PhilVaz: << Why do we find a quite complete set of dinosaur (reptile)-to-bird transitional fossils with no morphological gaps? >>
Shelby: << We do not. >>
Dinosaur (Reptile)-to-Bird transitional fossils with no morphological gaps: represented by Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus, Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus, Compsognathus, Sinosauropteryx, Protarchaeopteryx, Caudipteryx, Velociraptor, Sinovenator, Beipiaosaurus, Sinornithosaurus, Microraptor, Archaeopteryx (picture left), Rahonavis, Confuciusornis, Sinornis, Patagopteryx, Hesperornis, Apsaravis, Ichthyornis, and Columba, among others
From the book Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds by Gregory Paul (John Hopkins Univ Press, 2002) :
“One of the wonderful coincidences of science is that immediately after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, his famous explication of the mechanism behind evolution, dramatic support for his hypothesis appeared in Bavaria. In 1860, a feather and, in 1861, the skeleton of a Mesozoic vertebrate obviously intermediate in form between modern birds and their reptilian ancestors were uncovered in lithographic slate quarries. This vertebrate was, of course, the urvogel (original bird) Archaeopteryx. As our knowledge of fossil birds has expanded in the subsequent fourteen decades, the question of how birds arose has become ever more fascinating. Most paleontologists now agree that birds – always popular with the public – happily happen to be the direct descendents of the best-liked group of extinct creatures, the dinosaurs. Of course, public opinion has no relevance to scientific debate, but the broad appeal of a dinosaur-bird link vexes the shrinking minority of researchers who dispute the link…That birds descended from predatory dinosaurs has become far and away the majority view expressed in many additional studies…From China has come the feathered dinosaurs Sinosauropteryx, Caudipteryx, Beipiaosaurus, Sinornithosaurus, and Microraptor as well as many hundreds of specimens of the bird Confuciusornis…the fossils are coming so fast that it was hard to keep up with the new data during preparation of this book…” (Gregory Paul, Dinosaurs of the Air, page 1, 11, 15)
PhilVaz: << Why do we have an exquisite series of fossils for the reptile-to-mammal intermediates? >>
Shelby: << Again, we do not. Unless you consider the term “exquisite” to mean “incomplete”. >>
Reptile-to-Mammal intermediates, ranging from the pelycosauria, therapsida, cynodonta, up to primitive mammalia: Paleothyris, Protoclepsydrops, Clepsydrops, Archaeothyris, Varanops, Haptodus, Dimetrodon, Sphenacodon, Biarmosuchia, Procynosuchus, Dvinia, Permocynodon, Thrinaxodon, Cynognathus, Diademodon, Probelesodon, Probainognathus, Exaeretodon, Oligokyphus, Kayentatherium, Pachygenelus, Diarthrognathus, Adelobasileus, Sinoconodon, Kuehneotherium, Eozostrodon, Morganucodon, Haldanodon, Peramus, Endotherium, Kielantherium, Aegialodon, Steropodon, Vincelestes, Pariadens, Kennalestes, Asioryctes, Cimolestes, Procerberus, Gypsonictops.
PhilVaz: << Why do we have many land-mammal to whale intermediates? >>
Shelby: << As I already stated we do not. This claim is based on completely un-scientific conjecture. >>
Yes, you cited an article by Answers In Genesis. I cited material from TalkOrigins. The way to resolve this is by finding the original articles by
Thewissen and
Gingerich describing the specimans. They are the experts on the subject, not Ken Ham or whoever from Answers In Genesis you would cite.
This article is quite convincing to me for land-mammal to whale evolution. It covers nine lines of evidence: paleontological, morphological, molecular-biological, vestigial, embryological, geochemical, paleoenvironmental, paleobiogeographical, and chronological.
shelby: << Snakes are always described as having vestigial legs and yet there is not one fossil snake with legs… >>
BTW, there is a
fossil snake with legs on the cover of this book:
Darwinism Defeated? The Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological Origins, which is another book I recommend to you. That makes 4 books now you absolutely must read.

Five if you count Cardinal Ratzinger’s commentary on Genesis.
Phil P