The excursuses are not required and are intended to show the links between Moses' creation account and scientific data. This excursus begins with a summary of the excursuses that cover the period of animal and human evolution.  It then focuses on the initial period of invertebrates in the seas, which began 580 million years ago. 

This overview reviews the overall interpretations of the fifth and sixth days, the arrangement of topics in excursuses 8-14, and the links to the 19th century day-age interpretation. The crux of these excursuses and the critical point in fish, bird, reptile, bird, mammal and human evolution is the origin of the genetic and physiological structures of the vertebrates. The vertebrate senses, body structure, organs, large brain, and nervous system were in the first vertebrate fish in the fossil record (520 Ma). After Chapter 8 excursus reviews invertebrate origins, Chapter 9 excursus focuses on the questions surrounding vertebrate origins and the modification of vertebrate genetics and structures. Based on a lack of fossil evidence for ancestors of vertebrates in the fossil record and Moses’ claim of creation of higher animals in Genesis 1:21, this book proposes that God created the first vertebrate, approximately 520 Ma. As leading vertebrate paleontologists acknowledge, it is as if the vertebrates appeared out of nowhere. This book then shows that the genetic mechanisms and structures in the original vertebrate fish facilitated the changes that took place as vertebrates moved from the sea to the land and finally to the skies. If it was God’s plan for the vertebrates to reach the land and skies, then God would have designed the vertebrate Hox genes such that natural selection pressures would lead to jaws, fins, legs, hard-shelled amniotic eggs, and wings. Possibly, God also intervened in these evolutionary processes, but analysis of the changes indicates that they were primarily due to natural DNA mutations of Hox genes. In comparison, the enormous difference between the first vertebrate and previous invertebrates makes the subsequent changes to noncoding regions of vertebrate Hox genes seem relatively minor.

In each chapter, the excursuses describe the links between the scientific evidence and the account of Moses, and the previous sections describe scientific details of the period.

Chapter 8 excursus describes the beginning of the animal kingdom in 580 Ma, when Moses commanded the seas to bring forth invertebrates. Likewise, the fossil record shows that animal life began with peculiar organisms in the 580 Ma Avalon explosion, eventually becoming invertebrates in the Ediacaran seas.  The millions of invertebrate species conduct essential roles in ecosystems. Chapter 1 also describes the steps of invertebrate evolution and three of the major triploblastic bilaterian invertebrate phyla: arthropods, mollusks, and annelid worms.

Chapter 9 excursus describes the largest problem in paleontology, which is the sudden appearance of the first vertebrate fish in a 520-million-year-old fossil bed. Leading paleontologists state that it is as if the vertebrates appeared out of nowhere. Evolution is a testable science. Chapter 2-7 describes a debate by leading paleontologists who discuss the sudden appearance of the vertebrates and the difficulty of reconciling the fossil record of animal origins with the vertebrate molecular clock. They point out that the fossil record points to an origin of animals from sea anemones in 560 Ma and the lack of triploblastic bilaterian invertebrates prior to 530 Ma, which is just prior to the appearance of the vertebrates in 520 Ma. The chapter also shows 24 nonhomologous characteristics of vertebrates which do not have precursors in any invertebrate. An honest evaluation of the progression of animal evolution and the sudden appearance of vertebrates within its early stages indicates that a natural process was not the cause of the vertebrates.

Chapter 10 excursus describes the selection pressures that led to the evolution of the original vertebrate jawless fish to become the fish in the seas, and the birds, crocodiles, and dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era. It specifically shows how Hox genes were modified to form legs and wings. 

Chapter 11 excursus describes the sixth day and how the earth brought forth three species of lower mammals that became the ancestors of the three great groups of modern placental mammals. These lower mammals of one kind (v. 24), which were three species of nonplacental insectivores. This chapter also describes the selection pressures that led to mammal evolution in the Mesozoic Era.

Chapter 12 excursus describes the second phase of the mammals of the sixth day, the formation of modern mammals. Moses indicated that God intervened in mammal evolution (v. 25). There are two possible ways that God intervened. God might have had a hand in the End Cretaceous extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs and opened the ecosystem to the mammals. Second, God might have transformed nonplacental mammals into placental mammals. This possibility is based on the fact the second largest problem in paleontology is the sudden and simultaneous appearance of three types of placental mammals after the End Cretaceous extinction. There were no placental mammals prior to the extinction. None of the three insectivore ancestors of placental mammals were placental mammals.

