17  Stasis in the fossil report
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When Charles Darwin published his theory that all the creatures known to us are related to each other, he was rewarded with much enthusiasm from the majority of palaeontologists. Even then it could be recognised that the necessary transitional forms between the individual basic types were absent. Today, one can, on the basis of observation, talk of stasis as a main feature of the fossil record. Stasis signifies that no new forms or organs have come into being and the basic types have remained the same, in essence, for the whole of the Earth’s history.


Due to the systematic lack of fundamental, directed changes in the fossils, the accepted higher development of beings must be regarded as a myth. In the development of most fossil types, there are two essential features which distinctly contradict slow development proceeding in small steps (gradualism): stasis and the sudden appearance of new species.

 
Stasis:
 
Most species demonstrate no targeted changes in the sequence of geological layers in which they occur. From the moment of their first appearance until their disappearance only limited and directionless changes are detectable.
 

Sudden appearance of new species:
 
Within the geological timetable, as a rule, new species appear suddenly and as fully developed. No fossils have ever been found which record the process of a gradual transformation from one species to another (1). Among the famous ammonites, several step-by-step changes are demonstrable. However, with these fossils, only the size and texture of the surface changed (micro evolution).

 
Historical backgrounds (2):

“We palaeontologists have said that the history of life (the thesis of gradual transformation by adaptation) is underpinned by the fossils, while knowing all the time that basically, this was not the case,” the famous palaeontologist Niles Eldredge pointed out. This is how, over the course of time, it developed into a palaeontologist’s professional secret, that these evolutionary intermediary forms do not exist.

“It appears that every generation brings forth several young palaeontologists who are keen to document examples of evolutionary transition in the fossils. The alterations they looked for are, of course, supposed to be of a gradually progressing type. In most cases their efforts are not crowned with success. Their fossils appear to remain basically unchanged, instead of demonstrating the expected evolutionary forms,” Eldredge states.
 
This extraordinarily high level of consistency in fossils appears to the palaeontologist who is determined to find evidence of evolutionary transition, as if no evolution had taken place. Indeed, because the basic concept of evolution is taken for granted, stasis is usually regarded as irrelevant to the results and the missing fossil transitional forms declared to be "gaps in the fossil record.”


Persisting species (3):

 The term persisting species describes plant and animal species, which, throughout the entire geological period, have remained almost or completely unchanged. For instance:


- Viruses, bacteria and mold fungi since the Precambrian
- Sponges, gastropods and jellyfish since the Cambrian
- Mosses, starfish and worms since the Ordovician
- Scorpions and corals since the Silurian
- Sharks and lungfish since the Devonian
- Ferns and cockroaches since the Carboniferous
- Beetles and dragonflies since the Permian
- Pines and palms since the Triassic
- Crocodiles and tortoises since the Jurassic
- Ducks and pelicans since the Cretaceous
- Rats and hedgehogs since the Palaeocene
- Lemurs and rhinoceroses since the Eocene
- Beavers, squirrels and ants since the Oligocene
- Camels and wolves since the Miocene
- Horses and elephants since the Pliocene

On the basis of the evolutionary model, one expects the species to be in a permanent state of transition. Instead of this, as a rule, in all geological strata in which they appear, they are encountered unaltered. Cross connections between the species are entirely lacking.


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References:

(1) Stephen Jay Gould, quoted in Phillip E. Johnson's Darwin im Kreuzverhör, CLV, page 66.
(2) Niles Eldredge, quote in Phillip E. Johnson's Darwin im Kreuzverhör, CLV, pages 76–77.
(3) Willem J. Ouweneel, Evolution in der Zeitenwende, Christliche Schriftenverbreitung Hückeswagen, page 146.
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