While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

* Pinnipeds, which include seals, sea lions, and walruses, live in and around water.
* Pinnipeds are descended not from sea animals but from four-legged, land-dwelling carnivores.
* Canadian paleobiological Natalia Rybczynski recently found a fossil with four legs, webbed toes, and the skull and teeth of a seal.
* Rybczynski refers to her rare find as a "transitional fossil."
* The fossil illustrates an early stage in the evolution of pinnipeds from their land-dwelling ancestors.

The student wants to emphasize the fossil's significance. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?