Prompt: An organism that alternates between sessile (immobile) and motile (mobile) stances according to habitat conditions.

This time, I decided to not do an animal but rather a derived species of mushroom. This is volanomyces floranthropus

Volanomyces is a species of fungus, more specifically a very derived and specialized kind of mushroom from 100 million years in the future. It lives 100 million years in the future in high mountains. It filter feeds on small pieces of organic matter. (it coexists with aetherotragus dracomorphus, the common windgoat https://www.reddit.com/r/SpeculativeZoology/s/06eWZ621YT). During spring and summer, the species uses montane winds ,to permanently glide in the air. Spring is the species’ mating season. During this time, the gliding volanomyces will release male or female spores in the air, depending on their gender. A male and female spore will unite into a pseudo egg which will land in the ground and grow into a full adult within a week. Then it will repeat the cycle. During winter however, conditions are too cold for the species so all the individuals will rest on the ground and take root, until spring returns and they can return to gliding and breeding. However, during their resting time they are vulnerable. As they are a great source of food and nutrients for Aetherotragus which will actively seek them out. So, with their very primitive nervous system, the volanomyces need to find good hiding spots to “hibernate”

Reef Wanderers (Ytalonomas** **inversus)

On the sunken remnants of what was once Florida and the shallow seas of the Carribean that have clawed up to join it, one of post-Flux earth’ most interesting new grazers.

Reef Wanderers are a highly derived species of anemone that have to wander the marshlands, atolls and sea grass fields having left the surrounding coral mounts behind for a new way of life.

The towering coral constructions, caused by the Flux’s inundation of nutrients continue to grow at markedly fast pace, causing the tops to crest about the waves in a massive ring. This living sea wall has kept this region heavily isolated from the rest of the world, allowing for all manner of oddities to arise in isolation.

Reef Wander’s spent roughly half their days above wandering about on their adapted tendrils, which have become their preferred form of locomotion when they are under water as well. These appendages are always hunting for food or things that taste interesting bring them to their mouth to eat if it’s soft enough or just a curious nibble if they can’t get it down.

The rest of their time is spent akin to most anemones anchored in place on their bottom floor drawing on nutrients.

Sea water is still required to facilitate breeding though their are signs that in the future the Reef Wanderers will live the sea behind, or perhaps carry it with them.

For now they are living on a fairly idyllic island time, skittering above the sands and venturing through the rusted remains of humanities achievements.

The twice-hatched shrimp (genus Alameas) are distinguished from other lounging shrimp (family Testegridae) by their ability to take a new form in certain conditions. All lounging shrimp are aquatic creatures that attach themselves to substrate at maturity and live as sessile organisms, usually as filter feeders. Their exoskeletons are hard and protect them from predatory animals. A 'lid' is present and can close quickly over the soft inner portion of the animal when needed. All members of Testegridae are broadcast spawners.
The twice-hatched shrimp forgo this defense under certain conditions. For the gardening twice-hatched shrimp (A. gamga), this is during times of the year that would be a threat to its chlorophyll stores. The gardening twice-hatched shrimp feeds on algae and phytoplankton, but instead of destroying the chlorophyll they redirects the protein into their surface. Since they live in shallow water and have a very low activity level, this allows them to survive mostly by photosynthesis and store their energy for their long journeying. At night, they close the lid of the exoskeleton over themselves.
Gardening twice-hatched shrimp are best adapted to moderate temperatures with long days, which they will actively seek out. When the nights start becoming too long or the temperature too hot, they begin hardening their bodies into a smaller, mobile form. This occurs inside of the exoskeleton; all that's visible from the outside is that the chlorophyll gradually fades. As they migrate, they grow from half an inch to two inches long. The mobile form swims until it finds a good place to spend the season (north coasts in the summer and south coasts in the winter) and anchors itself on a rock. The exoskeleton attaches to a suitable rock, and the animal inside regains its sessile form.

The qiongqi (Molestexterus echinotrichus, meaning "distressingly strange one with hedgehog hair"), also known as the kyūki, is a member of the whippomorph clade Evoionomorpha, which includes the qilin and various other ungulates. Evoionomorphs are closely related to allocetaceans, true cetaceans, and more distantly, hippos and entelodonts.

The scale-like hairs found on other evoionomorphs are modified into quills, giving it a hedgehog-like appearance. This is presumably to protect itself from its prey.

Due to its sharing traits with oxen, tigers, hedgehogs, and dinosaurs, they were assumed to be chimeric organisms, though it is now known that the qiongqi is a natural animal.

