In another thread there was a question asked about transitional fossils. It was a bit off topic so I figured I'll just start a new thread. I've posted this before but it was many months ago and I can't be bothered to look it up again.
There are lots of transitional fossils. To fully understand just how many there are requires a lot of reading. Something that can be a problem when dealing with this topic is that if someone doesn't want to recognize what a transitional form is, they will never accept that they exist. For example, if fossil A is found 300 meters down in the strata, and fossil E is found 40 meters down in the strata, i could say that E evolved from A, to which I would be asked to provide transitional fossils. So after much searching I find fossil C, which is 160 meters down and shows characteristics of both A and E. Follow me so far? Now someone could say, "But now you have two gaps, prove that A evolved into C, and that C evolved into E. So i search and search and eventually find fossil D, 100 meters down. It is a perfect example of characteristics between C and E. But someone could still say, "now you have 3 gaps, A to C, C to D, and D to E."
See how this could go on and on? That is why it's important to define what a transitional fossil is.
Anyways, let's take whale evolution as an easy to explain example. Whale's allegedly evolved as a part of the ungulate group (hooved terrestrial mammals). This was first put forward along with many other possible ancestors, but there was little evidence at the time. Now there are lots of fossils supporting the evolution from ungulates, while the other option that had been put forward are now laid to rest.
Sinonyx - wolf sized ungulate which also speciated into other modern day hooved mammals. It existed 60 million years ago.
Pakicetus - 52 million years ago.
Ambulocetus - 120 meters higher in the strata
Rodhocetus - 46-47 million years ago
Basilosaurus - 35-45 million years ago
Dorudon - about 40 million years ago
Both basilosaurus and dorudon are fully aquatic whales, and led to the whales we have today. Not only are these all sequential in features, but they are found in order in the strata layers.
For a lot more detail and other evidences for whale evolution, here is my source http://www.talkorigins.org/features/whales/
The point of this post is to demonstrate that there are lots of intermediate fossils, but I can't be expected to go through them all so I'll just reference some of them for you with links.
Horse Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/horses/horse_evol.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/fhc.htm
Homonids - Human Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/
http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/ances_start.html
http://www.becominghuman.org/
Vertabrae Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html
reptile-birds
reptile-mammals
ape-humans
legged whales
legged seacows
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section1.html#morphological_intermediates
various
http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Transitional_fossils#Some_Examples_of_Transitional_Fossils
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/fossilhalls/vertebrate/
Fossil museum is a great site.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/index.htm
I'll summarize some of the links so you can get to what u want quickly
The link http://www.fossilmuseum.net/FossilSites.htm shows a general tree of life, as per the fossils found in the strata. You'll notice when you look at the page all the white underlined words are links you can click to get more detail from. It also gives the places of most of the actual sites the fossils were found at.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/FossilGalleries.htm is a list of fossils to which you can view the images.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossilrecord.htm is a fossil record and has links at the top of the page to different eras.
There are lots of transitional fossils. To fully understand just how many there are requires a lot of reading. Something that can be a problem when dealing with this topic is that if someone doesn't want to recognize what a transitional form is, they will never accept that they exist. For example, if fossil A is found 300 meters down in the strata, and fossil E is found 40 meters down in the strata, i could say that E evolved from A, to which I would be asked to provide transitional fossils. So after much searching I find fossil C, which is 160 meters down and shows characteristics of both A and E. Follow me so far? Now someone could say, "But now you have two gaps, prove that A evolved into C, and that C evolved into E. So i search and search and eventually find fossil D, 100 meters down. It is a perfect example of characteristics between C and E. But someone could still say, "now you have 3 gaps, A to C, C to D, and D to E."
See how this could go on and on? That is why it's important to define what a transitional fossil is.
Anyways, let's take whale evolution as an easy to explain example. Whale's allegedly evolved as a part of the ungulate group (hooved terrestrial mammals). This was first put forward along with many other possible ancestors, but there was little evidence at the time. Now there are lots of fossils supporting the evolution from ungulates, while the other option that had been put forward are now laid to rest.
Sinonyx - wolf sized ungulate which also speciated into other modern day hooved mammals. It existed 60 million years ago.
Pakicetus - 52 million years ago.
Ambulocetus - 120 meters higher in the strata
Rodhocetus - 46-47 million years ago
Basilosaurus - 35-45 million years ago
Dorudon - about 40 million years ago
Both basilosaurus and dorudon are fully aquatic whales, and led to the whales we have today. Not only are these all sequential in features, but they are found in order in the strata layers.
For a lot more detail and other evidences for whale evolution, here is my source http://www.talkorigins.org/features/whales/
The point of this post is to demonstrate that there are lots of intermediate fossils, but I can't be expected to go through them all so I'll just reference some of them for you with links.
Horse Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/horses/horse_evol.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/fhc.htm
Homonids - Human Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/
http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/ances_start.html
http://www.becominghuman.org/
Vertabrae Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html
reptile-birds
reptile-mammals
ape-humans
legged whales
legged seacows
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section1.html#morphological_intermediates
various
http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Transitional_fossils#Some_Examples_of_Transitional_Fossils
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/fossilhalls/vertebrate/
Fossil museum is a great site.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/index.htm
I'll summarize some of the links so you can get to what u want quickly
The link http://www.fossilmuseum.net/FossilSites.htm shows a general tree of life, as per the fossils found in the strata. You'll notice when you look at the page all the white underlined words are links you can click to get more detail from. It also gives the places of most of the actual sites the fossils were found at.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/FossilGalleries.htm is a list of fossils to which you can view the images.
http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossilrecord.htm is a fossil record and has links at the top of the page to different eras.