterns in early Cenozoic mammals, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 8: 407-424]
Scallops of the genus Chesapecten show gradual change in one "ear" of their hinge over about 13 million years. The ribs also change. [Ward & Blackwelder, 1975; Pojeta & Springer, 2001]
Fossil transitionals between families, orders, and classes:
Human ancestry. Australopithecus, though its leg and pelvis bones show it walked upright, had a bony ridge on the forearm, probably vestigial, indicative of knuckle walking. [Stokstad, 2000]
Dinosaur-bird transitions.Intermediates between primitive lizards and snakes:
An intermediate form of the snake's stretchable jaw exists in mososaurs, which, like snakes, have highly flexible lower jaws, but, unlike snakes, don't have highly flexible upper jaws. Some other skull features of mososaurs are intermediate between snakes and primitive lizards. [Lee et al, 2000; Tchernov et al, 2000; Caldwell & Lee, 1997]
Haasiophis terrasanctus is a primitive marine snake with well-developed hind limbs. Although other limbless snakes might be more ancestral, this fossil shows a relationship of snakes with limbed ancestors [Tchernov et al, 2000]. Pachyrhachis is another snake with legs related to Haasiophis [Caldwell & Lee, 1997].
Transitions between mesonychids and whales.Transitions between fish and tetrapods.
Fossil transitionals between kingdoms and phyla:
The Cambrian fossils Halkiera and Wiwaxia have features which connect them with each other and with the modern phyla of Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Annelida. In particular, one species of halkieriid has brachiopod-like shells on the dorsal side at each end. This is seen also in an immature stage of the living brachiopod species Neocrania. It has setae identical in structure to polychaetes, a group of annelids. Wiwaxia and Halkiera have the same basic arrangement of hollow sclerites, an arrangement which is similar to the chaetae arrangement of polychaetes. The undersurface of Wiwaxia has a soft sole like a mollusc's foot, and its jaw looks like a mollusc's mouth. Aplacophorans, which are a group of primitive molluscs, have a soft body covered with spicules similar to the sclerites of Wiwaxia. [Conway Morris, 1999]
Cambrian and Precambrain fossils Anomalocaris and Opabinia are transitional between arthropods and lobopods.
http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/chapter5.php
and was cited by Dutchunter. This is my response and I would expect him to reply with a scientific response. Due to length, it is divided into two sections. The original article text is in black, my response is in blue and materials I quote are in green:
If this were the case, then innumerable intermediate species should have lived during the immense period of time when these transformations were supposedly occurring.
Well, yes and no. There would never be a species which was simply a "transitional" or an "intermediate". Each species at a given point in time would be a complete species in and of itself. It is not species X, then a series of intermediates, then species Y. This is a common misconception about how evolution works.
For instance, there should have lived in the past some half-fish/half-reptile creatures which had acquired some reptilian traits in addition to the fish traits they already had. Or there should have existed some reptile/bird creatures, which had acquired some avian traits in addition to the reptilian traits they already possessed. Evolutionists refer to these imaginary creatures, which they believe to have lived in the past, as "transitional forms".
Well, no, they don’t. We would definitely have species which showed traits of earlier forms and the beginnings of traits of later forms in the process, but each species along this progression would have every trait be something useful for itself. These forms would be transitional only in the relativistic sense if you picked two spots, one before and one after, you could then say the one in between shows the transition between the two. But no, we would not expect to see a species that we call a Transitional between two real species. In reality EVERY species in the fossil record is a transitional between the earlier forms and the later forms. And, yes, we do have tons of examples of fossils which show the transition between one form and another in a clear progression over time. Lucaspa has a good list of them, I will ask him to put it up.
If such animals had really existed, there would have been millions, even billions, of them. More importantly, the remains of these creatures should be present in the fossil record. The number of these transitional forms should have been even greater than that of present animal species, and their remains should be found all over the world. [discussion of Darwin clipped]
This shows a lack of understanding of the transitional issue. This is an example of how YEC’s make a mistake and then build a theory around it. Again, every species that has ever been found in the fossil record is, when viewed in evolutionary terms, a transition. So, they are found all over the world. The YEC’s are looking for something that evolution never says would exist.
The only explanation Darwin could come up with to counter this objection was the argument that the fossil record uncovered so far was inadequate. He asserted that when the fossil record had been studied in detail, the missing links would be found.
And they have been, although they are not really missing links as much as ongoing links in the extended chain. Here is a good explanation and a better response than I can give:
There are many transitional fossils. The only way that the claim of their absence may beremotely justified, aside from ignoring the evidence completely, is to redefine "transitional" as referring to a fossil which is a direct ancestor of one organism and a direct descendant of another. However, direct lineages are not required; they couldn't be verified even if found. What a transitional fossil is, in keeping with what the theory of evolution predicts, is a fossil which shows a mosaic of features from an older and a more recent organism.