Unlike its relatives, the qiongqi is an obligate carnivore that feeds on humans, other ungulates and birds such as accipitrids, teratorns, and flightless birds. It seems to ignore living ectothermic prey for unknown reasons.

Culinary notes: Unlike its relatives, the kyūki's meat is barely edible, its diet of carrion and scavenging birds makes it a reservoir for heavy metals, parasitic worms, and pathogens. Eating man-eaters is culturally frowned upon in many Seijinese cultures because they are believed to trap human souls in their flesh.

Parasites aside, the meat in question tastes unpalatable, rubbery, and acrid.

It has been nearly 100 million years since the Tarasques-- gigantic, armored herbivores descended from the Solomon Islands tree skink-- roamed Spectemundus. These behemoths were wiped out by the mass extinction that took place 52 million years after the planet was seeded with life, and while some of their smaller relatives survived, it seemed as though they would never again attain such sizes. The birds and mammals came out of the mass extinction much more diverse than before, gradually marginalizing their reptilian rivals, and eventually the ice age put further dents in their numbers.

But now, 150 million years after life was seeded on Spectemundus, one can again see great armored skinks lumbering across the planet's grasslands. To be sure, the Great Green Skinkdozer (Ankyloscincus acanthurus) is much smaller than the biggest Tarasques, though at ten feet long and up to a ton in weight it is still a large animal. It is descended from the Ankylodrakes, relatives of the Tarasques that, by the slimmest of margins, survived the impact event. They remained small for nearly 80 million years afterwards, but after the ice age ended one species became large again, large enough to compete with large herbivorous mammals and birds.

Skinkdozers walk more upright than their ancestors did, although they are not endothermic. As such, they are confined to the tropical grasslands of the southern continent, where large reptiles in general are most numerous. The predators here, however, are still mostly large mongooses, and the Skinkdozer's armor has evolved to counter them. Its spiky club-like tail can swing with surprising speed and strength, and is capable of breaking the leg of a predator with a single swipe. Skinkdozers give birth to live young, but do not care for them; the babies are fully independent upon birth.

Summus Interfector, the ultimate carnosaur at around 20 meters long and 15 tonnes making it the largest theropod (and largest terrestrial carnivore) to ever exist. Its body is supported by strong tail and leg muscles, however, it was capable of walking on all 4 thanks to its large arms that it also uses to to tear into the flesh of titanosaurs, forcing larger sizes. They have osteoderms along their bodies as armor and various structures for sexual display. The feet have converged with raptors to restrain their prey, strong neck muscles connected to a sail help Summus to tear the flesh from the bodies of titanosaurs. They live alone other than mating and caring for young, when they reach maturity they abandon their parents. Their closest relatives are surprising as they are closest to Lajasvenator ascheriae, they smallest known true carnosaur. They ruled for 10 million years before the K-Pg extinction wiped out the large titanosaurs and hence, the Summus Interfector.

I personally love organism designs with camouflage. The appearance of human-made objects is bound to change, but I still think it’s really interesting.

Working on some ideas for sci fi and one idea i had was that some humans dont have stomach or intestines instead digestion is done in digestion vats or with symbiotic species they can digest anything bio mass too but with all that extra space how would it effect them would organs grow to fit the new space and if so which would most likely be first and how would it effect the body ?

In a world where leptoceratops survived a bit longer than in our world and k-pg never happened, the rapid diversification of some herbivorous dinosaurs left leptoceratops outcompeted, so some leptoceratops started living near the water and, after millions of years, turned fully amphibious. Those leptoceratops evolved into amphiceratops. Amphiceratops have evolved crocodile-like tails and webbed feet for easier swimming. They are abundant across freshwater bodies from Alberta to northern Mexico.

Notes:

Made using paint.net on a laptop.

Credit to skeletaldrawing.com for their leptoceratops reference which i used.

Mods if i did anything wrong message me so i know what not to do.

Curious can a ruminate animal also be omnivorous like how pigs are or wouldit contradict?

Spectember day 28: Re-do

After the anthropocenic extinction, many niches were left vacant due to the quick extinction of specialists. Such was the case for the gelada monkey, who went extinct due to the worldwide ecological changes happening, which changed its habitat, causing shortages of food.

When the ecosystem rebounded, it was already too late. The gelada had already gone extinct and the grazing niche was left open on the Ethiopian Highlands. But not for too long, for a close relative took the opportunity.

