Punctuationist versus Gradualist theories of the Origin of Species

(A) Biologically "instantaneous" origin of a new species through founder effect speciation may occur in only a few generations. (B) Geologically "instantaneous" speciation by allopatric divergence may occur over many thousands of generations. (C) An incomplete fossil record will obscure the difference between the two.


Text material © 2005 by Steven M. Carr