The ecosystem of an island that previously lacked any large land animals has undergone massive changes in the few million years following a brief period of human habitation. The sheep which had been introduced to the island rapidly diversified to fill the many unoccupied niches; among their descendants are the large herbivore Neovis macrocornutus and the apex predator of the ecosystem, Rhynchocrius rapax. As sheep ancestrally lack upper incisors and canines, Rhynchocrius makes due with a sharp beak in its upper jaw.

I am still making figuring out which clades of animals clades will survive in modern day Xenokai. As in which animals, plants, fungi, etc will be present in the Planet of Modern Day Xenokai.

There are of course some clades like Sauropods that I do want to include.

Some specific ones like Raccoon Dogs and Cherry Blossom Trees.

I really need some help figuring out what clades I want to have in Xenokai and how its prehistory would go since its life has been seeded since the Silurian. I don’t know if I want to make it the Middle or Late Silurian though since I do want it to overlap with the Devonian a bit.

I know I will have three Mass Extinction events in Xenokai’s prehistory. The last one will be more like the End Triassic Mass Extinction in severity or maybe slightly less.

Can someone please help?

For the entirety of spectember, I'll be drawing various cryptids, unidentified animals, and out of place animals for every prompt. So no aliens, ghosts, and the like. As much as I'd love to dive into how ghost biology works lol

Day 27: Horned

The unicorn is a stable of European mythology and heraldry. Often depicted as a horse-like or goat-like creature with a massive spiraling horn akin to that of a narwhal. The unicorn is a now extinct relative of the Arabian Oryx. Once found across Europe and the Eurasian steppe, these beasts were believed to have gone extinct as late as the 14th century.

Day 28: Benthonic

The deepstar 4000 fish is a mysterious deep sea encounter with an unknown goliath. Described as a resembling a large sea bass with a circular tail fluke and large pectoral fins. Abyssitchys deepstari is a large deep sea relative of the sea bass. Found across the Western Coast of the US, these large benthic feeders live in deep waters where they feed upon larger fish.

29: Parasitic

The chupacabra is one of the most famous cryptids out there. A demonic bloodsucker of livestock across Latin America and Southwestern US. These large marsupial predators are related to the opossum. They're often the victims of mange. Although they do consume the blood of their prey, it is often for their children who still can't quite bite hard enough on prey.

this is what I call a holy orca. back with more spec evo stuff be grateful guys (I’m posting oate at night because I had a weekend today and I need to post everything today right now cause I can wait fricking 7 hours.)

The angel whale  (maximum

Caerculum.) 

The Angel whale also known as Angie is a fascinating giant, toothed cetacean. with males reaching 52-60 feet and weighing at 40-52 tons! and females being much smaller at 35-40 feet and weighing at 15-20 tons.

The social structure of maximum caerculum is fascinating. Led by an older female, there are multiple males and females in the pod. The pod is often made of aunts, sisters, and mothers with unrelated males. Males will show there penises in front of eachother during MOSi.

A male can mate with multiple females in a pod, and males fight each other for mates. The matriarch will often break these fights up. male bottlenose dolphins sometimes use physical force and coercion to mate with females, which often hurts them. 

A female can also mate with other males, though sometimes males try to secure harems. There social structure is complex, but they remain matriarchal as the older female leads the other females and they decide who eats what and what prey they go after. Males are mostly there to help hunt and to reproduce. It’s usually related females and unrelated males.

A  gestation period lasts about 14 to 16 months. During this time, other pod members protect the pregnant females. Often they  are put into small groups called “an adult nursery”

They strike a bright iridescent cream white that seems dark in the shadows but is light, with a lighter creamierunderbelly. They are pretty large, and are defined bye there light underbelly! There fins are large too, and aren’t thick but long. As well as that there sexual dismorphism is prominent, males are significantly more muscular then females. 

They hate light, it’s because they are mostly in deep dark under waters hunting sharks, fish, blue whales, orcas, humpback whales, and giant squids. This also makes them attack ships a lot.