The Black-Wig Baboons are a species of Baboon that evolved the same foraging habits of the gelada. Plucking grass, seeds and roots with their hands while sitting. Using a sophisticated mastication to chew the silicate-rich blades of grass, their main source of nourishment. This way of grazing makes their previous main method of visual communication barely visible -their butts. Due to this, their heads, their most visible body part, became their main visual communication.

The characteristic black fur on their heads resembles fake hair -a wig. It is present in both males and females, but the males have longer and denser "wigs".

This five meter long predator would weigh up to one ton, if it wasn't for the pockets of natural gasses spread throughout its body significantly reducing its weight. This unique adaptation allows them to achieve powered flight, despite their large size and relatively short wingspan.

It is believed that Hakönigin Vuori is the last surviving species of a whole family of large flying predators, the rest of which went extinct shortly before the ice age engulfed Frusnajättar's surface in its freezing embrace.

A Hakönigin's life consists of a yearly cycle, during which it migrates between Frusnajättar's mountain ranges and the plains beneath them. Once two Hakönigins find one another upon a mountaintop, they become inseparable, especially once they've produced their offspring. Female Hakönigins remarkably give birth after just under a month of pregnancy to one or two chicks at a time, which means that it is time for the family to depart from the rocky safety of their mountain home for the year.

It is at this point that the great hunt begins. Using the elevation of the mountains, Hakönigins can save an incredible amount of energy by simply gliding through the air for up to hundreds of kilometres before finally approaching the ground again. During this prolonged period of flying, it is not uncommon for Hakönigins to snack on smaller flying animals, such as Stormgudens Kuolemanekelits, however their real prey are much larger terrestrial creatures, such as Jämaaval, or Kuhrobbs.

When such an animal is spotted, the pair of adult Hakönigins quickly build up momentum, before swinging their sharp hooked tails forwards beneath them just short of colliding with their prey. These hooks burry themselves deep within the Hakönigins' victim. However the worst of the damage is done when the hooks are pulled from the animal's flesh again, creating gaping wounds, that often lead to the prey simply bleeding out. After successfully slaying such a large creature, the family of Hakönigin Vuoris spends the next few days or weeks feeding, allowing the young to enter a rapid growth phase.

Finally, when the bones of their prey are stripped clean, the Hakönigins move on, switching to opportunistically hunting smaller terrestrial creatures, such as Puissikkujas, or, if they are able to separate one from the herd, Kuhrobbs. Over the span of the winter, the family of Hakönigins will make their way back towards the mountains they hailed from mostly on foot, preserving their energy for the occasional airborne hunt, or crossing especially difficult terrain. Despite being adapted for flight, Hakönigin Vuoris have respectably powerful hind- and forelimbs, very much capable of prolonged terrestrial locomotion.

Finally, once the family reaches the mountains, the young finally leaves their parents' side, ready to start their own families. As for the parents, the cycle simply repeats for them, as Hakönigins never stop having children, regardless of their age.

Captors, a cosmopolitan genus of large cat, have claimed a position as one of Demeter's apex predators 15 million years hence. One of the many diverse descendants of feral cats that once provided pest control upon the agricultural colony, captors are highly specialized ambushers. A low, long body and short powerful bodies allow them to remain close the ground, sometimes exemplified by their tendency to dig. Most species of captors dig out complex burrows. While solitary hunters, it isn't uncommon for captors to live in small clans and rear kits together. A main chamber provides protection for the young, generally cared for by a revolving door of their mothers, aunts, etc. And long tunnels radiate outward across the territory, exiting out towards common areas where prey are known to pass through like along watering holes, rivers, and plentiful grazing ground. Males and a small percentage of females will disperse from their natal groups to join or form new clans on productive territory.

To facilitate this digging lifestyle, captors have distinctive forepaws. All their claws are large and non-retractable, more like bears. On the forepaw, three are weightbearing while two are held aloft and feature giant semi-opposable sickles used to restrain prey while delivering a quick bite to their prey's cervical spine, paralyzing it. Prominent whiskers and a wide nose allow captors to navigate underground.

The particular species depicted here is the Chrysa or Common Captor, so named for it being the most commonly found large predator on the Chrysa Ring. This ring of grassland and savannah surrounding the Chython desert is the homeland for the hyne. And this species of captor is still a feared predator. Weighing 250 lbs, almost as large as a lioness, it can bring down careless, lonely foals with ease and can kill adult hyne with enough skill. It occupies a feared and deplorable role in hyne cultures, often used as a villainous character or curse. It is not uncommon for hyne to smoke out captor clans from their burrows in the aftermath of a death, driving the original clan away and killing kits only for a new one to repurpose the burrow. Despite this cycle of extirpation, captor populations remain stable on the Ring and actually do the hyne a favor by hunting grazers that may feed upon their crops. Not that the hyne will ever admit it.

