artist

i found this post loved the world building stuff and i thought you guys may enjoy it so here's info on each piece of "Fancy food" for a robot in disguise (directly from the creator's page)

1. a strange, rare, subterranean cyberflora species, goldleaf produces long delicate ivy strands of golden ore, cascading down and sometimes creating huge nests of golden flakes if left undisturbed for long enough. i based these off of those perfect pencil sharpening moments when you’ve managed to create a long thin strip of wood, or peeling apples in one super long coil of skin. this cyberflora will grow around any underground seam of soft metal, but it pops up around gold most often. finding them can be difficult, but harvesting the ivy without the strands breaking or even disintegrating completely is very delicate work. the scarcity and difficulty means a coil of authentic goldleaf ivy atop a dish is an expensive addition
2. these truffles aren’t actually grown from cyberflora at all! manganese nodules form naturally in oceans, so they’re quite plentiful here on Earth. but on Cybertron, where bodies of water are hardly common... let’s just say they’re a little tough to get. on Eukaris and Caminus, planets with more water, truffles are more common and thus less expensive. they’re blobs of layered iron and manganese, which is an excellent source of repair material for mecha, and thin slices of these nutritious and delicious truffles are used in very fine, very pricey meals
3. now this one is a little tricky. given the fact that most people consider it barbaric to eat mechanimals, and how mechanimals don’t even reproduce, instead emerging from hotspots, caviar on Cybertron is not fish eggs. it does however come from fish! specifically, the orange caviar is from cybersalmon living in the flooded parts of the Rust Sea. when the cybersalmon reach a point in their lifecycle where the corrosion and rust has decayed them too much, they migrate to the closest hotspot, consolidate much of their energon and other precious fluids into beads, and then scatter these beads nearby before dying, so newly forged mechanimals coming from the hotspot will have an immediate source of rich fuel. the beads are, like many things in the sea, stained orange from rust. the black caviar come from sturgeonoids, native to the underground Argon Sea. they don’t usually swim in schools, but they do forge minor drones for themselves, essentially becoming a single organism with multiple decoy bodies that they inhabit and control simultaneously. forging a drone takes some time, and it starts with a little bead of condensed energy and material. black caviar is more difficult to harvest, making it more expensive, but both varieties are considered luxurious
4. saffronze isn’t a particularly unusual species. there are many types of cyberflora that harvest and forge metals as their ecological niche. but bronze specifically is not a common cyberflora byproduct, and saffronze is not a common species, making it one of the rarer and more “exotic” cyberflora spices. the thin, tightly woven bronze wires are incredibly high quality, making them an excellent additive to sweet, flavorful dishes. of course, you could just use bronze made in your local smithy, but people claim there’s a certain zest to genuine saffronze that just can’t be copied. the sheer scarcity is what makes it alluring

Known as the Nyamtocenic Apocalyptic Biosphere Collapse—the second major mass extinction event—this catastrophe wiped out 90% of the planet's vertebrate fauna, 35% of its invertebrates, and 25% to 30% of other organisms, marking it as the most severe extinction event ever witnessed on VLI-093. The primary cause was the Nyamtu—a species descended from baboon-like anteaters—whose societies, during an intermediate industrial era, engaged in a conflict involving lethal nuclear weapons that resulted in the destruction of the vast majority of life.

Yet, life inevitably found a way, ushering in the Archoliniozoic—the longest era the planet has ever witnessed—which spanned up to 70 million years, in stark contrast to the mere few million years of the Nyamtocene. Throughout this vast expanse of time, numerous lineages and dozens of species—ranging from survivors like the Anklyorhynchids to the final "endling" species of the Vermidillos and Pliotheres—managed to endure the great extinction event brought about by the Nyamtus. Their survival was made possible by traits such as small body size, a generalist nature, and an adaptability to environmental pollution; these same characteristics would go on to fuel a remarkable diversification over the course of this long era.

