The phrase
"transitional forms" refers to fossilized or living organisms that show features of both earlier and later evolutionary stages. This means that these organisms exhibit traits that connect one major group of organisms to another, providing evidence for how species might have gradually changed over time.
Transitional forms help scientists understand how different species are related and how they evolved from common ancestors.
Full definition
In that sense, there are no
specific transitional forms, only perhaps some places in the continuum for which fossils have not been found.
We should be surrounded by a zoo
of transitional forms that can not be categorized as one particular life form.
The Daohugou Biota makes an immense contribution to our understanding of vertebrate evolution during this period, with such notable creatures as the oldest known gliding mammal, another early mammal that may have swum with a beaver - like tail, the oldest dinosaurs preserved with feathers, and a pterosaur that represents an important
transitional form between two major groups.
«I would predict that we will find in the future even older
transitional forms for both Neanderthals and modern humans,» she says.
Well, this does leave out a host of other observations ranging from phylogenetic analyses linking aquatic forms to terrestrial forms to a fossil record evidencing
transitional forms from water to land and back to water to the presence of vestigial molecular and anatomical structures in terrestrial forms and those aquatic forms with terrestrial ancestry (e.g. retention of hind limbs in some cetacean forms), etc, etc..
The collection features such memorable creatures as the oldest known gliding mammal, another early mammal that may have swum with a beaver - like tail, the oldest dinosaurs preserved with feathers and a pterosaur that represents an
important transitional form among these now extinct, warm - blooded flying reptiles.
Out of the millions of fossils that have been uncovered and examined, we have yet to find a
single transitional form from one genus to a different one.
The British museum has 7 million fossils and yet there isn't one
transitional form proving macroevolution (Darwin showed us microevolution — transition within a species).
Kirk actually shows graphics of his idea of
transitional forms starting about 4:20: the crocoduck, the bull - frog (a frog with bull's horns), and the sheep - dog (yes, it is what is looks like).
Researchers knew snakes had evolved from four - limbed reptiles, but
few transitional forms had been discovered, and researchers continue to wrangle over whether the first lizards to lose their limbs and become snakes were terrestrial burrowers or aquatic swimmers.
Such transitional forms persisted for hundreds of thousands of years in China, until species appeared with such modern traits that some researchers have classified them as H. sapiens.
There is a total lack of undisputed examples (fossilized or living) of the millions
of transitional forms («missing links») required for evolution to be true.
Actually, it was proposed to explain the relative rarity of
transitional forms, not their total absence, and to explain why speciation appears to happen relatively quickly in some cases, gradually in others, and not at all during some periods for some species.
Every fossil, every species currently living, is
a transitional form.
You have no idea what
a transitional form is, do you?
Darwin acknowledged that if his theory were true, it would require millions of
transitional forms.
I'm interested to know why, if we have a supposed plethora of
transitional forms, did Punctuated Equilibrium get pushed forward.
Sounds all nice, but if the species were and are transitioning, then you'd expect to see
these transitional forms which don't exist.
In an often quoted remark, Gould stated, «Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists — whether through design or stupidity, I do not know — as admitting that the fossil record includes
no transitional forms.
Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups.»
I'm interested to know why, if we have a supposed plethora of
transitional forms, was there a need for Punctuated Equilibrium?
I'd add that you failed to remotely respond the rest of the post and why Strobel's reference to an absence of
transitional forms is negligent at best, simply dishonesty at worst.
«Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists - whether through design or stupidity, I do not know - as admitting that the fossil record includes
no transitional forms.