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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2005
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Claim CB921.2:

What use is half a wing? A leg evolving into a wing would be a bad leg long before it was a good wing.

Source:

Brown, Walt, 1995. In the beginning: Compelling evidence for creation and the Flood. Phoenix, AZ: Center for Scientific Creation, p. 7. http://www.creationscience.com/

Response:

  1. Half a wing can have any of several uses:

Links:

Marden, J. H., n.d. Evolution of insect flight: a stepwise model based on weight-supported locomotion on the surface of water. http://www.bio.psu.edu/People/Faculty/Marden/project2.html

References:

  1. Dial, K. P. 2003. Wing-assisted incline running and the evolution of flight. Science 299: 402-404. See also: Pennisi, E., 2003. Uphill dash may have led to flight. Science 299: 329.
  2. Frey, Eberhard, H-D. Sues, and W. Munk. 1997. Gliding mechanism in the Late Permian reptile Coelurosauravus. Science 275: 1450-1452.
  3. Kramer, M. G. and J. H. Marden. 1997. Almost airborne. Nature 385: 403-404.
  4. Marden, J. H. and M. G. Kramer. 1995. Locomotor performance of insects with rudimentary wings. Nature 377: 332-334.
  5. Thomas, M. A., K. A. Walsh, M. R. Wolf, B. A. McPheron and J. H. Marden. 2000. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of evolutionary trends in stonefly wing structure and locomotor behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 97: 13178-13183.
  6. Yanoviak, Stephen P., Robert Dudley, and Michael Kaspari. 2005. Directed aerial descent in canopy ants. Nature 433: 624-626.

Further Reading:

Brodsky, A. K., 1994. The Evolution of Insect Flight. Oxford University Press.
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created 2001-3-31, modified 2005-11-17