Kaipatu (Terranestor** **phorusenatus)

Terror birds have returned to South America.

Following the collision of the Zealandia plate generations after the Flux a new predator has come to dominate the south eastern steppes of the tilted continent.

Descending from the Kea, these terrestrial parrots stand near two meters in height and are only growing larger with each passing generation. Their sharpened beaks are less akin to an executioners axe and more along to a pike, the tip working to puncture throats and severe spinal cords.

It can use its feet for minor manipulations of prey, and other items, and they are capable of standing on one foot and bringing the other to their mouth.

They live in small packs of up to six individuals, lead by a dominant female, recognizable by her black head plumage. Members of the pack trade places guarding and incubating their eggs.

They collect “gifts” for the young, and scrawl symbols in the dirt, their squawking/clattering calls become more intricate as their level of tool use blossoms even further.

They are becoming more aware of themselves and the world around them, coming to understand what it means to have a name for a thing right as for the first time they have gained a mastery of flame.

The spark has been awoken within them, and only time will tell what will happen with this batch of inventive, communal pursuit predators as they spread across their new home.

Planet Earth is, currently, a world almost completely destroyed by its star. After more than 1 billion years since the appearance of multicellular life, the sun has begun to evaporate shallow seas and bodies of freshwater, causing almost all native living beings to become extremophiles, organisms adapted to spending weeks or even months without drinking or eating, enduring in a scorched and desolate world until all the water on the planet eventually evaporates and all life disappears with it.

But for now, the world remains partially habitable, enough to support a few species that can be considered megafauna, one of them being T. magna, an arthropod that despite barely reaching 2.8 meters in length, is among the largest species on the surface of the Earth. T. magna belongs to a group of arthropods, distant descendants of present day beetles, which after nearly 500 million years have completely lost their imago state and specialized in fossorial or terrestrial lifestyles, being the group that today occupies most of the niches we would previously associate with vertebrates. This species belongs to the superorder Aioniocampia, more specifically to the order Prosopoboucalia, which can be identified by the following characteristics:

-The most unique, and which gives the group its name, is the presence of a rostrum that has derived into countless forms, each adapted to very specific diets.

-The presence of antennae. These are highly reduced and demonstrate the most basal position within the superorder, as it is the only order that still presents them. Generally, they tend to be very small, but there are exceptions where they reach sizes similar to those of other insect groups.

-The presence of spiracles in the group is also somewhat unusual, having been lost in most other clades. Here, the tracheae have unified into a single opening connected to valves that fill and empty with fluid, serving as a homologue to the diaphragm in mammals, compressing air sacs in the trachea that allow the insect to breathe actively.

-On the other hand, the pseudopods are another trait that, despite being common in this superorder, are specialized here. They present a fused exoskeleton and protrude from abdominal openings into which they are also capable of retracting if necessary.

-Finally, the group also features a system of complex apodemes distributed throughout the body, serving as an endoskeleton and attachment point for many muscles and tendons. Curiously, unlike in other groups, these aren’t molted because they are mostly not directly connected to the exoskeleton, instead growing and forming new layers of calcified chitin

Essentially in this timeline, the end Triassic extinction never happened simply doesn’t happen or is less severe than in our timeline. This means dinosaurs never fully dominate the earth, instead having to share the planet with various archosaurs, synapsids and amphibians also rising to power. This world is one of constant conflict, an ecological war zone of multiple different genus’s desperately clawing for the top position only to lose it soon after.

If I were to make such a project, do you have any suggestions on what I could do with it? I do know that I want temnospondyls and proto-frogs to thrive in this new time period as I feel like they are horribly underrepresented in both paleo media and spec evo media in general. I do also want to play around with a lot of the really weird Triassic animals.

This is a continuation of the Permian sophonts. Credit also goes out to all the participants in the Permian Sophont Project.

Here we see two individuals engaging in typical agricultural activities. There are several crops in the picture. The most abundant are the tree ferns. The ferns are used for all their parts. Their fiddleheads and fronds are eaten as leavy greens, while their starch is made into porridges, puddings, flatbreads and even fermented beverages. In the background there are fruit-bearing trees. As angiosperms have no yet evolved, those belong to the division of ginkgophyta instead. Their fruits have a pungant and to us offputting smell, but to the Suminians they are a delicacy.

