(September 1, 2010 at 4:26 am)TheDarkestOfAngels Wrote:Absolutely Dark. I wish folks would get it into there heads that macro evolution is not a thing. Just a convenient way to describe a whole load of micro evolutionary steps over very large periods of time, against the framework of a man made classification system If you accept microevolution you accept evolution FULL STOP. There is no transition of species X to species Y, or taxa X to taxa Y in 1 or even 10 generations. It takes 100s and 1000s of generations in micro steps. There are also no such things as transitional forms as you have said we are always in motion and becuase the fossil record in necessirly sparse we see only milestones along a whole journey. In some respects it is remarkable that we have as much evidence as we do.(September 1, 2010 at 3:05 am)Minimalist Wrote: I don't know what a "proto-primate" is?Proto-primates is just fancy-talk for 'the first primate-like mammals'.
My article that I showed earlier (linked above) stated something to this effect, though it generalized that the earliest primates were estimated to come in around 53~58 million years ago.
Still, these darn 'transitional' fossils make it difficult to say when one 'type' of species really 'began' when technically we've never stopped being the kind of creatures described above.
Evolution is always in motion and every 'species' is always in transition into another.
"I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence"...Doug McLeod.