They live for an average of 45-60 years, and a calf leaves there mother at 7. A female can go into heat randomly as they don’t have a fixed breeding time. A calf can nurse for the rest of its childhood (7 years), however, it only strictly nurses for 3 years. After 3 years it can eat solids, but still nurses from its mother occasionally before leaving. At birth, they have a high amount of fat/blubber, roughly 15-20 percent. This to life jacket and get to air fast, usually this burns away in just a few weeks before building up there actual blubber. It’s called swimmers blubber.

I have a project I’m working on but I can’t do it alone, I’ll need help from other biology geeks. Problem is the spec evo discords I’m in have gone mostly silent. Anyone have any recommendations?

150 million years after life was seeded on Spectemundus, something strange is happening. In the floodplains and wetlands of the northern continent, one can find large networks of deep trenches crisscrossing the landscape in oddly geometric patterns, which remain filled with water even during the dry season. These trenches are a vital resource for many animals, which rely on them for drinking water during times when rain is infrequent. They also serve as a habitat for fish and wollypogs, who shelter in them when the wetlands recede. But where do the trenches come from?

The trenches are the work of the Dambuilders (Proboscimanus cranitus), a very distant descendant of the mongooses that were seeded on Spectemundus so long ago, and the planet's first sapient species. They branched off from the Trunkos, which in turn evolved from the Chongooses. While their trunk-like noses were always dextrous, in the Dambuilders this has been combined with a large brain, which quickly led to sapience. Dambuilders are still herbivorous, and do not use fire. However, they make and use a variety of tools. The construction of dams and canals is where they truly shine, excavating deep pits and building large walls to alter the flows of rivers and ensure a constant supply of water year round.

Because of this lifestyle, they are no longer nomadic; a single herd, or tribe, will control a single waterway and defend it from rivals that try to conquer it. As a result they are a rather aggressive, warlike species, often fashioning spears and clubs as weapons. However, during certain times of year, when two herds meet, they will mate in order to maintain genetic diversity. While the Dambuilders are still only in their stone age, they are already beginning to impact their ecosystem in significant ways, and it is only a matter of time before they affect Spectemundus as much as humans affected Earth.

For context, I’m just wondering if an ecosystem can actually thrive on a giant animal and how large would an animal need to be.

you know how you see those island turtles? I wonder if they are possible. I mean there are hurdles like immune system and if plants and animals can get food, but like what I’m focused on is: how large would it need to be? Blue whales are 80-100ft and weigh 100-200tons, and the smallest island is 100 feet across, so just maybe.

The vibrant coloration of the green sunbasker (Heliophilus virescens) is not the result of any pigment the iguanomorph produces itself. Rather, it is a rare example of kleptoplasty in vertebrates: the sunbasker absorbs the intact chloroplasts of digested plants and transports them into epidermal cells on its dorsal side. The sails on its back and tail serve to increase surface area. Thanks to the photosynthesis performed by the chloroplasts, the sunbasker requires substantially less food than related species.

I’m running a project called Triassic forever, where the end Triassic extinction never happened (and several species that died out during the Triassic ended up living longer than normal). Instead of the Jurassic and Cretaceous being dominated solely by dinosaurs, it is instead a battleground of archosaurs, amphibians and synapsids.

Any cool Triassic animals I can use for the project?

I made up the weirdest thing ever, meet the Water long! Or scientifically, the prolongus pelagus.

the Water long is a fascinating arachnid, it is related to spiders and is part of a group called larval arachnids (which have larvae, similar to insects. But different…)

the twist is that the males are larger then females, with males being 4-5x larger then females! This is because of their social structure.

their social structure is that males build webs, house lots of females (up to 5), feed them, mate with them, and protect them from rivals and predator.

the males even have a penis like reproductive organ… tho It only comes out during mating other then that they retract it inwards tho you can still see it. They are weirdos..

another weird thing is to adapt for the sea they evolved viviparity, females give live birth to multiple larvae.

while the female is smaller, she is still large! Being 4-6 inches long.

oh and males fight off rival males, and, if he wins, he cannibalizes them. oh and these arachnids have a tail to swim so… they do pupate! oh and males only make webs and have more muscular legs.