Anklyorhynchids diversified incredibly during the Archolinozoic; their "false teeth" now functioned just like true teeth. Previously, these structures—which only grew to a few centimeters in size—had offered a limited capacity for chewing, yet they had failed to permanently eliminate the need for the animals to swallow stones. Meanwhile, all lineages descending from the Semi-Aquatic (M. t. palustris) subspecies had gone extinct, with the exception of a single genus. It is now time, however, to discuss the Colossal Giraffilla ( Giraffillus maximus )—a long-necked, giraffe-like creature that evolved from the Anklyorhynchids and stood as one of the megafauna in its environment.

They use their actual "teeth" to chew and ingest leaves and wood from trees; to predators of a similar or slightly smaller size, they represent a walking abundance of meat. Furthermore, various species of parasite also feed upon their skin. In appearance, they resemble the long-extinct Chalicotheres. Yet, much like many other vertebrate species, they are actually a highly derived lineage of giant anteaters—though they no longer have much interest in ants, consuming leaves, wood, and branches instead.

In another realm, the terrestrial lanternfish gradually began to compete with anteaters; over time, however—much like what occurred during Serina’s Pangeacene era and the periods that followed—these terrestrial lanternfish would eventually become a natural, integrated component of their ecosystems.

Source

Source

GL-02026—known colloquially as "Gellios"—orbits a blue-white (A5V) star and possesses a highly inclined orbital plane. It was once the target of a human colonization project; although the endeavor was an utter failure, a limited biological community was nonetheless introduced. This community contained no vertebrates or vascular plants; instead, it consisted of microscopic plankton, algae, zooxanthellae, brine shrimps, nudibranchs, polychaetes, and five species of jellyfish representing three distinct classes. Released into these vast, extreme oceans, these organisms became the progenitors of a unique biosphere. In the absence of other animals or competing life forms, they underwent massive population explosions, eventually giving rise to fully functional, self-sustaining ecosystems.

In an environment devoid of species that might prey upon or compete with them, Aurelia aurita (Class Scyphozoa)—underwent extensive diversification caused bu very low competition; but in this same setting, they would serve as ideal prey for predators derived from Chironex fleckeri and Malo kingi. Meanwhile, lineages descending from Turritopsis dohrnii (class Hydrozoa) would come to occupy an ecological niche analogous to that of the planet’s corals and other reef-building animals. Alongside Chironex fleckeri and Malo kingi. Tripedalia cystophora (class Cubozoa), these organisms would evolve into entirely distinct forms—cnidarians that, following the emergence of algae, Artemia, and nudibranchs, would transition into amphibious life forms before eventually assuming the full-fledged role of tetrapods.

Yet, Gellios possessed a different star and orbital inclination than Earth; for a limited group of organisms arriving from Earth, this represented a complex set of factors that—over the course of millions of years—would fundamentally shape everything from their responses to extreme conditions to the patterns of their migratory waves.

By the Late Medusocene, a fully-fledged equilibrium had emerged among the jellyfish; descendants of five original lineages underwent extensive convergent evolution, diversifying into hundreds of distinct species. Some Lineages sharing a common ancestor—such as the Honey Whaloon (Mystidusa melliderma) and the Navy Blue Driftsteed (Turbadusi caeruleus)—evolved to occupy specific ecological niches, becoming either zooplanktivores that consume vast quantities of Artemia or herbivores that feed on algal blooms. Naturally, the presence of herbivores implies the existence of predators. Cubozoan predators, such as the Jetsharks, developed muscular tentacles to hunt these giant jellyfish—though this does not apply to the Bigfinned Jetshark (Magnapinnoides spp.) , which preys on smaller jellyfish. Nevertheless, even these smaller species are not entirely without their own defenses or advantages.

The Giantslaying Stingstalkers (Spiculovenator gigamortem) they are, in the truest sense, micro-predatory jellyfish of megafaunal jellyfish. Similar to the modern-day Irukandji jellyfish, this species possesses a tiny, transparent, glass-like body. They often drift in the vicinity of megafaunal jellyfish, such as Whaloon or Driftsteed; unlike jetsharks or grapneljells, they do not immediately launch an attack. Instead, they linger near these larger creatures while they feed, siphoning off some of the prey for themselves. However, their most aggressive predatory behavior emerges during the sweltering summers of the Southern Hemisphere. In these seasons, the "giantslayer" jellyfish use the thousands of nematocyst cells lining their tentacles to sting prey much larger than themselves. They can kill an elderly or weakened Whaloon in just 3 to 8 minutes, subsequently consuming the entire carcass—a vital and highly nutritious food source for these small yet lethal creatures. Also these deadly jellyfish are descended from modern-day Malo kingi. Likewise, although it possesses a magnitude similar to that of its ancestor, it still retains its own distinct differences.

