Abstract
Summary: This article examines briefly the three major transition stages in the standard account of whale evolution: (1) from a mesonychid to an amphibious archaeocete, (2) from an amphibious archaeocete to a fully marine archaeocete, and (3) from a fully marine archaeocete to modern whales. Regarding the first stage, it is argued that no known mesonychid species qualifies as an actual ancestor of archaeocetes. Mesonychids simply are assumed to have been ancestral on the basis of some general similarities archaeocetes and for lack of a better candidate. Regarding the second stage, it is argued that the standard representation of archaeocetes as a series of stratomorphic intermediates is dubious. Even if the representation was accurate, the archaeocetes involved would not constitute an actual lineage. Regarding the third stage, it is argued that the consensus opinion only decades ago was that archaeocetes were not ancestral to modern cetaceans. The alleged ancestral relationship remains highly speculative.