Chapter 13 excursus proposes that God’s transformed primitive hominins into intelligent, spiritual humans during the last 2.5 million years. During this period, God and/or natural selection increased intelligence by adding genes that increased brain size, and later added genes that contributed to humanness, such as creativity and conscience. In addition, the chapter proposes that God added a spiritual heart in humans. As with Moses’ placement of humans at the end of the six days, humans appeared last in the fossil record. Moses stated in v. 26 that God made mankind into His image. The normal meaning of made in Hebrew is that a preexisting entity was modified.

Chapter 14 excursus describes the creation of Adam and Eve in 5800 BC (v. 27); however, it begins with a description of how the humans who God had already made in his image (v. 26) had already spread around the world prior to Adam and Eve, beginning approximately 60 ka and ending 13 ka. Thus, Adam and Eve were not the first humans in Genesis 1, nor were they the ancestors of all humans.

The Day-Age Interpretation of Moses' Six Days

The correlations between Moses’ creation account and science in the following chapters are based on the day-age interpretation, particularly the interpretation of Arnold Guyot. In the 19th century, scientists and theologians saw a correlation between the order and characteristics of Moses’ six days of creation and the newly developed sciences of geology, paleontology, and astronomy. Thus, they concluded that Moses’ days of creation represented ages of time, which is the day-age interpretation. Although Guyot and his interpretation were rejected by academia at the end of the 19th century, this book shows that it was due to the immaturity of natural science at the time and not due to errors in Moses’ account of creation.  

Two of the leading proponents of the day-age interpretation for much of the 19th century were Arnold Guyot (1807 – 1884) of Princeton and James Dana of Yale (1813-1895). They were respected professors at Princeton and Yale, respectively. The Arnold Guyot Prize is still awarded by National Geographic Magazine each year. Princeton named Guyot Hall in his honor. James Dana of Yale wrote the Manual of Minerology, which is still updated and in print. 

        Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was the Principle of Princeton Theological Seminary (1851-1878) and a leading spokesman for the day-age interpretation. He included the day-age interpretation in his Systematic Theology and made the following statement. 

“Professor Dana of Yale and Professor Guyot of Princeton, belong to the first rank of scientific naturalists; and the friends of the Bible owe them a debt of gratitude for their able vindication of the sacred record.” [1] 

Guyot acknowledged that he was working with an immature version of natural history and that correlation between science and the six days was not perfect. In his article in the New York Times in 1852, Guyot stated,

“We may only suspend judgement, till all possible light is attained and then arrive at a perfect understanding of both. Many things may be explained. Some little point may still possess some little obscurity, but in the future every new ray of light displaces some cloud, which remained to obscure our vision.”

In 1884, the year that he died, Guyot published his day age interpretation [2] There were many opponents to the day-age interpretation in the latter half of the nineteenth century.  Thirteen years after Guyot's passing, Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology wrote two articles in Bibliotheca Sacra that summarized the arguments of theologians and scientists opposed to Guyot's day-age interpretation.[3] [4] Morton did not think God inspired Moses and thus there would be no correlation between Moses and natural history. 

The strange thing is that Morton defined future advances in cosmology and paleontology by outlining the discrepancies between Moses’ descriptions and Guyot’s interpretations based on 19th century natural history.  This would happen if Moses’ writings were accurate and natural history has, since then, aligned itself with Moses. For example, Guyot thought that the dark chaos of v. 2 was inactivated matter at the beginning of the universe and the light of v. 3 was the central light of the galaxy. Morton pointed out that Guyot had the wrong materials (inactivated matter and not earth and waters), and he had the wrong location of the light (central light of the Milky Way rather than the Sun). The modern protoplanetary disk model has the right materials in the dark molecular cloud (earth and waters) and the sun is the light that forms in the darkness.