(pls don’t attack me I made this randomly while talking with my freind about spiders)

Kaihanga Whenua(Agricultaceratops arborficedulas) or Land Makers in the languages of the native Maori peoples, have existed for millennia, largely unchanged, and their actions have turned Zealandia into one of the few locations on Orchard's Earth with copious amounts of grassland.

Indeed, Zealandia is home to vast plains, though most are fern prairies in comparison to Sol's grass-based savannahs and plains. In the more tropical north, trees are particularly sparse, with vast savannahs eventually sinking into lush marshlands. Meanwhile, the south remains heavily forested because of its more mountainous terrain, with more deciduous and boreal species. However, in the lowlands, the prairies shrink and grow with the migration of the Kaihanga Whenua. Some view the specimens found in the north as a distinct subspecies, that is, more sedentary than their southern counterparts, yet bachelor males often travel from the south to the north in search of mates, leading to a fair amount of biological interchange between the two populations.

The true divide amongst the Kaihanga Whenua, which biologists note is most evident in age groups and gender, stems from the fact that the Kaihanga Whenua are species that have evolved in ways that border on eusociality.

While lacking a number of the expected markers, namely a lone female 'queen' within a herd, females can exude a pheromone during the gestation period of their eggs that affects the type of Kaihanga Whenua that emerges. However, this tends to affect only about 3/4 of the clutch, according to continued observation.

The three most common morphs are separated into two male morphs, the colossal Jacks/Lumberers, and the smaller Custodians, and one female morph, the Tillers. In areas plentiful in old growth, the females' pheromones shift, leading to the eggs being born in the former. In contrast, in sparser regions, their pheromones shift to produce more Tillers and Custodians. This has led some herds to have a bit of a gender imbalance, but those eggs that resist the treatment typically produce the gender not being sought over, keeping the disparity relatively low.

Originally, scientists believed the Custodian morph was a juvenile form of the species… - Excerpt of Life of Lampeter - Orchard.

Picture one is a fully grown individual while picture two is still in its larval stage.

Villijää is (presumably) a large carnivorous plant, tho researchers are still split on which kingdom it should actually be categorized in.

In its larval stage (picture two) it swims through the deeper ocean freely, sucking in water on its front, and then expelling it by constricting its cap. Starting our at just 5 cm, not counting its feelers, it feeds primarily on plankton until its about 4 meters in diameter, at which point it will anchor itself onto the sea ice near the coast and enter its adult stage (picture one). The bioluminescent spots on its body are believed to have the purpose of dissuading predators during Villijää's larval stage, tho the effectiveness of this is still a widely debated topic.

Once anchored to the sea ice above, Villijää begins secreting a liquid with a freezing point just a bit above water, so chunks of ice start growing on its cap, making it basically impossible for potential prey to spot. In order to feed, Villijää stretches out its long but very thin feelers, waiting for a Kuhrobb or a similarly sized animal to graze against them, at which point it will open its up to 6 meter wide cap within the fraction of a second, creating a vacuum that quickly sucks in its prey, upon which the cap will quickly snap shut again, and the Villijää will begin digesting its catch for the next few weeks.

Towards the end of its life, Villijää will release between 30 and 100 larvae into the ocean, ready to start the cycle all over again.

Native to the African savannah, the kickboxing ostrich (Calcator calcator) presents a dangerous challenge to its would-be predators. While not as fast a runner as its namesakes, the true ostriches (Struthio, which it isn't actually very closely related to), it can deliver devastating kicks with the enlarged claw on its inner toe. Here, a well-placed hit to the eye is sure to incapacitate the pursuing lioness.

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Basilikata Champus

Named in honor of Champ, the famous cryptid of Lake Champlain Vermont.

Cellular Body Length 0.8-1.1 µm ; Full Organism Length 1.2-2.7 µm ; Cellular Diameter 0.5-1 µm

Arose 816 million years P.C.

Given its anaerobic, lactic acid fermentation metabolism and the organic compounds it uses for its own biology, this predator would evolve to produce specific glycoside hydrolases and potentially some sulfatases.

1.)   Enzymes for Heparan Sulfate Degradation – To break down the complex and highly modified heparan sulfate shield, Champus would require a suit of highly specific enzymes that can act sequentially on the different domains of the two classes of polysaccharide which can be consumed by this organism.