Very rough sketches, but I have finally settled on a design that is a mix of cute, personable, and capable of doing all the things they do in the story.

I know I could have made the design more alien but I wanted them to look cute, so monkey raccoon cat it is.

Colony members are given number names, after the day in the season their egg was laid. So essentially their name is their birthday.

A few facts about this species.

They are eusocial. The queen keeps a harem of drones, who have travelled from other colonies. Most eggs that are laid hatch into female workers.

These colonial creatures descend from a line of mammal like animals, where fathers nurse the young and mothers incubate eggs. In the colonials however, paternal lactation has gone from the usual method of feeding young to a method of cast differentiation. Fathers nurse selected nymphs, which triggers hormonal changes and puts them on the developmental track to become reproductive queens. From the evolutionary perspective, this allows fathers to only give this expensive resource to young that will actually pass down their genes.

The other youngsters are given mincemeat prepared from fish, hunted animals, or livestock raised by the colony. Adults are vegetarian.

The plot of the story revolves around Thirty-two and the nymph she has been assigned to care for being captured by human xenobiologists who are visiting their planet. A reverse alien abduction story.

I am very eager for feedback on the story itself, so if anyone would like to read my draft, please let me know. It is novella length.

Este es el trailer de anuncio de la demo de "En las minas de la locura: edición arcade".

Adéntrate a una inmensa y hostil red de cuevas y enfréntate a la variopinta flora, funga y fauna endémica del lugar.

“Esta es una cueva donde solo los más valientes se atreven a entrar, que esconde horrores inéditos jamás antes vistos por ningún humano ¿serás capas de moverte y recibir los tesoros que se esconden en este laberinto subterráneo, o perecerás en el intento?”

Descubre los secretos de la inmensa red de cuevas, en este videojuego arcade, rpg de gestión de recursos y evolución especulativa.

Link de descarga: https://tiuver.itch.io/en-las-minas-de-la-locura-edicion-arcade

your fungi friend has returned for some news about Carmilla

Thanks to u/Lokisblaster for the name suggetion

This is my planed roadmap for making Carmilla, insight and tips are greatly appreciated.

CONTEXT: For those unaware Carmilla (named after the first depiction of a vampire)is a planet slightly bigger than Venus With one key trait (that surprisingly no other speculative biologist has tried): almost every species of Fauna on the planet drinks blood. As their respiratory systems have never fully developed during the process of evolution, they drink blood using a specialized organ to extract the oxygen to their blood system, while disposing of the toxic metals into their skin, fur feathers and excrement. I’m calling it a Heamorespiratory system

PLANS: I first plan on creating a map of the planet complete with a secondary map, displaying the biomes.

I will also cover moons and other, more insignificant planets in the system

Once the space stuff is done I will start with the basic design of the Heamorespiratory system, basically how organ works in depth

Next, there will be the plant life and microbiology for some of the species

And finally, I’ll try and get into multicellular life

Basically, I’m working on the small stuff and then moving up in the more complex and harder stuff.

I am very bad at art and I am learning it, and I thought that this whole project would be a great way to learn how to do creature art as a great deal of research and practice is required to do so. Edit: I think I’m going to draw it on a piece of paper and then trace it over on another piece of paper. That way you don’t get eraser marks and then take a picture of it and use that. And if i want to color it… I’ll figure it out.

any thoughts on the idea? Or maybe some questions?

During the man-made Holocene Mass extinction, humanity would leave the Earth and Its Inhabitants behind In order to colonize new, more habitable planets. (which they will probaply just destroy again anyways...)

The Holocene Mass Extinction has at this point claimed about 80% of earth life, with everything bigger then a housecat going extinct.

The First "section" of this project would start In the early Neocene 15 Million Years P.H. (Post Holocene).

