Evidence of genetic: long question

Punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that most species will exhibit little net evolutionary change for most of their geological history, remaining in an extended state called stasis. When significant evolutionary change occurs, the theory proposes that it is generally restricted to rare and geologically rapid events of branching speciation called cladogenesis. Cladogenesis is the process by which a species splits into two distinct species, rather than one species gradually transforming into another.[1]
Punctuated equilibrium is commonly contrasted against the theory of phyletic gradualism, which states that evolution generally occurs uniformly and by the steady and gradual transformation of whole lineages (called anagenesis). In this view, evolution is seen as generally smooth and continuous.

In punctuated equilibrium, it states that species often diverge in spurts of relatively rapid evolutionary change. When species evolve gradually (over a period of 200 to 300 generations), you have a shifting of alleles and variation in traits – resulting only in subtle changes, but it’s a major sudden change, such as a genetic mutation (that doesn’t happen too often) that allows a dolphin, for instance, to grow hindlimbs, and this likely accounts for differences in fossils.