Transitional fossils may coexist with gaps. We do not expect to find finely detailed sequences of fossils lasting for millions of years. Nevertheless, we do find several fine gradations of fossils between species and genera, and we find many other sequences between higher taxa that are still very well filled out.
Fossil transitions between species and genera:
Human ancestry. There are many fossils of human ancestors, and the differences between species are so gradual that it is not always clear where to draw the lines between them.
A gradual transitional fossil sequence connects the foraminifera Globigerinoides trilobus and Orbulina universa [Pearson et al, 1997]. O. universa, the later fossil, features a spherical test surrounding a "Globigerinoides-like" shell, showing that a feature is added, not lost. The evidence is seen in all major tropical ocean basins. Several intermediate morphospecies connect the two species, as may be seen in the figure included in [Lindsay, 1997].
The fossil record shows transitions between species of Phacops (a trilobite; Phacops rana is the Pennsylvania state fossil.). [Eldredge, 1972, 1974; Strapple, 1978]
Planktonic forminifera (an example of "punctuated gradualism") [Malmgren, B. A., Berggren, W. A., and Lohmann, G. P., 1984. Species formation through punctuated gradualism in planktonic foraminifera. Science 225: 317-319.] This describes a 10-million-year foraminifera fossil record which shows long periods of stasis and other periods of relatively rapid but still gradual morphologic change.
Fossils of the diatom Rhizosolenia are very common (they are mined as diatomaceous earth), and they show a continuous record of almost 2 million years which includes a record of a speciation event. [Miller, 1999]
Lake Turkana mollusc species [Lewin R 1981, No gap here in the fossil record, Science 214: 645-646]
Cenozoic marine ostracodes [Cronin TM 1985, Speciation and stasis in marine ostracoda: climatic modulation of evolution, Science 227: 60-63]
the Eocene primate genus Cantius [Gingerich PD, 1983, Evidence for evolution from the vertebrate fossil record, Journal of Geological Education 31: 140-144; see also Gingerich PD 1976, Paleontology and phylogeny: Patterns of evolution of the species level in early Tertiary mammals, American Journal of Science 276(1): 1-28; Gingerich PD 1980, Evolutionary patterns in early Cenozoic mammals, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 8: 407-424]
Scallops of the genus Chesapecten show gradual change in one "ear" of their hinge over about 13 million years. The ribs also change. [Ward & Blackwelder, 1975; Pojeta & Springer, 2001]
Fossil transitionals between families, orders, and classes:
Human ancestry. Australopithecus, though its leg and pelvis bones show it walked upright, had a bony ridge on the forearm, probably vestigial, indicative of knuckle walking. [Stokstad, 2000]
Dinosaur-bird transitions.Intermediates between primitive lizards and snakes:
An intermediate form of the snake's stretchable jaw exists in mososaurs, which, like snakes, have highly flexible lower jaws, but, unlike snakes, don't have highly flexible upper jaws. Some other skull features of mososaurs are intermediate between snakes and primitive lizards. [Lee et al, 2000; Tchernov et al, 2000; Caldwell & Lee, 1997]
Haasiophis terrasanctus is a primitive marine snake with well-developed hind limbs. Although other limbless snakes might be more ancestral, this fossil shows a relationship of snakes with limbed ancestors [Tchernov et al, 2000]. Pachyrhachis is another snake with legs related to Haasiophis [Caldwell & Lee, 1997].
Transitions between mesonychids and whales.Transitions between fish and tetrapods.
Fossil transitionals between kingdoms and phyla:
The Cambrian fossils Halkiera and Wiwaxia have features which connect them with each other and with the modern phyla of Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Annelida. In particular, one species of halkieriid has brachiopod-like shells on the dorsal side at each end. This is seen also in an immature stage of the living brachiopod species Neocrania. It has setae identical in structure to polychaetes, a group of annelids. Wiwaxia and Halkiera have the same basic arrangement of hollow sclerites, an arrangement which is similar to the chaetae arrangement of polychaetes. The undersurface of Wiwaxia has a soft sole like a mollusc's foot, and its jaw looks like a mollusc's mouth. Aplacophorans, which are a group of primitive molluscs, have a soft body covered with spicules similar to the sclerites of Wiwaxia. [Conway Morris, 1999]
Cambrian and Precambrain fossils Anomalocaris and Opabinia are transitional between arthropods and lobopods.
