Terrestrial Mammal Families and Creationist Perspectives on Speciation

Abstract

Intrabaraminic speciation is a topic of concern to creationists, although creationists do not have a general idea of the magnitude of the speciation problem.  To rectify that, three mammal classifications were surveyed in order to identify the number of species or genera in a typical terrestrial mammal family, assuming that the rank of family approximates the baramin.  The results of this survey indicate that most mammal families contain relatively few species, but a few families are extremely speciose.  Any creationist mechanism of speciation must therefore account for both trends: widespread lack of speciation but occasional extravagant speciation.  Likewise, baraminology methods might need to be modified to accommodate the prevalence of small or monospecific baramins.