I don't know where to put whales. I'm sticking them here, but I don't have any reason for it.

Almost all paleontologists recognize that the discovery of a complete transition is in any case unlikely.

Recognition of this kinship with the rest of the universe is necessary for understanding him, but his essential nature is defined by qualities found nowhere else, not by those he has in common with apes, fishes, trees, fire, or anything other than himself.

Every paleontologist knows that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of family appear in the record suddenly and are not led up to by known, gradual, completely continuous transitional sequences.

Certainly paleontologists have found samples of an extremely small fraction, only, of the earth's extinct species, and even for groups that are most readily preserved and found as fossils they can never expect to find more than a fraction.

Splitting and gradual divergence of genera is exemplified very well and in a large variety of organisms.