Ancestor Quote by Ernst Mayr

It remains true, as every paleontologist knows, that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of families,…

— George Gaylord Simpson

Every paleontologist knows that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of family appear in the record…

— Anonymous

There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there should be intermediate forms, but where there is nothing whatsoever instead. No paleontologist..denies that…

— David Berlinski

Established species are evolving so slowly that major transitions between genera and higher taxa must be occurring within small rapidly evolving populations that leave…

— Steven M. Stanley

Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists-whether through design or stupidity, I…

— Stephen Jay Gould

Every living being is also a fossil. Within it, all the way down to the microscopic structure of its proteins, it bears the traces…

— Jacques Monod

“In most people's minds, fossils and Evolution go hand in hand. In reality, fossils are a great embarrassment to Evolutionary theory and offer strong…

— Gary Parker

“Most living things never get fossilized, and most fossils end up in places where they are impossible to discover. It is impressive that paleontologists…

— Bill Nye

Given the fact of evolution, one would expect the fossils to document a gradual steady change from ancestral forms to the descendants. But this…

— Ernst Mayr

One must believe that every living thing whatsoever must change insensibly in its organization and in its form... One must therefore never expect to…

— Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

We now have a quarter of a million fossil species, but the situation hasn't changed much... We have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition…

— David M. Raup

The known fossil record fails to document a single example of phyletic evolution i.e., a species becoming a new species accomplishing a major morphological…

— Steven M. Stanley