Another Chance For Creationists To Recite Falsehoods About Intermediate Forms

hooah212002 writes:A question I have often thought about, especially since seeing Kirk and his "crocoduck", is: what would a creationist allow as a transitional? So far it seems as though only some crazy monster that infuses 2 animals is going to be sufficient.

Bluejay's guide to interpreting the mantis and cockroach affinities of the Little Yucatan mantis* writes:Most mantids have the prothorax (the body segment behind the head, to which the first pair of legs is attached) elongated, along with the fore-coxae (the first segment of the first pair of legs), both of which adaptations help them snatch prey. However, Mantoida does not have either of these adaptations: as a cursorial animal (much like a cockroach), it needs all six legs for running. Thus, it maintains its cockroach-like body and legs, but developed a hook on the end of the foretibia (i.e., at the "wrist" of the forelimbs), which eventually became the famous raptorial forelimbs in the more traditional mantids.Note also that Mantoida runs on the tarsus of its forelimbs (that's the last segment of the forelimb, usually divided into five sub-segments in most insects). The more derived mantids have the foretarsus reduced (cf. Tenodera photo above), and don't really use it for running.Finally, as a side note, molecular studies by Svenson and Whiting (from BYU, where I did my undergrad) place Mantoida at the base of the Mantodea (mantises), nearest the cockroaches (with the exception of one mantis genus, Chaeteessa, which is similar to Mantoida in all the characteristics I listed in this post). *Not an actual publication