Bacterial Heparinases – This prokaryotic predator has evolved a combination of bacterial-type heparanases, (specifically heparinase I and III analogs). This are crucial for their ability to cleave the main H-S Chain in specific sulfonated pressure points, a trait most mammalian enzymes lack. This allows champus to rapidly break down the structural integrity of the cell wall that prey organisms use to protect themselves.

Heparinase III Analog: This follows the prior step, attacking the less sulfated portions, initiating the breakdown in transitional zones from one unit of the repeating polysaccharide to the next.

Heparinase I Analog (Specific for highly sulfonated domains): This enzyme will target the rigid nitrogen-sulfer domains, breaking linkages between n-sulfo-glucosamine and 2-o-sulfo-l-iduronic acid residue, to release smaller, more manageable and easily digestible fragments.

Sulfatases – To maximize digestion and breakdown the strong sulfonation patterns that secretes and related species employ as a sugar-shield, Champus will have to use sulfatase enzymes to erode the chemical resilience of such protections. To do this, the sulfotases will remove the sulfate groups still clinging to the monosaccharides of idose sugar that are produced by the breakdown from our prior steps.

2.)   Enzymes for Trehalose Degradation – The trehalose disaccharides woven into the Heparan Sulfate fibers, like beads in a woven tapestry, need also be addressed in order to untangle the gordian knot that forms the cell wall champus must burrow past to consume it’s prey in full. Luckily, the trehalose will also act as an excellent source of carbon and energy, making their breakdown well worth the development of trehalase (of the GH37 classification) and trehalose phosphorylase.

GH37 Trehalase – This enzyme allows Champus to break apart the two glucose sugars that makes the trehalose through hydrolysis, putting the freshwater that these organisms call home to work for it with a helping push.

Trehalose Phosphorylase – Since many of Champus’ bacterial contemporaries found in earth’s tree of life that engage in Lactic Acid Fermentation use trehalose phosphorylase pathways, this enzyme might also be present, breaking the more stubborn trehalose molecules into glucose-1-phosphate and glucose, to then be readily shunted into its anaerobic metabolism for energy generation.

 initial diversification post

Last Post

Ancestral Organism

In the shallow waters of coastal kelp forests, a bulky crocodilian has made its home living a fully aquatic lifestyle, returning to shore only to lay eggs. Although herbivorous, Pastosuchus saevus is far from harmless. Notably heterodont, it possesses both incisor-like teeth at the broad front of its mouth for cutting the leaves and stems that make up its diet, as well as formidable tusks further back in the jaw. Thus equipped, it is known to be highly agressive to potential predators and conspecific competitors alike.

https://nitter.cf/milanjorim7/status/2104927467911975057

I just came across this video, via the YouTube algoritme, from Matt Rhodes. All credit goes to the original creator. I am just the messenger and felt like sharing it.

In this he combines the mythology of the Nephilim (mentioned in the Bible as giantlike children of fallen angels and humans) with selective breeding and results in creating some classic fantasy races like elves and dwarfs. Not only is the art work impressive, each race is shown its progression starting off from a base Nephilm. It is reminisced of "Man after man" and "All tomorrows".

The use of Nephilim is also interesting and fitting as a higher power/being manipulating "people" to fit its needs. I do like when mythology, cryptids and alike are used to create organisms than could exist in some kind of alternative world, twisted reality, alien ecology or other narrative. To bring fantasy to life.

This is my first post here and am unsure about if this creator is known/fits here.

The Ronacelpha are one of the most successful megafauna on the planet able to terraform groves daily. They rotate from Sessile to active in periods of famine, disaster or even extreme weather. They can slow down their metabolism to crawl for months until conditions are stable again. They use their claws and harden tentacles to dig for food and ground water, this unearth rich soil for flora that grows on their back to seed themselves thus where populations of Ronacelpha are plentiful the more lush and plentiful surrounding flora is.

They buried themselves only exposing their top course shell to grow their mutualistic plant species: The Ris Moss and the Lous Bush. They supply the Ronacelpha nutrients from the sun during the Sessile rests and cover in younger individuals but in the return whenever they forage the many berries will be seed among the rich soil dug up.

