Every candidate once proposed as the evolutionary ancestor of man has been knocked off the list. Yet each one of these examples in its time was heralded as convincing proof of evolution. They became so much a part of the scientific psyche that it affected two generations of students. But the press seldom prints the eventual follow-up story that discredits the find when more evidence is in. The evolutionary family tree of man has evaporated.
Research funding demands some evidence of progress.
These fossils provided what was needed. The fossil record shows stability, not change. The problem of stasis in the fossil record is particularly evident in plants. The Problem of Convergence Convergence is similarity without a common ancestor. The eyes of vertebrates and the eyes of squids have many similarities.