Morton and others criticized Moses’ order of plants (day 3) before animals (day 5). Morton argued that the third day was out of order because plants did not appear in the fossil record until the Carboniferous (400 Ma), which was after the appearance of the animals of the fifth day in the Cambrian period. Morton also stated that there were no birds in the Mesozoic, as Guyot claimed. Finally, Morton claimed that the sixth day did not describe the Age of Mammals. For the critics, this was convincing evidence that Moses had an incorrect order of life. Although Morton had legitimate objections to Moses’ order of life based on 19th century natural history, his objections have been answered by 21st century molecular DNA analysis and an improved fossil record that moved the evolution of plants back into the Proterozoic, showed that there were birds in the Mesozoic, and showed that the Age of Mammals in the Cenozoic Era followed the Age of Reptiles in the Mesozoic Era. As with the modern astronomical and geological correlations with Guyot's Day-Age theory of the first four days, Guyot's fifth and sixth day interpretations have now been vindicated. 

The major difference between Guyot's interpretation and the interpretation in this book is that Guyot did not divide God's decrees from God's interventions. For example, Guyot interpreted the first day as follows. A light naturally formed in the collapsing cloud of the galaxy (Let there be light, v. 3), and this process naturally separated the light from the darkness (God separated the light from the darkness, v. 4).  However, Verse 4 states that God separated the light from the darkness, not that it was a natural process, and the order in the verse indicates that the separation of light from darkness was subsequent to the formation of light. Victor Hamilton argued that v. 4 (the separation) must follow v. 3 (the appearance of light) in time because “x can be separated from y only on the assumption that x and y are already in existence.” [5] In other words, God could not separate the light from the darkness before the light existed. Thus, the sequence of day one was (1) God commanded the light to form, (2) the light formed, (3) God saw the light, and (4) then God separated the light from the darkness. The Hebrew word translated as separated in v. 4 refers to a physical separation in which two things are moved apart. See the Chapter 3 excursus for further discussion of this separation. Likewise, Hamilton thought that God caused the separation of the waters below from the waters above after the expanse formed, based on the parallel of vv. 6-7 with vv. 3-4, in which God separated the light from the darkness after natural formation of light, Hamilton also thought that the grammatical construction of the sentence supports this interpretation.[6]  Thus, in both days 1 and day 2, Victor Hamilton thought that there was an initial formation, and then God intervened to separate substances.

Guyot thought that the divine interventions in the fifth and sixth days were one and the same with the decrees. Although Hamilton does not go into great detail regarding the order of the 5th and 6th days, it logically follows from his arguments concerning the order of the first and second days that the divine interventions follow the decrees of the fifth and sixth days. Granted, the specific interpretations of the meanings of the animals are mine, but the order of the decrees and divine interventions are without question.

References

[1] Hodge, Charles, Systematic Theology, (New York: Scribner Armstrong and Company, 1873), 570–571 

[2] Guyot, Arnold. Creation: Or, the biblical cosmogony in the light of modern science. C. Scribner's Sons, 1884. 

[3] Morton, Henry. "The Cosmogony of Genesis and its reconcilers." Article I. Bibliotheca Sacra. April, 54 (214). 1897. pp. 264-292.  

[4] Morton, Henry. "The Cosmogony of Genesis and its reconcilers." Article II. Bibliotheca Sacra. July, 54 (215) 1897. pp. 436-468.  

[5] Hamilton, Victor. The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, vol. 1 of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 119.

8 Excursus. The Seas Brought Forth Invertebrates.

God’s plan for worms, insects, mollusks, and other invertebrates

This excursus begins in a very ancient time. It is difficult for many to wrap our minds around what it was like back then, but this play might help people appreciate the perspective of those who lived so long ago. Feel free to get some friends together and relive this ancient somewhat aimless time by acting out this play.

Days (Eons) of our Lives (Episode 1)

Mike the crown Mollusk
Ted the crown Trilobite
Anne the crown Annelid

Ted: Hey Mike, it is terrible living without sight. All I have is a light sensitive spot. The worst thing is that I'm worried I'm going to walk over a priapulid worm hole and get snatched.

Mike: Be careful what you wish for. If nobody has sight, then it is a level playing field. If there was sight, then the predators could see us. I think it is great as it is.

Anne: I just don't know if I agree with God setting up this sort of worm eat worm world. It seems so unfair.

Mike: It is what it is. Competition will make us all better in the long run. It really isn't that exciting to just have a bunch of blind bottom feeders crawling around. I don't know what you are complaining about, you can swim.

