MLC9852: And I have yet to see proof where one species transformed into another one.
Alter Kaker: Then go back and look at my post again. I just gave you a list of transitional fossils. If you haven't read the list, read it.
Free Republic: No Replies.
Source: Here
"However, if by "definitively transitional" you mean "we can demonstrate with
absolute certainty an direct ancestor-descendant relationship between fossil
A-fossil B-fossil C- etc.", then no. Direct ancestor-descendant
relationships are well nigh impossible to demonstrate: there is always the
possibility, for example, that fossil A was the sister species (or even the
sibling species: identical in morphology but different by some
non-morphological cue) of true ancestral fossil Q. We can propose that
fossil A is the ancestor, but we cannot demonstrate. It is a possibility
which is certainly falsifiable (for example, if all specimens of fossil A
occur stratigraphically after all specimens of fossil B, then the specimens
represented by fossil A cannot be the population which gave rise to fossil
B). In some cases (taxa confined to a particular geographic region, where
the stratigraphic and fossil sampling is exceedingly good) you might have a
very good potential set of ancestors and descendants; for the most part,
though, these are scattered much farther apart in time, space, and
phylogeny."
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland College Park Scholars
College Park, MD 20742
http://dml.cmnh.org/2000Jul/msg00315.html
Interesting.