IC & the Cambrian Explosion for Ahmad...cont..

Out of curiousity - how would the GUToB classify Cryptogale australis? We're talking an extinct critter that is smack dab intermediate between the Tenrecinae and the Oryzorictinae, having the skull and certain skeletal details of the Tenrecinae and the dentition and other skeletal details of the Oryzorictinae. Does this count as an intermediate/transitional form? Does Cryptogale represent the MPG of the Tenrecomorpha? If so, where does the Geogalinae and the Potomogalinae fit in, since they are all tenrecomorphs? Inquiring minds and all that...

Hybrid? Not likely - Cryptogale is extinct, and is considered representative of the ancestral (not necessarily the ancestor) form of the Tenrecomorpha. Both the Tenrecinae and the Oryzorictinae are highly derived (i.e., modern versions with specific and distinctive changes). They didn't live at the same time. The point is that Cryptogale is intermediate in morphology between higher-level taxonomic groupings - which creationists claim is impossible, and would apparently be impossible under the MPG idea. Which, of course, is why I asked whether Cryptogale represented the MPG of the Tenrecomorpha...

For this one I think you'll have to go to a library and check out a recent edition of Caroll's "Vertebrate Paleontology". I'm not sure what is available on line, if anything. You might try a search for phylogeny Afrotheria Tenrecomorpha.However, the question I asked is a simple yes or no: based on what you've been told, scientists classifiy Cryptogale as a transitional. Does it represent a MPG, thus falsifying common descent under your scenario?