Ted: Actually, is death really so bad? Do I really want to crawl around in the muck for eternity?

Anne: The problem with death is there is no invertebrate heaven. This is all there is.

Mike: Yes, but invertebrates like us really don't have memory or even a brain. If we can't remember anything, then have we really lost anything when we die?

Ted: What were we talking about?

Anne: Who are you guys anyway?

Mike: We are hopeless. I hope we get eaten by a priapulid worm.

Whether or not God intervened in some way, such as the formation of muscle, nerve, or other types of cells, or the specification of genes such as Hox genes, in the genetic toolbox of animals, the fossil record clearly shows that the animal kingdom gained complexity and diversity in the Late Ediacaran and Early Cambrian seas. As Moses stated, the seas brought forth invertebrates, which means that the seas enabled the evolution of invertebrate phyla. Theologians of the past interpreted this passage to mean that God somehow activated the sea and gave it the capability to spontaneously generate animals. The concept that the seas that God activated by the fourth day climate transformed enabled animal evolution is not too far away from this concept, just a much longer time scale and a more complicated mechanism.

Moses described swarms of animals teeming in the sea. The word seres in v. 20, swarms, refers to insects (invertebrates) 14 out of 15 times in the Bible. The exception is when it refers to swarming animals in the sea in Leviticus 1:10. Even the flying creatures in the second part of the verse might be invertebrates. Ancient theologians thought that this implied that the sea was able to bring forth lower animals, but that God created higher animals such as fish, birds, and reptiles. Thus, the natural origin of invertebrates in the sea is in line with Moses’ description of the beginning of the animal kingdom in v. 20.

Flying creatures flew in the sky. The word translated as birds in v. 20 is op, which means flying creatures and can mean birds or insects. The Septuagint translation is winged creatures. A few English versions have "flying creatures." In contrast, vs. 21, which describes vertebrates, has op ka nap, which always refers to birds. This contrast implies that the flying creatures of v. 20 were not birds but were insects. Insects naturally evolved from the aquatic arthropods. Thus, linking insects with the early appearance of life in the sea is correct. Although the insects evolved after the appearance of vertebrates, there is no “and it was so” in v. 20, which means that v. 20 was not necessarily completed prior to v. 21.

Although there is evidence of increasing complexity over time, implying evolution, God might have also intervened in the process. The animal kingdom began with fronds, which became more complex and eventually showed evidence of muscles. Next, sea anemones formed, which include Hox genes for body plan specification and nerve cells which send signals from one side of the organism to another. While this appears to be a natural progression, God might have intervened in this evolutionary process, with muscle cells, Hox genes, and nerve cells. It would probably be difficult to prove whether or not there was supernatural intervention, but it is possible. On the other hand, there had been 3 billion years of cellular evolution prior to the Avalon explosion, which might have prepared the precursors to animal cells and genes to evolve into animal forms.

Whether or not God intervened, an indication that there was a continuation of organisms, with small changes accumulated over time, due to divine intervention or natural mutation, is that molecular clocks for invertebrates place the origin of invertebrates in the late Ediacaran and early Cambrian. These clocks are based on rate of change of nonessential genes, which are observed and calculated based on genetic differences between modern invertebrate phyla. Thus, there was a continual rate of invertebrate mutational genetic over the last 500 million years.

Most of the animals in the world are invertebrates.

“Invertebrates represent 97% of species diversity…. Of the 36 extant (living) phyla of animal life, 35 are composed entirely of invertebrates. Within the 35 phyla mentioned, much of the diversity is contained within eight major groups: Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (jellyfish, coral, sea anemones), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Nematoda (roundworms), Annelida (segmented worms), Echinoderms (sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers), Mollusca (shellfish, snails, squid, octopus), and Arthropoda (insects, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, barnacles).” [3]

While natural selection led to enormous variation and diversity within the invertebrate phyla, God planned on at least some phyla, such as the arthropods, and their insect descendants: "Let birds (flying creatures) fly above the earth". The flying creatures in this case were insects. God planned on the process of insect evolution, which began with the evolution of the arthropod phylum in the sea and continued with the movement of arthropods to land in the form of insects. Genomic analysis indicates that gills became insect wings. God knew that selection pressure would cause arthropods to move to and evolve on land as they exploited land food resources. Insect evolution was not just a random unplanned event in a meaningless universe, in spite of some people’s feelings about mosquitos. Although there were specific intended phyla such as arthropods, God’s system of natural selection also led to a diversity of phyla and species within the invertebrates, which serve important functions and fill ecological niches in the ecosystems of the world.