The first Idea I had were large grazing Ground Squirrels that I´ll call the Sciubaras. Ground Squirrels are already primary herbivorous, and I oddly enough dont really see people working with Ground Squirrels.

Many Rodents would survive the Mass Extinction, being so plentifull, diverse and hardy. Ground Squirrels are also known to cope very well with high temperatures which would be one of the main challenges during the Holocene Mass Extinction.

With Ground Squirrels seeming to be the most diverse In North America, the Sciubaras would likely be that continents dominant grazers.

Another Herbivore from North America that I came up with are the Rabbilopes which are descendants of Rabbids. Rabbids are, like their relatives, the Rodents, very numerous animals.

To avoid competition with the grazing Sciubaras, Rabbilopes are mainly low browsers, with some likely becoming high browsers later along the line.

Now lets take a break from the animals and settle what these large herbivores even eat. The KP-G Mass Extinction would have created a major floral takeover, allowing Grasses to take over In the place of Ferns and Mosses.

Similiarly the End Holocene Extinction Event would have allowed new Plants to rapidly diversify, In this timeline, Clover would have taken many new forms, like the Grass-like Crass, the Bush-like Covers, the large towering Clovertrees, the spiny desert Needle-Leafs and the carnivorous Carnoclovers, which live In nutrient poor soil and use modified, spiny leaves to capture small Invertebrates that come to rest on It.

Back to animals, now that we have seen some herbivores that live In this era, there are bound to be carnivores that hunt them.

North Americas big game hunters consist of the Fevulves, pack hunting descendants of the House Cat.

House Cats are already very social (despite what their hominid caretakers often believed) and In changing, unpredictable times, their bonds would only grow stronger.

Fevolves take advantage of their large family groups to hunt big animals In groups.

The House Cats wouldnt be the only ex companions that would take new forms, In the absence of Bears, feral Dogs named Ursastiffs would eventually take their spot:

Domestic Dogs already have much more omnivorous tendencies and had a wide array of different breeds enabling them to achieve great diversity.

The skys are also alot different then those of the mpdern era. Birds were heavily affected by the extinction, their decline had many reason, unpredictable weather that messed up their migration paths, various diseases from humans

and their lifestock, poisonous gases that were released by the humans powerplants and of course the high temperatures.

It were mainly Groundfowls that survived, who struggled reastablishing the diversity of the airborn birds. This gave the chance for Bats who managed to survive the cataclysm to recolonize the empty skies.

Bats were simply at first, giving rise to many basal Insectivores and frugivores, but they would eventually give rise to more experimental lineages.

Some Bats would undergo a reduction In wing fingers, mostly relying on their pinky-fingers to support their skin membrane.

They would then eventually free up their reduced wing fingers, allowing them to use them for different tasks like grooming, climbing, walking and even burrowing.

This would also give them a much more efficient wing form which required less energy and would enable them to glide.

These Bats would be known as Pterotherians and they would rapidly Diversify.

Some would become the piscivorous Princefishers, others would give rise to large airborn predators called Hawkhounds, yet others would become the small and plentiful Buppies and perhaps the most unique would be the Gopherbats,

burrowing Pterotherians with poor flying capabilities.

As u can see, the Neocene Is still very much the age of Mammals, but that doesnt mean that Reptiles were slackers In the evolutionary armsrace.

A lineage of aquatic Snake would survive and give rise to the fully aquatic Snaceans, who are highly active and scaleless snakes.

Basal Snaceans would be agile reef hunters while some of the more pelagic Snaceans would give rise to fast, tail driven swimmers known as Neopinnas. Neopinnas have been given the name from their two fins derived from rib bones.

Neopinnas are a very new but already Incredibly succesfull lineage that could soon take a wide array of oceanic niches.

Now I mentioned reefs, although the reefs which are mainly built by corals are a thing of the past. Corals would have finally gone extinct after many succesfull eras.

In their place are reefs build by reef building Sea-Sponges and Kelp.

Lets now adress the Avian In the room. Most flighted birds went extinct, some migratory Quails would however make It trough, giving rise to the Rewings. These flighted birds would over the course of the Neocene slip Into whatever airborn niches their mammalian competitors would let them take.

