Page 134 - The Evolution Impasse 2

132 Origin of Vertebrates

er, they claim that the Chordata
evolved from an oth er, in ver te -
brate phy lum. However, like
all phy la, mem bers of the phy -
lum Chordata ap peared sud den -
ly in the Cambrian Period, which
in val i dates that the o ry right from
the out set. The old est mem ber
of the phy lum, a sea crea ture
with a long body rath er re sem -
bling a worm's at first glance is,
141
A 45-mil lion- known as Pikaia.. It emerged at ex -
year-old fresh - act ly the same time as spe cies in all
wa ter tur tle the oth er phy la that could be pro -
fos sil.
posed as its an ces tor, and with no
por tant tran si tions and ra di a tions pre vi ous in ter me di ate form.
[are] still poor ly known." 140 In his book Vertebrate Animals,
This liv ing class ap peared sud - the ev o lu tion ist bi ol o gist Professor
den ly on Earth, which rep re sents ev - Mustafa Kuru re fers to the ab sence
i dence that they were cre at ed by of such an in ter me di ate form: "There
Allah. is no doubt that the Chordata
formed from in ver te brate an i mals.
ORIGIN OF VERTEBRATES However, the ab sence of any fos sil
One of the phy la that emerged that might shed light on the pas sage
sud den ly in the Cambrian pe ri od is be tween in ver te brates and Chordata
the phy lum Chordata, These are a has caused many hy poth e ses on this
sub-class of ver te brates, with a cen - sub ject to be jet ti soned." 142
tral nerv ous sys tem. Vertebrates are If there is no in ter me di ate form,
di vid ed in to such ba sic class es as how can one say that there is "no
fish, am phib i ans, rep tiles, birds and doubt" about this ev o lu tion? Blindly
mam mals. ac cept ing a hy poth e sis with no ev i -
Since ev o lu tion ist pa le on tol o gists dence to sup port it is dog mat ic rath -
re gard ev ery liv ing phy lum as the er than sci en tif ic. Indeed, aft er go ing
ev o lu tion a ry con tin u a tion of an oth - in to a lengthy ac count of ev o lu tion -
ist as sump tions re gard ing the or i gin

The Evolution Impasse II