Claim CC214.1:
Modern birds were probably not descended from Archaeopteryx, so it is
wrong to claim Archaeopteryx as a missing link between dinosaurs and
birds.
Source:
Wells, Jonathan, 2000. Icons of Evolution, Washington DC: Regnery
Publishing Inc., pp. 115-116.
Response:
- "Transitional" does not mean "ancestral." It means that the
transitional fossil shows a mosaic of features from organisms before
and after. It is wrong to say that Archaeopteryx was ancestral to
modern birds. But it is also wrong to say that it is not
transitional. It is indisputable that Archaeopteryx is intermediate
between dinosaurs and modern birds. That makes it transitional and
gives evidence of the relatedness between dinosaurs and birds.
- Several other recently discovered dinosaur, bird, and
intermediate dinosaur-bird fossils are
starting to fill in the
gaps and are providing further evidence that the interpretation of
Archaeopteryx is correct.
Further Reading:
Nedin, Chris. 1999. All about Archaeopteryx.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/archaeopteryx/info.html
created 2001-1-27
