Re: Darwin's doubts #4

[email protected] wrote:

> Darwin's doubts #4
> 
> Fully complete species suddenly appear in lowest strata.

That's not exactly what he said.

What do you mean by "complete species"?

> 
> "...There is another and allied difficulty, which is much more
> serious. I allude to the manner in which species belonging to several
> of the main divisions of the animal kingdom suddenly appear in the
> lowest known fossiliferous rocks. . . . The case at present must
> remain inexplicable; and may be truly urged as a valid argument
> against the [evolutionary] views here entertained.” (The Origin of
> Species, by Charles Darwin)

In the lowest non-igneous rocks that Darwin knew about, there
were already diverse ancient species.  At some point in the
column, the fossil record stops because the earlier species
were soft-bodied, or microbes, all of which very rarely leave
any fossils.  Some soft-body fossils have been recently
discovered, mostly in China, but they are very rare.

The oldest rocks are igneous, which won't have fossils
anyway.