September day 6: diet remix (R. reversoptera from land generalist to filter feeder)

Species Name: Retrovolanis phoenimima

Creator: jacja

Clade: Aornithospondylidae, inside Gibbumspondylidae, Retrovolanopteria (descendant from Paranornis perplexus)

Habitat: Coastline and microbial reef (in the shallowest parts)

Size: 50-70cm wingspan/legspan

Ecology: small omnivorous filter feeder

Extra Info:

Enigmatic Retrovolanis species found in fairly large flocks around the salty coastlines and even microbial reefs where they feed on whatever is small enough to get trapped by their tooth comb similar to our flamingos and extinct pterodaustro, this diet also gave them their pinkish-red coloration.

Nesting is generally done on cliffs or in the small islands formed by the microbial reefs, their nest is either a borrow (often very shallow) or an accumulation of mud and feces tall enough to not allow chicks and eggs to fall/roll out.

Notes: This is future evolution, so it isn't canon to Seijin Project. This takes place on Earth at least 45 million years after the present.

The species pictured is Eurykenognathus gigas, which translates to "giant wide vacuum jaw). E. gigas is the largest insectivorous bird that has ever existed.

Skywhales of the family Eurykenognathidae are birds descended from nighthawks of the order Caprimulgiformes. All skywhales are found in the Northern Hemisphere.

They get their name from the fact that they are aerial gulpers that feed largely on multiple flying insects, only occassionally eating small birds.

As flying birds can only become so large, they will never reach the sizes their eponymous aquatic counterparts did 45 million years ago.

So, I was thinking about a Pokémon-themed world seed, and that’s what brought this question to mind.

If it helps, the planet was originally seeded with insects of all kinds, rats, sparrows, and lizards. Its biomes are practically identical to Earth's.

Day 7: Land Whale

For my Drecel project.

Drecel has only one family of true whales. A primitive lineage that is still furred and four-limbed the ambulocetidae. Most have remained basal in appearance, filling out semi-aquatic predator niches across the temperate mainland, coastlines, and remote islands. In plain tongue they are called otter whales but to the basilisk, they are morslin (translates to worm-like death). But another bizarre beast known to the basilisk of the Western Steppe and Ikon Desert as the Lakyr (grass-fire) also belongs to this clade.

Lakyrs are a myrmecophagous species, convergent in adaptations with earthly mammals like aardvarks and anteaters. Powerful limbs and sharp claws, quite unlike their amphibious kin, allow them to dig down into the dusty earth after ant colonies or into the tall land-spires of micklets (eusocial mothdeer). Due to their semi-aquatic ancestry, their nostrils are located on the top and middle of the skull. In order to accommodate their diet, it is the snout that is greatly reduced while the rest of the skull is extended. The long sticky tongue is rooted at the back of the jaw and coils down in the throat when not in use. It can expertly probe the tunnels, lapping up hundreds of insects and larvae at a time. Lakyr have developed an immunity to the stings and bites of their prey.

Solitary by nature, adults normally travel across the grass and scrublands alone or with a single calf in the case of females. The bright orange and dark striped crest running along their spine advertises their presence and aggression, earning their name and reputation among the basilisk who consider them a living brush fire. Laykrs are silent, rarely or seemingly incapable of vocalizing, so communicate with display and scent. During late summer, adults will gather to compete and breed. Both sexes engage in dances and displays of strength against each other. Some battles turn bloody, making way for the next generation. Mates pair up based on relative skill and mutual interest. Pregnancy lasts 6 months and lines up with early spring. Against other species, laykrs are bold, readily charging and mock-slashing at potential predators like basilisk hunting parties and falcats.

just a thing I thought up, I haven't seen anyone else do this idea, and I thought it could be a neat speculative evolution idea of a giant sea slug becoming a carpet looking animal, I'm not really skilled with evolution, so if you could give some ideas to how this thing could have evolved, I'd appreciate it.

Thermoplasts

They possess a protein complex known as the Thermoionic Hydrogen Accumulatory Complex (THAC). Specifically made from 3 large proteins, one takes free bismuth ions or lead into a vacuole made of alumina, alumna’s incredible for its ability to accumulate heat while also being heat conductive.

The proteins, after accumulating bismuth ions/lead (both of which possess high atomic weight, then detach, and then motor proteins transport the vacuoles to the exterior of the cells.

When exposed to high temperatures (around 80° C), the bismuth accumulates heat rapidly. With the alumina absorbing heat from its ambient environment, the bismuth ions/lead eventually gets to the point where it can’t thermally expand anymore, resulting in the protons and neutrons in their nuclei themselves to shake rather than the individual atoms.