But In this age of crowded skies some birds would be just content with a more ground based existence. Descendants of the Roadrunner that would survive trough the extinction would eventually give rise to large predators called Tunnel Runners. Being already well adapted to the hot and dry environment of the new era and being very effectiv predators they would soon become the dominent carnivores of South America.

Something I’m working on for my exobiology game.

The ultimate goal is to let players explore an effectively endless universe of procedurally generated star systems, with the possibility of discovering, studying, and documenting extraterrestrial life.

The system is capable of generating up to 10¹² unique species.

15 Million Years P.H. - The Early Neocene - The Greater Snailquail and The Mossy Fuzznail

On a large Cloverfield, on a rocky moss-covered wall, a small bird Is enjoying Its dinner consisting of snails crawling trough the moist vegetation.

This Moss Is known as Wrapper-Moss, an Incredibly fast spreading Moss that can consume large rock structure In just a few day.

They dont stop at smaller rocks either, meaning that you will often see tiny completely moss covered stones around large Wrapper-Moss growths.

But now back to the bird on hand. This Is a Greater Snailquail (Limaxvenator maior - Greater Snail-Hunter), a very skilled hunter of small Invertebrates, mainly terrestial Gastropods.

These Rewings have great eyesight to pick even the smallest critters out of vegetation. While being small doesnt help you Invade these avian killers, blending Into the environment as well as the Moss Fuzznail (Muscuslimax occultus - Hidden Moss-Snail) certainly does. Fuzznails have hair-covered shells, similiar to a few snails of our current time. These hairs serve a different purpose for every species, for some they simply serve as a display, some have sharp, bristly hairs that make them unpalatable to predators and some use them for camouflage. Mossy Fuzznails hairs resemble the Wrapper-Moss they live In and allows them to blend In with the small moss covered stones.

This great camouflage even fools the keen-eyed Snailquail.

I thought it would be a very good idea to redesign Empirosaurus as a relative of Irritator. This Empirosaurus has terrestrial habits, becoming a scavenger and ambush hunter. It has a length of 11 meters, 3 meters high and a weight of 6 to 7 tons, while the Acceraptor is a carcharodontosaurid with habits of an ambush predator. Its leg claws are used for fights between specimens and for hunting, unlike dromaeosaurs, they do not use it for They use them by bleeding the prey in the most vulnerable parts such as the belly and in some cases the neck, which has a height of 2.4 meters, measures 9 meters in length and weighs about 968 kilos or 1 ton in the largest specimens.

The hunted prepares to strike.

He is the horned avenger of the grasslands.

Unicorion.

Shedding the timid passivity and fragile defense of ordinary grazing herds for an unyielding, territorial code of honor, this stoic ungulate is an engine of pure, deliberate violence built to turn the tables on The Brush's hypercarnivores. Armed with a massive, three–foot cranial horn, bone-shattering hooves, and the tactical discipline of a seasoned gladiator, it is a relentless, one-horned menace to any predator that mistakes its diet for weakness.

Read about the One-horned duelist now.

With Frusnajättar finally escaping the freezing grip of its last glacial maximum, the begin of the Gemäsirisen period ushered in the emergence of a much broader range of habitats, ranging from the still ice covered polar regions to the tropical rainforests around the equator.

One of the most notable animals to evolve during this period is the Bachand (Pictures one and two), descendant of Sammalkünsi (picture three for reference).

This highly intelligent creature can be found near most mountainous rivers across the planet, where they form small tribal communities.

Physically they sport some notable differences to their ice age ancestors, for example, Bachands have an additional finger, shorter claws and longer, more dexterous hands. This allows them to much more easier manipulate small objects with a great amount of precision. An ability they use to make simple tools, mostly to assist in farming and defense against predators. In addition to this, their tails and fur have shortened, as to not become inconveniences, tho fur density and coloration may vary. Bachand's lower slung head and more forward facing eyes grants it excellent hand-eye coordination, further improving its tool crafting capabilities.

Bachands like to live on elevated clearings or plateaus near or above the tree-line. During the night, a few members of the tribe will always be on guard duty, sporting primitive spears to fend off potential predators. During the day, most members of the tribe tend to the "moss farms", which mostly consist of appropriately arranged rocks near mountain rivers, creating ideal conditions for moss to grow, tho some may also forage for crafting supplies or fasten tools for the others.

