there is very strong evidence that the intermediates were not, in fact, outcompeted to extinction by more sophisticated eukaryotes. They still exist. We met them already – the ‘archezoa’, that large group of primitive eukaryotes that were once mistaken for a missing link. They are not true evolutionary intermediates, but they’re real ecological intermediates. They occupy the same niche. An evolutionary intermediate is a missing link – a fish with legs, such as Tiktaalik, or a dinosaur with feathers and wings, such as Archaeopteryx. An ecological intermediate is not a true missing link but it
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