An allegedly vital piece of animal evolution was first discovered in 1984 in Scotland. Conventional scientists suggested the fossil of Westlothiana lizziae, a lizard-like reptile, is an example of an early stem-tetrapod.

However, due to the fragmentary nature of the W. lizziae fossil, some evolutionists are unsure of Westlothiana’s phylogenetic (evolutionary) position. Regardless, a SciTechDaily article confidently stated that, “Along with other early stem tetrapods, [W. lizziae] represents a common ancestor of all modern amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including humans.”¹

That’s quite a statement—broad in its implications but having no paleontological validation. As ICR’s Dr. Jeff Tomkins stated, “The problem with this amphibian evolutionary story is that extinct amphibian-like creatures appear suddenly and already diversified in the Carboniferous layers, while the three major groups of living amphibians appear suddenly without prior ancestors in the Jurassic.²

University of Texas at Austin reported,

Despite its significance, researchers had never determined an accurate age of the fossil. But thanks to new research out of The University of Texas at Austin, scientists now know that the Westlothiana lizziae, along with similar salamander-like creatures from the same spot in Scotland, are potentially 14 million years older than previously thought.

The new age -- dating back to 346 million years ago -- adds to the significance of the find because it places the specimens in a mysterious hole in the fossil record called Romer's Gap.³

According to evolution theory, Romer’s Gap was

a time period from 360 to 345 million years ago where, for reasons scientists are not exactly sure of, very few fossils have been discovered. It is during this crucial point in history that water-dwelling fish took an evolutionary leap, growing lungs and four legs to become land animals. This is one of the most pivotal milestones in the history of animal evolution.³

This is evolutionary hand-waving at its finest. The supposed transition from breathing water to breathing air would mark a major (read fantastical) evolutionary event. Fish to growing lungs would require suite after suite of random beneficial mutations that would form lungs and associated circulatory structures while the gills would somehow be lost or absorbed. One evolutionist stated, “Lungs, ventral in position, likely arose in the immediate common ancestor to actinopterygians [bony fish] and sarcopterygians [lobe-finned fish] [emphasis added].”⁴ Of course, said “immediate common ancestor” has yet to be found.

In their PLoS One article abstract, Garza et al. reveal the dubious conventional view of Romer’s Gap:

The transition of vertebrates from aquatic to terrestrial environments during the late Devonian to early Carboniferous marks a crucial evolutionary milestone. However, this transition remains poorly understood due to a scarcity of early tetrapod fossils during the late Devonian to early Mississippian, creating a gap in the fossil record known as Romer's Gap (~360-345 Ma).⁵

Indeed, the late Jennifer Clack stated in regard to the early Carboniferous,

The interrelationships of early tetrapods constitute a problem that for the time being is unsatisfactorily resolved. There seems to be little obvious connection between the tetrapods of the Late Devonian [“Age of Fishes”] and those of the Early Carboniferous [the Mississippian, or Age of Crinoids]....Some of the genera that are coming out of the Early Carboniferous challenge the present understanding of tetrapod evolution in that they do not readily fit into any scheme of classification based on the forms appearing later during the Late Carboniferous.⁶

Dr. Jeffrey Tomkins explained the Carboniferous explosion of land-based life (that includes W. lizziae) from a non-evolutionary perspective.

Reptiliomorphs (or Anthracosauria) are a group of reptile-like tetrapods that appear suddenly and unexpectantly in the fossil record alongside the Temnospondyli, leaving virtually no room for amphibian-to-reptile evolution to occur. For example, Westlothiana (nicknamed “Lizzie”) was discovered in early Carboniferous rocks, and although it clearly looked like a terrestrial lizard, it was not considered a true lizard largely because it was out of place in the tetrapod evolution story. In addition, many other lizard-like reptile creatures have been found in Carboniferous rock layers, such as Gephyrostegus and Limnoscelis. The main evolutionary problem is that terrestrial amphibian-like and reptile-like creatures appear in the same strata with no room for evolution to take place from one to the other.²