At first glance, it might seem more straightforward for God to create an ecosystem through direct creation rather than to allow a few organisms to diversify and occupy ecological niches; however, an assessment the number of organisms and the complexity, fluctuations, and interdependence of ecosystems indicates otherwise. Humans are a good example of the evolved interdependence between animals and the ecosystem. Moon-Keat Looi described the human microbiome.[4] Amazingly, the human microbiome, which refers to the organisms living inside humans, has 39 trillion microbial cells (fungi, viruses, and bacteria) comprised of about 1,000 different species. There are also 10 million genes in the human microbiome. Microbial populations in humans and the environment are not constant but fluctuate and even evolve based on many factors. While some microbes are harmful to humans, the great majority are helpful, such as helping digest food and preventing illness. They can even help with sensory systems. Microbes are an important part of the human sense of smell. Now, let’s compare the concepts of God creating humans de novo (from nothing) vs. God + natural selection forming humans within a changing ecosystem. With de novo creation, God would have needed to create the 1,000 types of microorganisms that inhabit humans, as well as their interactions, as well as the method to pass them from one human to the next or from mother to child. In the environment surrounding humans, God would have also needed to create the plants (380,000 species), animals (8.7 million species), and microorganisms (100 million species) with which humans interact. Wouldn’t it be simpler to start with an ape, and then to intervene in primate evolution in order to form humans in the image of God, as well as the biological community in which we evolved.

Tara Selly evaluated the early onset of predation in the Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils and described the effect of predator-prey relationships.

“The onset of predation profoundly affected early metazoan (animal) communities, likely triggering new biological innovations, such as an evolutionary arms race of prey defenses and predatory attacks, ultimately culminating in the geologically drastic radiation of major phyletic stem groups during the "Cambrian Explosion". Predation is understood primarily from two different means of interpreting the fossil record: either inferred from functional morphologies of organisms and interpreted based on those specializations, or from rare instances where predator prey interactions, or their traces, are directly preserved. We first taphonomically analyzed the different disarticulated anatomies of the Middle Cambrian predator, Anomalocaris using microchemical analyses. From these analyses the samples appear to be preserved through typical Burgess Shale-type carbonaceous compression, with possible preservational influence of both pyritization and aluminosilicification. In a second study, we examine direct evidence of predatory ichnofossils from recurring associations of the arthropod ichnogenera Rusophycus and Cruziana (most commonly attributed to trilobites) with burrows of vermiform animals, interpreted to represent direct feeding behavior of the arthropod tracemaker on the burrowing worm.” [5] 

In addition to predator-prey relationships, interspecies and intraspecies competition leads to evolution. Selection pressure favors the traits of those who acquire the most food or survive in periods of little food to continue in the ecosystem, eliminating the others. Thus, favorable traits such as speed to dominate the gene pool. Although heaven will be a place of rest and comfort, God did not design this world to be like heaven. The struggle to survive enabled the evolution of organisms and ecosystems.

Random mutations of genes are caused by solar radiation or copying errors. Sometimes, mutations have positive effects on organisms, such as the ability to digest lactose in some human populations; however, a necessary consequence of random mutation is that there is periodic disease and handicaps. Thus, God’s original plan for life included infrequent disease and deformity. The Bible never states that sickness is the result of sin. Jesus could have stated that blindness was due to Adam’s sin or some other theological reason (John 9:1-5), but he did not, nor does any other scripture come close to this type of claim.

In this era of genetic engineering, it is reasonable to think that God would change some genes in the process of evolution. I was on an algae research project in which one scientist genetically engineered (changed genes) algae species in order to optimize them for algae biofuel production. I was involved in another research project on guayule, a desert rubber plant, in which one of the research groups on our team attempted to blocking the pathway that causes guayule to produce flowers. The reason for stopping flowering was that flowers took energy from the plant that could otherwise be directed toward rubber production. Other than the origin of vertebrates, the origin of modern mammals, and the origin of humans, the vast majority of genetic changes in history were due to random mutations and selection; however, it would not be surprising to find out that God did a little genetic engineering and caused some changes.

