11.16 Relation to the Theory of Evolution

In 1859 when Charles Darwin first published the results of his research, the fossil record was poorly known, and Darwin described the lack of transitional fossils as “the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory. He noted the limited collections available at that time. Archaeopteryx was discovered in 1861, and represents a classic transitional form between dinosaurs and birds. Many more transitional fossils have been discovered since then and it is now considered that there is abundant evidence of how all the major groups of animals are related, much of it in the form of transitional fossils.