Despite the difficulties regarding Romer’s Gap, Westlothiana lizziae supposedly helps fill it in light of Dr. Hectore Garza’s recent attempt to re-date it. However, his dating method using radiometric dating is based on assumptions. Garza et al. decided to date W. lizziae, along with similar salamander-like creatures, via “new U-Pb constraints and geochemistry.”⁵ He “X-rayed 11 of the rock samples at the Jackson School and was able to extract zircons from the rock surrounding six of the fossils. He then conducted uranium-lead laser dating on the zircons at the University of Houston to determine their oldest possible age.”³

Zircon (ZrSiO4) is a common mineral and can be found in igneous rock⁷ and sedimentary rock, such as sandstones, clastic limestones, and shales. In this W. lizziae study, the scientists utilized zircon geochronology, the technique used to measure common lead (Pb) in zircons. However, like all radiometric dating, assumptions are made—assumptions that happen to support deep-time history.8 And, even if the radiometric dates were correct, zircons merely give the age of the individual grains of sediment, not the age of the rock itself. The grains of sediment could have come from many different rock types, making it extremely difficult to get a single age for the rock containing the fossils.

In their abstract, Garza et al. stated, “This revised maximum depositional age places the East Kirkton Quarry fossils within the older, critical interval of Romer’s Gap, bridging a significant evolutionary time interval in the Mississippian fossil record, and allows for refining future tetrapod time trees.”5 In other words, Dr. Garza got a more “accurate” date of 346 million years, conveniently placing the fossil specimens in Romer’s Gap.

In a more consistent theory, ICR’s Dr. Tim Clarey has framed a world-wide map of Genesis Flood layers known as megasequences.⁹ According to this global mapping,

the deposition of the Late and Early Carboniferous (and Permian) corresponds to the end of the Kaskaskia Megasequence and the beginning of the Absaroka. These two megasequences were part of the continual advance of the floodwaters across higher and higher elevations described in Genesis 7. These rock layers perfectly represent the global destruction of lowland ecological systems and reinforce a creationist model of paleontology based on global Flood burial by ecological zonation.²

In other words, there is no Romer’s Gap representing a period 360 to 345 million years ago. In reality, what is found are “early Carboniferous” sedimentary rocks of lowland coastal ecosystems that were formed during the primary phase of the Genesis Flood. W. lizziae is now supposedly filling a spot in Romer’s Gap, but it’s still a tetrapod with an uncertain phylogenetic position. There is no room for the evolution of reptile-like tetrapods or amphibian-to-reptile changes.

References

1. 346 Million-Year-Old Fossil Rewrites the Story of Life on Land. University of Texas at Austin. Posted on sciencetechdaily.com June 8, 2025.
2. Tomkins, J. P. 2021. The Fossils Still Say No: Enigma of the Carboniferous Explosion. Acts & Facts. 50 (5): 11–13.
3. Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor. University of Texas at Austin. Posted on sciencedaily.com May 29, 2025.
4. Kardong, K. 20212. Vertebrates. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 417.
5. Garza, H. et al. 2025. New U-Pb Constraints and Geochemistry of the East Kirkton Quarry, Scotland: Implications for Early Tetrapod Evolution in the Carboniferous. PLoS One. 20 (4).
6. Clack, J. 2012. Gaining Ground. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 267.
7. Cupps, V. R. 2019. Helium Retention in Zircons Demonstrates a Young Earth. Acts & Facts. 48 (1): 10–13.
8. Snelling, A. A. 2000. Dubious Radiogenic Pb Places U-Th-Pb Mineral Dating in Doubt. Acts & Facts. 29 (1).
9. Clarey, T. 2020. Carved in Stone: Geological Evidence of the Worldwide Flood. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.

* Dr. Sherwin is a science news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.