Picked up a text on evolution, genetics, phyllogeny, etc.
There is convincing fossil evidence for the evolution of horses, elephants, and even human beings in the geological strata with simplier forms advancing to more complex forms.
There are numerous anatomical indicators of close biological relationships which pint to a common ancestor.
As for the article's assertion that other phylla than those currently represented, never existed, I suggest you check out some books on the Burgess Shale fauna. There WERE other creatures living millenia ago which fit into no current category of existing creatures AND some that did.
The problem with "proving" evolution is a difficult one if one were to use customary scientific tools. The time frames involved exceed the mere few thousand years of recorded human history, and certainly far exceed the term of modern science. Consequently one is forced to draw conclusions from circumstantial evidence, as it were.
And that circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
More direct evidence is the case of pathogenic microorganism which evolve from forms which afflcit animals to those which are capable of attacking people - e.g. smallpox from cow-pox, hog influenza into human influenza, and the current concern involving avian flu and the transmission to humans.
There are also cases involving pathogenic organisms which evolve into forms which are antibiotic resistant.
Are these cases of evolution into "new" species? No. But they provide evidence of the potential for mutability of species and traits in response to environmental factors.
There is an evolution but is it accidential or guided?