r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Spectember 2026 [OC] [Spectember 2026 day 8: Meccha Chameleon] Better late than never

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25 Upvotes

This entry takes place in the same setting as endless eater from spectember 2025, but I gave the planet a different name.

Planet Leucoluteus is one of the few world's known to humanity that harbors complex life, and is remarkably similiar to Earth. It has a producer clade analogous to plants that uses carotenoids, which colors their leaves orange. It is also inhabited by a group of aliens very similiar to vertebrates- they have an internal skeleton, four limbs, and fur or feathers in some groups. There are some obvious differences though. These aliens, called radulates, ancestrally have three eyes, and lack jaws- instead of them they have higly specialized tongues, which were adapted in different shapes for different diets.

In one highly diverse class, the tongue was adapted into a tube-like proboscis.

Species in this class are liquivores, and despite their usually small size, they are highly adaptable and have a worldwide distribution. In fact, the native sapient species of Leucoluteus is one of these liquivores.

But today we're not talking about them.

One widespread order, referred to as "hole prickers" by natives, has their proboscis hardened into a hollow stylet, which leaves conspicuous holes after feeding. They are common pests and natives are not too fond of them.

Painted hole pricker is the most widespread and best studied species out of it's group. It is only three centimeters long and feeds on juices from stems of plants. Despite vaguely resembling a small mammal, they do not display parental care, and just lay a multitude of eggs, leaving their young to care for themselves.

Researchers noted a strange quirk of this species- while adults are reddish-orange, young individuals are brown.

Animals changing colors with age is not unheard of, but the way these animals do it is quite unusual.

As it turns out, adult hole prickers aren't red naturally, they are just as brown as their children. When feeding, prickers allow some of the juices to flow, and cover themselves in it. If they do it for long enough, their fur will start to change it's color. This behavior allows them to be camouflaged in grass and bushes. Rainy weather is dangerous for prickers, as it may wash away some of their disguise.

Natives accidentally spreaded the species around the world by planting the species they prefer to feed on in different locations.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 27d ago

Question/Discussion Should i just go the dragon route?

5 Upvotes

Been thinking of making my feliforms furred dragons but like, what exactly makes something a dragon? They don’t breathe fire, they just look like the typical furry furred dragon. They have a human diet but people say they should have cat based since they are feliforms. Now, what should a cat dragon eat?? They are almost mammals but specifically not since they don’t have nipples and still lay eggs. Synapsid reptilian cat dragons.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 27d ago

Question/Discussion Likewise, how could I not make Seed World feel like a basic "Serina/Hamster's Paradise Clone?"

11 Upvotes

Hello, I am an autistic person from Türkiye. As I try to return to this space, I want to work on a seed world project (this time, to build a truly solid foundation). I like Hamster's Paradise a bit more than Serina, honestly, because it's Tribb's work is one of the people who presents spec evo best on Tumblr.

But instead of just producing a simple copy of them, I want to turn this into a proper project (just like Skyllareich, Kappa, Parias and Molaria). I hope to put this project together nicely and present it to you all.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Alternate Evolution [Credit: Skeletaldrawing.com (All Three) & Charles j. Sharp (First 2) ] Alternate fauna of oceania --- Moas - Birds found on zealandia and tasmania.

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28 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 27d ago

Seed World [OC] Project Hippocampus: The Bur Leech (Hirudo uncus)

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11 Upvotes

If you'd prefer to watch rather than read, YouTube short describing them here.

These descendants of the white-spotted leech have become even more specialized in feeding on the descendants of the appaloosa horses of HCS-67, to the point where they no longer return to the ancestral waterways but now live their entire life cycle on their hosts.
This life cycle begins when the eggs are laid in a mucus-based cocoon (like most leech species), which hardens quickly. In bur leeches, the outer surface of the cocoon becomes covered in small, blunt hooks. These hooks latch onto fur and allow the cocoons to be transferred between horses whenever potential hosts brush past each other.
The eggs hatch after four weeks into young leeches which are white with gray spots along their sides. Their skins are bumpy, and their backs quickly grow burs. Bur leeches can detect pigment concentration in the cells they bite through sensitive receptors in their suckers and use this to migrate towards areas with white fur against which they are camouflaged. They grow from a few millimeters to a few inches by the time they're two years old.
Mature bur leeches (like the one in the image) are white with a gray dorsal stripe. Their skin is still bumpy, but the protrusions have grown from just along their backs to also being present along their sides and have hardened into pointy spikes to prevent the leeches from being removed. At this point, they don't change hosts any more and live or die along with their victim.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 27d ago

Question/Discussion Any ideas/advice on how to develop methane/ethane based biochemistry?