In addition to the six days of creation, many verses state that God intervened in creation. God made the earth and heavens: (Jer. 32:17); the earth (Jer. 33:2), every aspect of the earth, seas, mountains, and heavens (Job 38:4-38); the heavens (Psalm 19:1-2); the moon and stars (Psalm 8:1-9); the heavens and skies (Psalm 36:5); the stars (Isaiah 40:25); the heavens (Psalm 136:5); the heavens, deep, springs, and skies (Proverbs 8:27-29); the earth and heavens (Psalm 102:25-27); created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it (Isa. 42:5); you made heaven and earth (Isa. 37:16).

The following verses state that God made humans: the people whom I formed for myself (Isaiah 43:21); for we are his workmanship (Eph. 2:10), God made man in his own image (Gen. 9:6); made him a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:4); people are made in the likeness of God (James 3:9), has not one God created us (Mal 2:10); I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14); There are also many verses that state that God created all things: Revelation 4:11, Ephesian 3:9-10, Col 1:16, Gen. 2:1, John 1:3.

A few verses state that animals are the work of God. One might interpret Psalm 8:6-8 to state that specific animals are the works of God’s hand although the emphasis is on human rule of all animals. The only verse that states that God specifically made an animal is Job 40:15-17, which states that God made the Behemoth, which might be based on bones from an extinct animal. In contrast with the lack of statements about creation of animals, there are many verses that state that God cares for animals. A few of the many verses include: Look at the birds of the air… yet your heavenly father feeds them (Matt 6:26): Consider the ravens… yet God feeds them (Luke 12:24); all kinds of animals… have been tamed by mankind (James 3:7); the lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God (Psalm 104:2).

God established the amount of light from the sun (day 1) in order to optimize photosynthesis, temperature, and many other processes. When God established the solar system (day 2) the distance of the earth from the sun set us in the Goldilocks zone for water-based life. When God established the amount of water on earth (day 3), it established the hydrologic cycle with some land area for land animals. Seasons become more intense as the angle of obliquity (tilt of earth’s axis) increases. God set the earth’s angle of obliquity (day 4) to create our climate with seasonal variation but not too much seasonal variation. Other finely tuned aspects of earth also enable life. For example, plate tectonics and the Earth’s magnetic field enable the cycling of gases into the atmosphere and the protection of the earth from solar radiation. In these and many other ways God cared for humans and animals on earth and supplied their needs.

God also designed the long sequence of events made the earth habitable for animals. The four billion years of the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons prepared the world for animal life. Initially, the solar system needed to be cleared of asteroids. Then, there was a three-billion-year period of photosynthetic life adding oxygen to the atmosphere. The sun needed to increase in intensity before the earth’s axis could be switched to its present angle (day 4). Otherwise, the earth would have been frozen over for the first few billion years (faint young sun paradox). The evolution of the earth’s animal life began directly after God changed the tilt of earth’s axis and optimized the climate (580 Ma). Oxygen and nutrients increased in the sea and enabled the initial frondose organisms.

References

[1] Budd, Graham E., and Sören Jensen. "The origin of the animals and a ‘Savannah’hypothesis for early bilaterian evolution." Biological Reviews 92, no. 1 (2017): 446-473.

[2] Daley, Allison, Jonathan Antcliffe, Harriet Drage, and Stephen Pates. "Early fossil record of Euarthropoda and the Cambrian Explosion." Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 115, no.21(2018): 5322-5331.

[3] San Jose State University. Geological Oceanography Lab. Marine invertebrates. Accessed on September 8, 2023 at <https://mlml.sjsu.edu/geooce/research/microcosms/ 

[4] Looi, M. K. "The human microbiome: everything you need to know about the 39 trillion microbes that call our bodies home." Science Focus. Available online: https://www. sciencefocus. com/the-human-body/humanmicrobiome (2020).

[5] Selly, Tara Lee. "Predators and predation in the Cambrian period: quantitative methods in taphonomy and paleoecology." PhD diss., University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015.

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Old painting of trilobites in the sea (ancient crustaceans, arthopods). Source unknown