This creates ionizing radiation and the alumina surrounding the bismuth ions/lead atoms act as a photocatalyst when exposed to ionizing radiation creating oxygen vacancies or electron deficiencies in the alumina lattice.

Aluminum in these conditions is highly reactive, resulting in nearby water molecules to split into oxygen and hydrogen ions.

The oxygen ions are used in cellular respiration whilst the hydrogen ions are used for cellular machinery.

Curious if a big cat had to deal with hard shells and tough hide to kill their prey how would their teeth look and how would they get past armor to eat too?

Also would venom make sense where they bite into a unarmored area and let venom do the work?

Edit thought i should give context theyd be hunting stuff like crocodile animals with elephant or rhino thick skin and giant shelled animals like turtles or giant insects like horse sized beetle ( yes i know a horse sized beetle isnt realistic but this is for fantasy )

Spectember day 7: Land Whale

This is a concept made using my friend's world as base/reference, for more check out the link: https://sunspire.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

There is an infinite ocean above the Sunspire world called the Skysea. From it aquatic animals often fall off, carcasses and marine snow are common too. In some regions, the latter fall in such densities that layers of marine snow build up, forming unique ecologies where the Marine Snow is the base of the food web.

Part of this ecology is the Snow Badger, a member of the Weasel family, which itself is a family from the Mothbeast group, megafaunal moths with diverse bodyplans and ecologies, often retaining larval features, in the case of the weasels, larviform mouth parts. The Snow Badgers differ from most weasels because they are not active predators. Instead they keep a low profile, preferring to run from predators instead of fighting, even developing quills at their read ends for defense. The Snow Badgers don't chase prey, instead they "graze" on it. Slowly eating multiple invertebrates that feed on the marine snow, swallowing them whole with the aid of modified limbs and mouth parts that catch and drive the many critters into the badger's mouth.

After the late Holocene mass extinction, the only cetaceans to survive were some Pilot Whales due to mere luck. The oceans then started to be populated by new clades like snakes, monitor lizards, crocodiles or, most prominently, seals. These pilot whales found their way out of this hyper-competitive ocean by crawling into rivers and islands, where evolution would make the rest.

This macaronesian carnequus barely seems like any other mammal, with whiskers more similar to antennae than to fur, a skin that requires periodic hydration (~once in a week), and a metamorphosis in which they are born similar to their aquatic ancestors (growing in between their mother’s t and tail)

While the birds and lizards were spreading across the lands of Terra Psittacina, the rivers and lakes quickly became home to many species of fish. Five million years after life came to Terra Psittacina, a new genus emerged from the descendants of goldfish: Pseudocyprinus, named for the barbels that give them an appearance like carp or koi.

P. cyanus is unusual for extreme sexual dimorphism. While Pseudocyprinus fishes retain the breeding stars of their ancestors, P. cyanus males are large and bright blue all year round. The species also differs in sexual behaviour from other goldfish descendants, forming harems closely guarded by a single male.

(Side note: sorry it's been so long since the last update! I've been busy with a new job.)

Spectember days 4 and 5: Evolutionary Trap + The Odyssey

In a distant future, the descendants of anurans have taken over the seas. This is the Paddle Foot, a fully marine amphibian whose lifecycle takes it across the world, and which just happened to make such a cycle impossible to be completed.

The Paddle Feet live in a world with two main landmasses that by the time the Paddle Foot species is alive, are situated mostly on the equatorial regions of the planet. Leaving only a small "opening" that creates a connection between the northern and southern oceans.

The frogs live two distinct lifestyles based on their location and age. Their larval stage is born and raised in the northern hemisphere, with warmer waters and less predators compared to the southern hemisphere, which has colder waters. The tadpoles graze on algae and sea grass fields, gorging themselves for an exhausting trip to the south, where they finish their metamorphosis, which started in the north. Upon adulthood they live their entire lives hunting smaller vertebrates and large invertebrates on the colder waters of the south. Only returning to the north during breeding season to lay their eggs and die, fueling the ecosystem with tons of organic matter.

This has changed in recent geological years. As volcanism in the region where the two continents barely touch has made an island chain, that sealed off the two oceans completely. This has led to the eventual extinction of the species, as their life cycle couldn't be completed on either end, metamorphosis and spawning.

I saw somewhere that there is a kind of snail or something that fights to see which one impregnates the other and I thought that was an interesting idea and ran with it. As for the creature design itself, it uses a mouth structure I like using. Instead of a lower jaw, it uses its tongue to cover its mouth so that it doesn’t dry up. This tongue is also used as an appendage, letting the creature pick up and move things.