New fossil discovery in China stuns Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution acting through “slight successive changes.” An international team led by geologist Ryosuke Motani from the University of California at Davis published a paper in the PLOS journal earlier this month on new evidence of reptile embryos that foils previous evolution paradigms.
Bordering on the Yangtze River in eastern China just north of Chaohu City, Motani’s team discovered by accident what is thought to be the oldest known reptile. While working systematically through a slab of entombed fossils looking for a ray-finned fish known as Saurichthys, the workers accidentally fractured the slab.
Reptile Embryos
Within the fractured slab, the team discovered an “articulated embryo in birth position, with its skull just emerged from the maternal pelvis.” The young reptile mother (approximately 40 inches long) was fossilized while giving live birth to three young ones. The “new fossil specimen,” according to Motani, “strongly contradicts this traditional interpretation.”
Chaohusaurus is the name given to the fossil, “Chaohu” indicating the site found linked with the generic name for a lizard – “Saurus.” Currently thought to be the oldest discovered reptile birth ever known, the fossil has also been variably called Anhuisaurus or Chensaurus since first described in 1972 by CC Young and Z-M Dong.
One of the reptile embryos (each approximately 7 inches long), was inside the mother, one was exiting the pelvic girdle with half of the body still in the maternal body cavity, and the third had just exited. The report documents that the “preservation of embryos is exquisite despite the great geologic age.”
Viviparity is the term given for the process of the fertilized eggs developing within an embryo inside the body of the mother, eventually leading to the delivery of a live newborn. While most reptiles lay amniotic eggs covered with leathery or calcareous shells, several marine reptiles exhibit viviparity, including Mosasaurs, Sauropterygia, and the Ichthyosaurs.
No Transitional Links
While thought to be similar to Cymbospondylus and Mixosaurus, and Ichthyosaurus genera, Chaohusaurus is classified as distinct genera without any known transitional links – a somber problem for the theory of evolution acting through Darwin’s expected “slight successive” changes.
Delivery Orientation
Extending problematical transitional links is the “head-first” orientation (see photograph). While land-based viviparous animals “head-first” is the norm, marine-based animals “tail-first” is the norm−like mammals. The fossil embryo evidence for the Ichthyosaurus genera demonstrates “tail-first” viviparity.
“We always assumed that live-bearing in marine reptiles evolved after they invaded the sea, partly because of this difference [evidence to suggest tail-first births],” Motani noted in an interview. “Now, the new fossil shows that the most primitive marine reptile gave birth head first. This strongly suggests that they inherited live-bearing from their land ancestors.”
Unlike all other known reptiles, the evidence point to a land [terrestrial] origin of viviparity, as is reflected in the title of the paper: “Terrestrial Origin of Viviparity in Mesozoic Marine Reptiles Indicated by Early Triassic Embryonic Fossils.”
“Terrestrial origins of viviparity,” however, Motani explains, in “marine reptiles may be a departure from the conventional wisdom” since “there is no evidence for a marine origin of viviparity.” With these new reptile fossils, Darwin’s evolution by means of the natural selection paradigm has been stunned again.
Extending the Platypus Problem
Reproduction has long stymied evolution theorists. The duck-billed oddity, the Platypus, is a mammal laying eggs. During the five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, while in Australia, Darwin recorded the blatant evolution paradox by noting:
“had the good fortune to see several of the famous Platypus or Ornithorhyncus paradoxicus.”
As a paradox, Darwin conveniently never mentions the Platypus in The Origin of Species. This exclusion further exemplifies Darwin’s method of distorting science to save the theory. This signature method of investigation adopted by Darwin is highlighted in the article “Darwin Day, the Ultimate Science Paradox.”
Richard Gibb, Director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, notes, “there is nothing quite as enigmatic as a platypus… It all points to how idiosyncratic evolution is.”
Australian biologist Michael Archer wrote, “Indeed, evolutionary scientists are baffled about the ancestry of the platypus.” Darwin’s dilemma intensifies.
Mosaic Pattern of Nature
The scientific evidence simply declares that the fossil record demonstrates a mosaic pattern of nature − not Darwin’s highly anticipated pattern of “slight successive” changes. By contrast, a mosaic pattern is compatible with the Genesis account of nature.
Angst even within the evolution industry has finally reached a tipping point. In an interview by journalist Suzan Mazur in the book The Altenberg 16: An Expose of the Evolution Industry, cell biologist Stuart Newman of the New York Medical College sounded the alarm:
“Unless the discourse around evolution is opened up to scientific perspectives beyond Darwinism, the education of generations to come is a risk of being sacrificed to the benefit of a dying theory.”
Frustrated adherence to Darwin’s outdated theory, National Medal of Science winner presented by President Bill Clinton, Lynn Margulis, in an interview with Mazur, pronounced
“neo-Darwinists are a… religious sect within the sprawling religious persuasion of Anglo-Saxon Biology.”
Genesis
The reptile fossil record highlights why Darwin’s theory faces extinction, while the Genesis account written by Moses remains scientifically compatible with reptilian embryos.
Evidence from the field of embryology to validate the theory of evolution scientifically still remains speculative.
Click to study further evolutionary perspectives on embryology and other crucial Evolution and Science categories.
Darwin Then and Now is an educational resource on the intersection of evolution and science and the challenges facing the theory of evolution.
Links
- Glossary defines terms associated with explaining the theory of biological evolution.
- Understanding Evolution is a journey that showcases how different investigative approaches play a pivotal role in enriching our understanding of the process, leading to diverse conclusions.
- Studying Evolution delves into the terms species and natural selection and how they have changed since The Origin of Species was published in 1859.
- What is Science investigates Charles Darwin’s approach to science and how the principles of modern science are used for different investigative purposes.
- The Evolution and Science category features articles studying how the intersection of evolution and science influences the current understanding of evolution.
- The Theory and Consensus category features articles examining how scientific findings are influencing the scientific consensus on the essential tenets of evolution, including Natural Selection.
