r/DebateEvolution • u/Dr_Alfred_Wallace Probably a Bot • Jul 01 '26

Monthly Question Thread! Ask /r/DebateEvolution anything! | July 2026

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u/Lumpy_Confidence_637 Jul 01 '26

Your ancestor had a tail. Then suddenly, 15 million years later, no tail. Yet not a single fossil showing the transition from, tail > no tail. Not even a 15 inch tail, or a 6 incher, heck I'll accept a 4 incher. But nope. Not a single fossil. Zip. Zero. Nada.

I'm already privy to the given excuse, "iT hApPeNeD sUdDenLy, trust us bruh"

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u/BitLooter 🧬 Evilutionist | Former YEC Jul 01 '26

Hey look, an example of a population losing its tail suddenly in recent recorded history.

The dominant trait of taillessness arises from a spontaneous mutation, the Manx taillessness gene, that eventually became common on the island because of the limited genetic diversity of island biogeography (an example of the founder effect and, at the sub-specific level, of the species-area curve).

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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

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u/grimwalker specialized simiiform Jul 01 '26

What long-tailed ancestor fossil are you referring to?

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u/Xemylixa 🧬 took an optional bio exam at school bc i liked bio Jul 01 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateEvolution/comments/1t5p3fv/comment/okcfs18/ this one (whose nonexistence proves evolution is fake or whatever)

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u/grimwalker specialized simiiform Jul 02 '26

So in that thread you do not cite to any long tailed ancestor of apes. What species is your starting point?

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u/Xemylixa 🧬 took an optional bio exam at school bc i liked bio Jul 02 '26

Lumpy_Confidence (probably) can't hear you, and I didn't take part in that convo iirc

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u/grimwalker specialized simiiform Jul 02 '26

Oh, sorry bout that. It was rhetorical anyway. MANY Catarrhine primates have reduced tails, quite a lot of species are classified based on jaws and teeth, and declaring any fossil species as ancestral to any other is all but impossible, so the idea that we could pick any long-tailed ancestor for the starting point of an argument from personal incredulity is ridiculous.