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From: 2MAR$

12/1/2014 5:01:34 PM

of 150

List of transitional fossils

Paleontology

Part of a series on

Fossils
Fossilization · Trace fossil · Index fossil · List of fossils · List of fossil sites · Lagerstätte fossil beds · List of transitional fossils · List of human evolution fossils

Natural history
Biogeography · Extinction event · Geochronology · Geologic time scale · Geologic record · History of life · Origin of life · Timeline of evolution · Transitional fossil

Organs and processes
Avian flight · Cells · Multicells · Eyes · Flagella · Hair · Mammalian auditory ossicles · Mosaic evolution · Nervous systems · Sex

Evolution of various taxa
Birds · Butterflies · Cephalopods · Cetaceans · Dinosaurs · Fishes · Fungi · Humans · Insects · Mammals · Molluscs · Plants · Reptiles · Sea cows · Spiders · Tetrapods

Evolution
Introduction to evolution · Common descent · Phylogeny · Cladistics · Biological classification

History of paleontology
History of paleontology · Timeline of paleontology

Branches of paleontology
Biostratigraphy · Ichnology · Invertebrate paleontology · Micropaleontology · Molecular paleontology · Palaeoxylology · Paleobiology · Paleobotany · Paleoecology · Paleogenetics · Paleolimnology · Paleopedology · Paleotempestology · Paleozoology · Palynology · Sclerochronology · Taphonomy · Vertebrate paleontology

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This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with entries that are reliably sourced.

Possibly the best known of all transitional fossils, the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica

This is a tentative list of transitional fossils (fossil remains of a creature that exhibits primitive traits in comparison with more derived organisms to which it is related). The fossils are listed in series, showing the transition from one group to another, representing significant steps in the evolution of major features in various lines. These changes often represent major changes in anatomy, related to mode of life, like the acquisition of feathered wings for an aerial lifestyle in birds, or legs in the fish/ tetrapod transition. As noted already by Darwin, the fossil record is incomplete. [1]

Ideally, this list would only recursively include 'true' transitionals, fossils representing ancestral species from which later groups evolved, but most if not all, of the fossils shown here represent extinct side branches, more or less closely related to the true ancestor. [2] They will all include details unique to their own line as well. Fossils having relatively few such traits are termed "transitional", while those with a host of traits found neither in the ancestral or derived group are called "intermediate". Since all species will always be subject to natural selection, the very term "transitional fossil" is essentially a misconception. It is however a commonly used term and a useful concept in evolutionary biology. The fossils listed represent significant steps in the evolution of major features in various lines and therefore fit the common usage of the phrase.

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