Bachands aren't know to be very emotional amongst one another, with the relationships between tribe members usually being mostly transactional. They see the advantages of living in groups, and work to preserve the entire tribe, but do not form emotional attachments to one another. Troublemakers who hinder the 'greater good' are usually forced to leave the tribe, or in rare cases even killed. The only exception to this lack of emotion is during the first few months of a child's life, where its parents will protect it fiercely until it is considered mature enough to become a productive member of the tribe.

a very tricky but surprisingly great question, lets look at the facts. a worker male can lift a bunch, recorded on some of the strongest insects in pound for pound force (alongside dung beetles, hercules beetles, and leaf cutter ant) a worker male can lift 700x his own weight! this is because he is pushing dirt around and collecting dung aswell as leaf litter and building and growing mushroom, and same for the guard, the worker is stronger pound for pound but the guard is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay stronger. ift a lot! he is digging all day. he can lift more then his own weight, and in brute force some of the strongest insects. he can even push large beetles and dung and more! around and fight them, he is very muscular!!! and even, he is some of the strongest insects in brute force. the drones are the fastest, being able to go 90km. but this is very short, and only happens when he sees food!! it happens for less then a micro second...

If you'd rather watch than read, YouTube link here.

The presence of carrion from HCS-67's massive equine population has led to the evolution of scavenging animals, which on the eastern continent are Apis equuraptor, the horse-thief bees. Bacteria in their guts help workers ferment carrion, which is usually horses but can also be fish or other bees. This fermented carrion is fed to the larvae. Horse-thief bees are eusocial, each nest having usually one queen (who overwinters) and her worker daughters (who don't). Alates (including the stingerless drones) disperse in the early summer.
Both workers and queens are less fluffy than their ancestors, the Carniolan honey bees. They have black exoskeletons with contrasting yellow stripes, though some colonies have blue stripes instead.
Horse-thief bees build their nests in the ground in sheltered places such as by a large rock or among tree roots. While not an aggressive species, they defend their hives and food fiercely. They use very potent venom consisting of high concentrations of melittin. Their stingers are barbed, which will kill the bee after she stings. Intruding horses have been killed by the stings, which inadvertently creates more food for the colony while disincentivizing further interaction from the herd.
But, will this be enough to protect them from predation in the future?

It is generally suspected that there are billions of planets just in the observable universe with life, and some of them having even developed complex multicellular organisms.

The problem is: we have absolutely no idea what this life could or would look like. To get a guess, let's take a look on Ghouwiya, not a planet, but a warm, humid exomoon home to a huge diversity of “animalian“ life- and an overall Earth-like biome fueled by eg. tides from the gas giant Julkianos.

While not genetically Earth animals, they share almost all traits with them, mainly due to convergent evolution. The polymorphs are a branch of this kingdom, which are characterized by a handful of organisms acting as one, which starts from the motherzooid that then produces zooids and/or a mantle with a living shell made of cartilage, collagen, hydrophobic silk, etc. that houses the primary “HQ” organism. All zooids have a ganglion and can respond to stimuli before the brain sends any signal to them. Another clade, aka. the Ichthymorphs and Ichthyformes have a vertebrae column and fish-like body. The umbrella clade for both groups and polypmorpha is called Tendocranioca, mainly because both have craniums and tendons + muscles and bones. On land, polypods and medopods dominate, which are direct descendents of the Ichthyformes and Ichthymorphs. They are heavily armoured with bony plates and have strong, exposed jaws for crushing prey before digesting them with what can only be described as a biological chainsaw. Many live in herds or packs and are highly social, like the colorful Ghenzunia maloua where females have a bright red rostrum (jaw) and a turqouise dewlap. They rhytmically move their rostrum to attract mates, and the healthiest female typically has the brightest colors. G. maloua is a fruitivore and they travel in large herds , moving around in the humid jungle. All polypods/medopods start their lives as larvae before pupating. Medopods have 4 muscular limbs in the middle and a large compound cluster composed of millions of smaller compound eyes with tens to hundreds to even THOUSANDS of lenses. Many medopods are solitart predators and/or hermaphrodites.