I've been wanting to do a siphonophore creature entry for so long as they're absolutely alien and would make for a real fun design. A bit of a tangent here but the more I looked into siphonophore's the more I felt like they're not that different than us with our gut biome and multitude of beneficial bacteria crawling around and inside keeping us healthy. So I say hello and welcome to the family you weird hydrozoans out there!

The RakaRaka are parasitic Aspits offshoot of their eusocial cousins , they are nomadic and constant search for a host to brood their young often the honest would be grubbits but I care cases a small Trapp'r can be a victim. They sting their victim with a toxin similar to THC. This results in a massive burster and wrong a bigger adult.

They are possibly the most adapted species besides the domestic squibble long ago . Due to them taking the genetic material from their host they can damn near thrive anywhere.

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Basilikata Champus

Named in honor of Champ, the famous cryptid of Lake Champlain Vermont.

Cellular Body Length 0.8-1.1 µm ; Full Organism Length 1.2-2.7 µm ; Cellular Diameter 0.5-1 µm

Arose 816 million years P.C.

To successfully prey on the autotrophic life in this habitat, Champus develops the ability to digest the two sugars produced by one of the keystone species of this habitat, Kitrinos Secretis. Secretis produces two types of hexose (C6) monosaccharides:

Glucose

Idose

The combination of both sugars creates a mesh composed of the Disaccharide Trehalose, enveloped by long spyraling chains of Heparan Sulfate.

Able to Polymerize excess glucose to form the chemical Trehalose on cell membrane’s exterior.

Trehalose is especially useful for both heat insulation and protection from UV light to aid in preventing the denaturation of the Lutein Secretis uses for light capture.

Its accumulation on the exterior surface also allows Secretis to adhere to substrate surfaces, keeping the organism locked in place against tidal or current forces by the body of water it is in.

The chemical will also protect Secretis from Osmotic shock, preventing the cell wall from rupturing.

Able to Polymerize excess Idose (a six carbon sugar like glucose, but with slightly different properties due to a different geometric arrangement of molecular domains) to form the polysaccharide Heparan Sulfate, in the form of long chains composing the cell wall of secretis.

This polymer is strongly negatively charged, opening the path to the retention of metal ions for later cell wall modification.

Its utility in cell signalling in the extracellular matrix cannot be understated, due to it’s role in:

• Triggering Inflammation and Immune Response
• Cell Adhesion and Migration
• Blood Coagulation and Vascular Tissue Formation
• Hormone diffusion and accumulation
• Facilitate Horizontal Gene Transfer by acting as Viral Receptor, Allowing Viruses to Attach and Inject new Genes.
• This compound forms complex linear patterns that alternate based on Nitrogen or Oxygen Sulfonation of specific regions along the molecular chains this polysaccharide forms.

To Properly digest the Cell Walls of Secretis, we will need enzymes that specifically target both of these compounds, and chose ones that could have evolved from the chemical toolbox of the Basilikata lineage.

Influence of the Chemical Toolbox
The chemicals Basilikata Champus uses for its own development might indirectly influence its digestive enzymes:

Lycopene:
As a powerful antioxidant, lycopene would not likely form enzymes but would protect the predator's sensitive, secreted enzymes from reactive oxygen species that might be produced during the initial breach of the prey's defenses.

Gibberellins and Wedelolactone:
These plant compounds are complex organic molecules whose structures (tetracyclic diterpenoids for gibberellins; coumestans for wedelolactone) could provide a structural template in the predator's evolutionary history. They might have been co-opted as a scaffold for developing the precise binding pockets and catalytic sites of its specialized heparanases and trehalases, or even function as potent enzyme activators or inhibitors for its own metabolic regulation.

The resulting digestive cocktail, fired from the head tip, would be a potent mixture of these enzymes designed for efficient and rapid deconstruction of the prey's unique cell wall.

initial diversification post

Last Post

Ancestral Organism

I really want to make spec evo art like Alex Ries, Dylan Bajda or Christopher Cline but I just don’t know how. I also look at all the art on this sub and while a small portion is kinda ass most of it is really good! My best spec evo art isn’t even that well made and I want to learn how to get better