ABSTRACT
T here was never a time on earth when only one kind, one species, existed. At least there is no evidence to that effect and a plausible extension o f that simple thought would lead to the conclusion that the development o f species was parallel rather than sequential. The old paradigm starts with a single origin and in order to bring nature into harmony with that assumption, they invented speciation, to designate the splitting o f species into new, biologically isolated units. Obvious as species are, speciation has never been substantiated and all examples given in the lit erature are postulates inspired by the hypothesis. The paradigm says that if animals A and B have certain features in common they are derived from a common ancestor. Thus, the evidence available is merely a restatement o f the parent hypothesis.