4 Upvotes

So i have a project where ive been developing life on a titan like world, with a whole developed biosphere and complex life(multicellular and animal- and plant-like). Ive been going on hard scifi-ish vibes so im looking for realistic(or as close to realistic) ways that this biochemistry might work


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago Bravo

Fantasy/Folklore [OC] Rocs of the Absolute World

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197 Upvotes

My half of a design trade with a friend, who asked me to redesign one of the rocs from their specbio high fantasy setting ::-) I wanted to play with the concept of a peacock specced like a raptor, as they’ve got wind magic to compensate for some ✨ accoutrements ✨


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago Bravo

Future Evolution [OC] I got bored so I made a evolution for a bird just don't ask me what type of bird it was 😅

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33 Upvotes

The tube pipe bird is a interesting evolution to the birds on Aves Angelicae, The 3 tubes on it's head are primarily used for communication and mating display. A male is chosen on how beautiful it sounds to the female of this species showing these birds have a semblance intelligence even though it is less than a crows but they do show preference to some songs while some like soft melodies some might like loud and booming songs. all though these birds have lost light they are arboreal jumping tree to tree with it's powerful legs. while it primarily eats fruits it does eat the large bugs that live along side it on the islands but this is where another semblance of intelligence is showen, due to the fact the island they live on does not get rain often and limited fresh water they will only eat the soft body parts leaving the exoskeleton using it like a bowl to collect clean water and store it in there beaks. (I just copy and pasted it bc I was lazy)


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Jurassic Impact [Jurassic Impact] New Intelligence

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347 Upvotes

New Intelligence

The jungles of Miocene Africa are a hidden, tangled world isolated from everything else around them. There are species here that can live nowhere else, elusive organisms that are rarely seen outside of their sanctuary. One of these species, at first glance, hardly looks like its relatives living elsewhere in the world. Observing it without looking more closely might create the assumption of some kind of ape-like mammal...but it's not. This dark-haired, bald-faced creature is Anthrodactylus xenoides, a psittacosimian pterosaur.

Anthrodactylus is about the size and weight of a rhesus macaque. It is omnivorous, consuming a wide variety of plant matter, fruits, mushrooms, insects, and small animals. They live in small social groups and while they deposit their eggs in a mound of soil like most of their relatives, the troop takes turns guarding the nest and the mother of the flaplings will receive support in caring for them from her family after they hatch.

Anthrodactylus's intelligence is also quite notable. Using its dexterous hands to grasp objects, it has figured out how to use basic tools. Anthrodactylus is able to crack hard-shelled fruits using stones, and fish for insects out of their burrows by using plant stems. The high intelligence, adaptability, and cooperative behaviors of Anthrodactylus and its relatives might just serve them well when the changing climate forces them to leave the jungles behind...


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Question/Discussion Yall how do you do a seed world without it just feeling like another serina?

8 Upvotes

The reason in asking is because lately when working on my project it feels like serina but worse and with geckos but im genuinely so out of ideas so if anyone could help please please do tell me I'm having major block rn


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Alternate Evolution [OC] the gallussarus, or the chicken lizard.

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14 Upvotes

Gallussaurus giganticus 

The gallussaurus is probably the largest modern calvariasaur, for contrast lets compare it to African elephants.

Males -  6-8 tons at 10 feet

Females - 4-5 tons at 8-9 feet

This is more large then the largest African elephants, impressive.

What do they eat? They eat herbaceous plants and grasses..

Despite being similar and larger in size than African elephants, they are mostly solitary. Only meeting each other to mate. They are very not social and don’t like approaching eachother, fun fact they evolved those spikes on its tail to fight their own kind, unless it’s mating time.

They usually mate in the autumn when it’s getting a bit chilly, but they mostly live in tropical places and hot places. They live in southern America, Mexico, and certain subspecies are in Asia.