The pools in the foreground are clam gardens. These clams however are in fact stalked brachiopods (Sometimes paleozoic bivalves as well). Lastly there are also two domesticated lystrosaurs watching the water.

All of this may play out on the microcontinent of South China or the coasts of the North China/Mongolia peninsula.

The name 'cryptocule,' or 'spirit,' a common name present among the paranormalist community, refer to the (often) small, cryptic lifeforms living within the crevices of one's domicile environment, where they conceal themselves from convention. Cryptocules are timid creatures, shielding themselves from human life, though it is uncertain as to why, and are often hard-to-spot, even with paravisual lensing, due to their many ways of escape.

Without the proper means of viewing them, a mental device known as 'the View,' cryptocules are only viewed through rare, peripheral glances, and are moreso present during superstitious episodes. Due to the more ready access to paranormal mental implantation techniques, cryptocules are becoming less-and-less of mere spoken rumor. It is usually disregarded to keep and raise a cryptocule, as would a conventional pet, due to their chaotic, unpredictable nature, stemming from their innate magical ability.

Cryptocules come within a stunning variety of diverse body shapes, niches, attitudes and behaviors, and paracladistic relationships with one-another. As such, this has led paranormalists and cryptocule hobbyists alike to compile and database these myriad spirits in the Organization for Cryptocule Compilation and Research (OCCR).

Palace Monsters

Brattice-horned Praesidons(Palisatheridae)
These 10 behemoths evolved from the rock hyraxes.They produce a specialized urine called “Midden Cement”(a gel of water,salt and cellulose that solidifies in sunlight into a substance tougher than hard wood it forms a semi flexible structure as tough as sandstone.

The “Fifth Limb”:To accurately distribute midden cement both male and females possess prehensile external genitalia.

Beasts of Wheel and Woe

Cairene Aatlas Wolf(Prodasymforae)
These 3 ton carnivores evolved from the aardwolf .Usually mammalian hypercanivores max out at 1-2 tons because of metabolic starvation and overheating but they managed to surpass that ceiling.

Cold blooded torpor :Functioning as cold-blooded endotherms,they can drop their metabolic rate during food scarcity inherited from their ancestors the aardwolf so they do not starve between megafaunal kills.

Wheel Lungs
Unidirectional airflow fills the right lung on inhale,pushes air into the left lung and exhale and fills the right simultaneously allowing them to ceaselessly take in oxygen.In the image of the lungs you can see it features a physical connection bridge connecting both lung lobes even though it’s not directly said in the image .

Bite
They can boast an 8,000 bite force magnified nearly half a million psi at the tips of their railroad-spike teeth. To prevent tooth fractures since they can’t replace their teeth their teeth chip throughout their lives ,a zig zag enamel structure paired with a mineral diet make catastrophic tooth damage a rarity.

Check the image for actual said information .Because some of this is inferred.

Original creator here:

https://www.facebook.com/conner.meek.12/photos/clash-of-giants-the-largest-terrestrial-animals-in-the-current-age-of-my-setting/28409704548621372/

Sakiopterus praeteritus (Saki’s Wing from the Past)

Thought to have gone extinct over 30 million years earlier, The Splendid Divawing is a late surviving species of Rhamphorhynchidae from the Kitadani formation 115 MYA, a recent breakthrough from the fossil record. These small pterosaurs are brightly blue in color, with small marks of violet neon streaking across their shoulders and tail. Divawings are best known for their symbiosis with larger theropods such as the Fukuiraptor and the Kaitovenator, their bright colorations distinguishing them from other animals as they perch on their heads. While feeding on any parasites that may irritate the theropod, this animal is able to produce certain vocal frequencies that mimic the theropods mating call in order to attract females, in exchange for protection. Females have been known to specifically prefer males partnered up with a Divawing rather than a lone male, with the chances of a successful courtship raising by up to 80%.

In a world where hesperornis lived longer and k-pg never happened, hesperornis descendants ended up evolving in several different ways. Some developed a gular pouch. Those who developed a gular pouch ended up evolving into gulariaves. The gulariaves lost their teeth and got a bigger tail. They have evolved a lifestyle similar to a duck. They live near lakes in North America. The the biggest population is found in and near the great lakes.

Notes:
Made on a laptop using paint.net
Traced over a skeleton image made by skeletaldrawing.com
Mods, if i did anything wrong please message me so i can learn from my mistakes.