Progymnosperms are imaginary evolutionary ancestors (Talk.Origins)
Claim CC251:
- Evolutionists claim that conifers are descended from a group of plants called progymnosperms. But there is no evidence that progymnosperms ever existed.
Source:
- Williams, Alexander, 2001-2002. Kingdom of the plants. Creation 24(1): 46-48.
CreationWiki response:
(Talk.Origins quotes in blue)
1. Progymnosperms are not hypothetical. They are an important group of fossil plants, now extinct, which include the earliest trees.
The claim that progymnosperms exist is based on the 1960s work of Charles Beck. He allegedly showed that the fern-like leaves of Archaeopteris physically attached to Callixylon wood. However, no fossils are available showing Archaeopteris and Callixylon in the same slab, let alone connected to each other. It is reported that one such fossil exists and was studied by Charles Beck, but no pictures are available. If an Archaeopteris was found on Callixylon, the possibility that Archaeopteris was parasitic, like mistletoe, would have to be eliminated before considering them the same plant.
- Reference: Progymnosperms
- Reference: Introduction to the progymnosperms
Creationists can choose to believe that progymnosperms are not transitional forms, but they certainly existed.
While Talk.Origins graciously allows creationists to believe that progymnosperms are not transitional forms, the claim that they existed at all is not supported by any real evidence. There are only the claims of evolutionists that they did.
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