Page 148 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

Some evolutionists refer to this species of amphibian as “the ances-
tor of reptiles.” But with the discovery that reptiles were around 30 mil-
lion before that species first appeared on Earth, it emerged that
Seymouria is no transitional form. The oldest Seymouria fossils date back
to the Lower Permian Period—280 million years ago. Yet the oldest
known reptile species, Hylonomus and Palaeothyris, were found in Lower
Pennsylvanian strata, which date back 330 to 315 million years ago. 116 It
is of course impossible for the ancestor of reptiles to have lived long
after them.

Therapsida
Therapsida
Therapsids are a species that evolutionists portray as a transitional

form between reptiles and mammals—an invalid claim, which we can
briefly review.
Fossils belonging to the order Therapsida do not confirm evolu-
tionists’ claims. First of all, Therapsids do not appear in the fossil record
in the chronological order Darwinism expects. In order for evolution-
ists’ claims to be true, Therapsida fossils should trace a line from the
fully reptilian jaw to the fully mammalian one. Yet no such progression
can be seen in the fossil record.
In his book Darwin on Trial, the well-known critic of Darwinism,
Philip Johnson makes the following comment:
An artificial line of descent [between reptiles and mammals] can be con-
structed, but only by arbitrarily mixing specimens from different subgroups,
and by arranging them out of their actual chronological sequence. 117
The only feature common to both Therapsids and mammals are
their ear and jaw bones. Considering the differences between the reptile
and mammalian reproductive systems and other organs, the question of
how reptiles might have evolved into mammals is a long way from

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