CREATIONIST: "Intermediate forms are missing from the fossil record.  Now we see why, essentially because there were no intermediate forms.  For those whose ears are open to hear, the fossil record is saying: "Special Creation." - Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

FACT: The above statement is a lie by simple and direct falsification. There are literally thousands of intermediate forms. There are links between ferns and conifers, between ferns and flowering plants, between invertebrates and vertebrates, between fishes and amphibians, between amphibians and reptiles, between reptiles and birds, and between reptiles and mammals. There are even many links between links.  One of the most blatant lies involve the absence of so called "missing links." Since there are so many valid links in the fossil record between major groups of plants and between major groups of animals, they can hardly be called "missing." 

One central argument put forth by type B creationists is that continuous evolution should have left a continuous fossil record. Since there is no continuous fossil record, that "proves" special creation was necessary at every step of the way. That is false for two basic reasons. No competant evolutionary biologist ever claimed that all new species formed by "continuous evolution", that is simply a debating tactic by type B creationists. Most evidence indicates that the entire process of evolution from the very beginning 4.5 billion years ago was DISCONTINUOUS. A large amount of evidence from both fossils and living organisms indicate that evolution and speciation rates were very irregular, occurring with highly irregular bursts of speciation that came in fits and starts in response to changing climatic conditions, episodic world-wide catastrophic events as well as irregular origins of new species that affected the ecology of various periods of time. The second reason for a discontinuous record is that fossilization is a rare event. Conditions must be favorable for a dead organism to fossilize. Even with the existance millions of organisms of one species living in a specific location at the same time, only a very few would ever form fossils since predators would tear them apart and the decay process would reduce the bodies to small molecules. Finally, most evidence seems to indicate that punctuated equilibrium was one of the most common means of the formation of new species. That means that a new species is most likely to have its origin from a very tiny isolated population. What is the chance of finding even ONE "perfect" link under these circumstances, much less finding thousands of them when the original population only consisted of less than 100 individuals??

Click here for "missing" links