Pliotheres—one of the most formidable predatory anteater lineages in the history of VLI-093—evolved from Otterdiles, which was live to the freshwaters of Xenartherra. Otterdiles themselves originate from basal Anklyorhynchids; this peculiar lineage is distinguished by its "false dentition." Furthermore, while they descend from ancestors related to giant anteaters, a small species of fish belonging to the family Myctophidae has also been introduced into this planet's oceans.

The species shown in the second image is the Common Grey Pliothere (Mosiarosaurus vulgaris), a solitary animal that inhabited open-ocean environments across the equatorial regions during the Early Middle Xenartherocene. With a body mass ranging from 4 to 6 tons, it preyed primarily on various fish, hard-shelled organisms, and other marine anteaters, making it one of the apex predators found in the seas of that era.

The third image shows a Snapping Otterdile (Lutrosuchoides xenartherrianus), an ancestor of these colossal marine anteaters. Otterdiles first emerged during the mid-Pilosocene in the freshwater wetlands of Xenartherra, evolving from certain basal Anklyorhynchids (while other anteaters originated of this picture from distinct lineages, for example their smaller relatives like Shrats and other Distinct Lineage Known as Vermidillos, which are originated from once smaller isolated continent of Cerradia).

"On the mainland, Anklyorhynchids—such as the crepuscular Shrats—eventually became some of VLI-093's most successful terrestrial vertebrates. In addition to possessing "false dentition," they were the first anteaters to largely regain the ability to chew, though some basal (and stem-anklyorhynchid) species diverged into different niches. For instance, the Otterdiles—semi-marine mammals convergenced of lutrines, crocodilians, and early cetaceans—were ambush predators that fed on aquatic life. Over time, as some Otterdiles transitioned from fresh water to salt water, they evolved into the Pliotheres—a group that was included some of the largest marine predators VLI-093 has ever seen."

Ostriches are the fastest running bird and unlike other ratites, they only has 2 toes, with one smaller than the other. I wondered if it could be possible for ostriches to develop a lineage that convergently evolved like horses with only 1 toe per foot. I’m sure other ppl have prolly had such an idea, Idk about the internal structures and biology of its ligaments so I’m not even sure if it’s possible. I’m interested in what y’all think.
Credit: image 1- Photo-Love; image 2- no_limit_pictures; image 3- hpbfotos; image 4- taken down website on ecosia search; image 5- J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., LL.D. Outlines of Zoology (New York, NY: D. Appleton & Company, 1916)

Pseudosuchians are still massive predators in the Jurassic: poposaurids have adapted to an ostrich-like life, other lineages such as aetosaurs are huge, heavy root-eaters, dicynodonts have adapted to resemble the gazelles of our world, and pterosaurs have adapted hunting methods very similar to birds of prey.

Pollywogus Agnolínis

Named in Honor of Frederico Agnolín, who helped Identify the world's Oldest known Fossilized Tadpole.

Arose 837 million years P.C.

Gains Indole Synthesis Gene from Horizontal Gene Transfer with Eazl Dionysus, facilitating the development of a more streamlined bodyplan to compete in these shallow waters.

Utilizes the fatty acid based pigment azaphilones: specifically angular lactone, the simplest of this chemical class.

This newly gained pigmentation serves the dual purposes of both UV protection and antioxidant mechanism. These traits allows Agnolínis to exploit the role developed by its Pollywogus ancestor as a genetic courier in the highly oxygenated waters of the Mov Sea’s shallows and reefs. The structural benefits of this hormonal modification also helps Agnolínis maintain it’s cylindrical shape in these waters, invested by both ethanol and acetone producers which would disrupt membrane integrity.

initial diversification post

Last Post

Ancestral Organism

The red angel sprite, or Pinainenkelihahmo, is a large jellyfish-like sea creature, usually found in the lower reaches of the twilight zone within Frusnajättar's oceans.

