"Se Adão não vai a Darwin, Darwin vai a Adão" ((rs))

Using creation science to demonstrate evolution: application of a creationist method for visualizing gaps in the fossil record to a phylogenetic study of coelurosaurian dinosaurs

P. SENTER

Department of Natural Sciences, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC, USA

Correspondence to Phil Senter, Department of Natural Sciences, Fayetteville State University, 1200 Murchison Road, Fayetteville, NC 28301, USA.

Tel.: +1 910 672 1304; fax: +1 910 672 1159; e-mail: psenter@uncfsu.edu

KEYWORDS

Archaeopteryx • baraminology • classic multidimensional scaling • Coelurosauria • creationism • creation science • Theropoda

ABSTRACT

It is important to demonstrate evolutionary principles in such a way that they cannot be countered by creation science. One such way is to use creation science itself to demonstrate evolutionary principles. Some creation scientists use classic multidimensional scaling (CMDS) to quantify and visualize morphological gaps or continuity between taxa, accepting gaps as evidence of independent creation and accepting continuity as evidence of genetic relatedness. Here, I apply CMDS to a phylogenetic analysis of coelurosaurian dinosaurs and show that it reveals morphological continuity between Archaeopteryx, other early birds, and a wide range of nonavian coelurosaurs. Creation scientists who use CMDS must therefore accept that these animals are genetically related. Other uses of CMDS for evolutionary biologists include the identification of taxa with much missing evolutionary history and the tracing of the progressive filling of morphological gaps in the fossil record through successive years of discovery.

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Received 28 April 2010; revised 13 May 2010; accepted 14 May 2010

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