Who said "every fossil is a transitional fossil?"

December 24, 2008 10:23 AM

I'm looking for the origins and exact phrasing of the quote "every fossil is a transitional fossil."

This is a very common quote used in discussions of evolutionary biology and creationism, but I have no idea who first said it, or even if I've got it right.

posted by Maastrictian to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

Don't know about the exact origin, but this is an obvious and probably often-repeated response to the bogus creationist claim that goes along the lines of: "Well, if evolution is real, then why haven't we found any transitional fossils?"

Answer: "Well, they're ALL transitional fossils, you brainless idiot."

Less of a quote than a simple and obvious rebuttal of a (willfully) faith-based misconception.
posted by Aquaman at 12:52 PM on December 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

I don't have the quotation for you, but the logic reminds me of a hilarious episode with my son when he was extremely young--perhaps two or three.
I had just started painting my garage door when he saw me and said, "What are you doing, Dad?"

"Painting the garage door."

(Pointing to the large area I had not yet painted) "What about here?"
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:22 PM on December 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

I agree with Aquaman. I've been saying it for years and cannot recall where (if anywhere) I originally heard it.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 6:39 PM on December 24, 2008

Best answer: The closest I can get is Darwin, but I don't think it's what you want. From the Origin of Species chapter 10, "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record, On the absence of intermediate varieties at the present day":

By the theory of natural selection all living species have been connected with the parent-species of each genus, by differences not greater than we see between the natural and domestic varieties of the same species at the present day; and these parent-species, now generally extinct, have in their turn been similarly connected with more ancient forms; and so on backwards, always converging to the common ancestor of each great class. So that the number of intermediate and transitional links, between all living and extinct species, must have been inconceivably great. But assuredly, if this theory be true, such have lived upon the earth.

posted by bergeycm at 11:27 PM on December 24, 2008 [1 favorite]