Its appearance is defined by the four wing-like structures on its sides, which can span up to twenty meters each, and are used to filter plankton. Using its tentacles, which can grow up to a hundred meters long, Pinainenkelihahmo anchors itself to the seabed, so it can remain stationary within plankton rich ocean currents.

Pinainenkelihahmo uses a mixture of usually non-lethal bioelectric shocks and flashing displays of bioluminescent patterns to ward off predators, which, in combination with its comparatively deep sea habitat, has led to it establishing small but stable population all across Frusnajättar.

Once they reach sexual maturity at around ten years old, male Pinainenkelihahmos shed their 'wings', and begin traversing the ocean in search of a mate. This will also lead to their tentacles significantly shortening, in order to enable more convenient locomotion. Meanwhile, sexually mature females begin flashing their bioluminescent patterns in rhythmic intervals, in order to attract a mate. Finally, once a male has found a female, it uses its shorter tentacles to latch onto the female, and both descend to the seabed. Once the mating process is complete, both animals die, with their remains serving as nourishment for their offspring, until said offspring has grown enough to begin filter feeding on its own.

So, to set the basic idea, i am making a superhero universe and there is an alien species in it which is very important for a series of reasons, they're called the antarians, they have hard-light exo-skeletons and live in an (admitedly made up) asteroid/comet belt that orbits the stars Antares A and Antares B in a figure 8 pattern, they are also, aerobic lifeforms, which i've been trying to figure out for some time, i've narrowed it down to 2 ideas, and any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Idea 1: Microorganisms the lowest level of the antarian ecosystem use the material from the asteroids they reside in (which have a bunch of ice and metals and silicates and things of the sort) to both build their bodies and fuel their metabolism, breaking down the ice and at some point, releasing the oxygen that partially composed it, this happens across the entire asteroid belt forming a very thin atmosphere that allows the antarians (and other life in the belt) to get by, though antarians adapted to be able to "hold their breath" for an extended period of time, for when O2 levels periodically drop in the event of an "atmospheric dought"

Idea 2: During the figure 8 orbit, any of the section of the belt's distance to either of the stars they orbit varies greatly, when at their closest to the stars, parts of the belt start forming a coma (the cloud around a comet, formed mostly by ice and cosmic dust), the ice, much like in the last idea, gets processed and broken down into breathable O2 (either by the antarians themselves, or the microorganisms, probably the latter), the antarians would still be adapted to holding their breath for when they are further away form the stars and the coma is not formed

There are probably a lot of loose ends to tie up in either of these ideas, but i am pretty fond of them, especially the second one and hwo the coma serves almost as the belt's "seasons", and it's almost like the entire ecosystem breathes in intervals depending on who's closest to the star

Maybe a mix of both could function too? the microorganisms are always producing more O2, but the atmosphere is at it's "fullest" when closer to either star, either way, i'd love to hear what you think! :D

We are now in Eurasia, among the trees of a dry forest. Here, during the night, we can see small figures moving across the ground, searching through the leaf litter and burrows. These are the Umbral Goblins. Despite their vaguely humanoid appearance and their lack of wings, these animals are, in fact, birds. Curiously, by this time, they have completely remodeled their anatomy.

As larvae, their appearance remains fairly similar to that of a bird. They still fly, but they use their completely flattened, heart-shaped hands for it. Their feet have developed long, flexible digits that allow them to move with great ease along tree branches and bark, capturing small arthropods with a tongue modified into a structure more similar to a radula. This tongue has its own teeth, which in this species have shapes more similar to the molars of mammals, allowing them to crush and grind the exoskeletons of their prey.

When they reach approximately one year of age, their bodies measure half of their future adult size, and they have lost the ability to fly. At this stage, they begin to grow vertically, and their front and middle digits develop greater musculature, allowing them to exert more force and walk for several hours.

After two years, they reach sexual maturity. The primary difference compared to young adults is the function of the rear digits. In both males and females, these broaden and fuse to form a pouch-like structure just above the cloaca. Within this pouch, each pair can carry up to 8 offspring, although clutches typically consist of 6. Additionally, in females, the wings are drastically reduced, remaining as semivestigial structures capable of helping them intimidate predators or detect sounds, whereas in males, they acquire a greater volume of soft tissue alongside bright colors and small frills that serve for display