Whiteflies, Equivocation and Evolution

Evolutionists sometimes seem almost hysterical. They will often find some example of "change" and then proclaim it to be evolution in action. The change they see is natural selection within genetic limits, not large-scale change into another creature altogether. Here, let a microbiologist explain.

Photo by Scott Bauer/USDA

The headline read, “Instant Evolution in Whiteflies: Just Add Bacteria.”[1] Any time I see the words instant, speedy, or sudden together with evolution, I’m intrigued. Evolution, as the term is commonly used, denotes an unobservable process that occurred in the past over eons of time resulting in the change of one kind of organism into a completely different kind of organism. According to evolutionary ideas, changes in organisms aren’t supposed to happen rapidly, hence the need to modify the word evolution with an adjective such as “instant” when a change does occur quickly.

The whitefly under investigation was Bemisia tabaci or the sweet potato whitefly. It poses an agricultural threat by essentially sucking nutrients from the leaves of the plant and leaving large amounts of honeydew which can lead to mold growth. The insect, like many, harbors a bacterial symbiont—in this case Rickettsia sp. nr. bellii—which provides reproductive benefits to the whitefly.

You can read the rest of "Instant Evolution" here.