10Feb 2023 by Post

Fossil Friday: The Abrupt Origins of Lagomorphs and Rodents

beavers, Carl von Linné, China, comparative morphology, Cretaceous, Dan Graur, Darwinism, Early Paleocene, East Asia, Euarchontoglires, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Glires, guinea pigs, gundis, hamsters, hares, incongruence, Lagomorpha, Lagomorphs, mammals, mice, molecular clock studies, Mongolia, Nebraska, Oligocene, Palaeolagus haydeni, Paleocene, PaleoDB, paleontology, pikas, placental mammals, porcupines, rabbits, rats, Rodentia, rodents, squirrels, Systema Naturae, Tübingen
Molecular biologist Dan Graur mentioned his weird idea that guinea pigs are not rodents at a lecture at my university in Tübingen when I was still a student. Source
Read More
03Feb 2023 by Post

Fossil Friday: The Abrupt Origins of Treeshrews (Scandentia) and Colugos (Dermoptera)

Alfred Brehm, arboreal animals, bats, chimeras, colugos, Cretaceous Period, Cynocephalidae, Darwinian predictions, Darwinian theory, Early Eocene, Euarchotoglires, Eudaemonema webbi, Evolution, flying lemurs, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Galeopithecidae, Late Paleocene, Micromomyidae, Microsyopidae, Mixodectidae, Myanmar, North America, Pakistan, Paleocene, Paleogene, paleontology, phylogenetics, Plagiomenidae, plagiomenids, Plesiadapiformes, primates, Ptilocercidae, Thailand, treeshrews, Volitantia, Western Canada
Even as a paleontologist I admit that calling this a real scientific discipline seems like an insult to sciences like physics or chemistry or molecular biology. Source
Read More
20Jan 2023 by Post

Fossil Friday: Fossil Sea Cows and the Abrupt Origin of Sirenia and Desmostylia

Afrotheria, Calvert Marine Museum, common descent, Darwinism, Desmostylia, dugongids, dugongs, elephants, Embrithopoda, Eocene, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Ishatherium subathuensis, Jamaica, Lincoln Creek Formation, mammals, manatees, Paleocene, PaleoDB, paleontology, Pezosiren, Proboscidea, protosirenids, science, sea cows, Sirenia, sirenians, Steller’s sea cow, synapomorphies, Tethytheria, Washington State, whales
So, is every thing OK with Darwinism after all? No so fast. Actually, there are some problems that do not square well with a Darwinian scenario. Source
Read More