Fossil Hummingbird, Arthropod Look Modern

Creation-Evolution Headlines ^ | 5/7/2004 | Creation-Evolution Headlines

[bondserv]

Fossil Hummingbird, Arthropod Look Modern    05/07/2004
Science announced that a rare hummingbird fossil has been found in Germany and, though assumed to be 30 million years old, is indistinguishable from living New-World hummingbirds (the standard theory has been that hummingbirds evolved in the New World only).  Writing in the May 7 issue,¹ discoverer Gerald Mayr said,

I report on tiny skeletons of stem-group hummingbirds from the early Oligocene of Germany that are of essentially modern appearance and exhibit morphological specializations toward nectarivory and hovering flight.  These are the oldest fossils of modern-type hummingbirds, which had not previously been reported from the Old World.  The findings demonstrate that early hummingbird evolution [sic] was not restricted to the New World.  They further suggest that bird–flower coevolution [sic] dates back to the early Oligocene and open another view on the origin of ornithophily in Old World plants.  (Emphasis added in all quotes.)

Reviewer Erik Stokstad in the same issue² quotes ornithologist Margaret Rubega (U. of Connecticut), “The amazing thing about this fossil is that it’s essentially a modern hummingbird.  My mind is a little blown.”  He adds, “Where the whole hovering tribe came from ... remains up in the air.”
    The previous day, Nature announced a Cambrian fossil that shows an arthropod in the act of molting (shedding its exoskeleton).  The discoverers say, “Here we describe a 505-million-year-old [sic] specimen of the Cambrian soft-bodied arthropod Marrella splendens that has been visibly preserved in the middle of the act of moulting.  This specimen confirms that early arthropods moulted during growth, just as they do today.”

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¹Gerald Mayr, “Old World Fossil Record of Modern-Type Hummingbirds,” Science, Vol 304, Issue 5672, 861-864 , 7 May 2004, [DOI: 10.1126/science.1096856].
²Erik Stokstad, “Surprise Hummingbird Fossil Sets Experts Abuzz,” Science, Vol 304, Issue 5672, 810-811 , 7 May 2004, [DOI: 10.1126/science.304.5672.810a].
³Diego C. Garcia-Bellido and Desmond H. Collins, “Moulting arthropod caught in the act,” Nature 429, 40 (06 May 2004); doi:10.1038/429040a.

Anyone see evolution here?  Is this what Charlie would have predicted?  Two guesses who would have predicted the sudden, abrupt appearance of fully formed, functional organisms.  (Hint: the same ones who would have predicted the salamander, the fly, the worm, the ostracode, the spider, the frog, the shark, the forams, the Cambrian fish, the cockroach, the tick, the ant, etc.)

[bondserv]

Ping Hovering!

[bondserv]

Ping Hovering!

[Sabertooth]

This specimen confirms that early arthropods moulted during growth, just as they do today.”

Get out of town!

Next thing you know, they'll be telling us that early arthropods had chitinous exoskelotons and oxygenated blood, just as they do today.

[Darksheare]

What?!
They had chitinous exoskeletons?
Those fiends!
*chuckle*
I especially like the quote, "My mind is a little blown."
It's as if they expected something else, like maybe a cheese danish.

[Amerigomag]

"The present is the key to the past."

Found memories of my first stratigraphy class some 40 years ago.

[Iscool]

Odd, isn't it...These little wonders of flight didn't evolve like everything else??? I thought maybe they started out as a prehistoric pig...But then what did pigs evolve from...

I have heard that pigs did fly...

[Old Professer]

They were lost for quite a long time, I see.

[corkoman]

Once an organism has attained an advantageous phenotype there is little opportunities for mutations to be beneficial and its evolutionary path takes a slow walk until the ENVIRONMENT changes. If an environmental change adversly affects the organism any offspring with mutations that help adapt to this environment change will survive and thrive.

Or you can beleive that a magician conjured up dolphins and made a mistake of first putting them on land.

[explodingspleen]

Once an organism has attained an advantageous phenotype there is little opportunities for mutations to be beneficial and its evolutionary path takes a slow walk until the ENVIRONMENT changes. If an environmental change adversly affects the organism any offspring with mutations that help adapt to this environment change will survive and thrive.

30 million years.

[EggsAckley]

I was always under the impression that there ARE NO humming birds on the continent of Europe. Hmmmmm.....

[happydogdesign]

[VadeRetro]

Must be very sad being stuck in a futuristic, technological era.

[corkoman]

though assumed to be 30 million years old...

I've done a lot of lab work. If I put ina report "well, I assume this X years old.." I'd have to go sit in the corner with a conical hat on.

Me thinks someone geeked the number of zeros in their carbon dating.

[CalifornianConservative]

Interesting evolution (not!) post and God bless you today.

[Soliton]

Such silliness!!!

You can't have it both ways. If it is 30 million years old, creationism is wrong. If it is recent, then it should look like modern humming birds and evolution isn't involved.

[PatrickHenry]

If a species does change over time, it's proof of creationism. If it does not change over time, that too proves creationism. Either way ...
</creationism mode>

[jennyp]

I've done a lot of lab work. If I put ina report "well, I assume this X years old.." I'd have to go sit in the corner with a conical hat on.

Me thinks someone geeked the number of zeros in their carbon dating.

That'd be very difficult. Carbon dating only goes back 50,000 years or so.

[SengirV]

Stop bringing logic into this. You know that does not apply to this debate, silly.

[Revolting cat!]