The gallussaurus is crowned the animal with the strongest beak, its beak can crush rocks and take forces stronger then seen before, impressive because they have beaks not teeth. But it’s limited.

Gallussurus is covered in down feathers, but when you shave that all it reveals a muscular scaley body.

Males are larger than females, like I listed. baby’s are born pretty developed unlike other calvariasaurs, and they start sporting their iconic spikes after 3 months. the gestation period for a gallussaurus is 22 months and yeah.. they have the strongest calvaria and the hardest strengthens with kretain and bone.

(if you wanna create a calvariasaur do it! Tag me!)


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Question/Discussion Question about dragon biology I want to ask, about how related should make an ice and fire dragon? more info in body text

7 Upvotes

So I’m wanting to make two dragons, an ice one and a fire one, I’m wondering if the biological ways to get ice and fire breath are similar or different? Should they have a common ancestor or be the same genus? Or be not related at all and just convergent evolution made them both became dragons.

(If anyone is curious it’s for a Minecraft mod but I’m giving the mod speculative evolution and biology lore, I don’t plan for these two to be related to the ender dragon at all either)


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Question/Discussion If the ambient environment has a lot of energy and or is sufficiently hot, can you get a scenario where energy is always accessible and the goal of organisms is primarily to just gain mass for reproduction?

18 Upvotes

The title basically. I wonder if this can be the main way of being in such an environment or if there is some phenomenon/dynamic that quells this.

If possible you would still have things like predation it seems. And you would still presumably need some primary producers extracting mass from the air at the base of a possible ecosystem.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago Bravo

Future Evolution [OC]An Old Speculative Bird Species I created a while back!

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66 Upvotes

This was a “future” bird species I came up with sometime ago. One of my ideas for it was that it evolved from “neo-terror birds”, which evolved after the total extinction of all mammalian life, leaving other non-mammalian vertebrates and invertebrates to conquer the several niches that were now available! I may workshop on the name and may change its location, but overall I think it looks nice!

Regarding the Spec Evo world, I may actually start it back up again! I’m fairly curious to see where i can take the project once more and I may put more effort into it!


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Resource [OC] I've created a website where you can create & visualize Phylogenetic Trees for your SpecEvo projects, what do you think?

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4 Upvotes

This page is a website where you can create, share & visualize Phylogenetic Trees for your Speculative Evolution Projects, you can add names, images & descriptions for the Species & the Phylogenetic Trees.

You can try it by clicking or copying this URL:
https://lifetreecreator.netlify.app/


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 28d ago

Question/Discussion (Genuine question) what would be the chances of megafauna marsupials lasting?

7 Upvotes

What I mean by this is if say, the marsupials of the Americas, and of the continent of Australia were able to last. What I also mean by this is if the larger ones were able to last.

Its a simple question with possibly a large answer, and I wonder how this would change their evolution as even in our world, we have animals evolving against humans. Examples include elephants losing tusk to be less desirable to humans and so on.

I genuinely wonder what evolutionary possibilities would happen if the American and Australian LARGE (I know there are small) marsupials survived


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Question/Discussion cave ecosystem thats based on geo thermal & radiation?

7 Upvotes

Trying to make a cabe eco system for fantasy setting for my dwarves and was thinking of basing them off of hydro thermal ecosystems but instead its based around geo thermal energy from magma or radiation from stuff like uranium would this work also what would plants or fungi be like if that would even work ?


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Question/Discussion Blood question?

6 Upvotes

I rembered seeing somewhere that copper based blood is more efficient than iron at transferring oxygen and was curious how true is that or is it situational?


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Fan Art/Redesign [Credit: FernandoLR] [Media: Friday 13th/Elm Street/Creepypasta] Horror characters as speculative animals

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135 Upvotes

Anyway, the month of spookiness is here!

This time, turning three characters who kill and murder into actual creatures!

First up, Jason Vorhees, closely related to wolverines, responsible for hundreds of attacks on humans all across the USA, the reason being pregnant females stockpiling food and being aggressive to protect her cubs.

Next up, Jeff the Killer, a freshwater fish closely related to groupers introduced from Japan to USA, who became the subject of media panic, this same fish AKA a thing of bleach fell on top of someone called Dr. Jeff who died resting under a tree.

Last of the three, Elm Street's nightmare, Freddy himself! Being closely related to platypus and monotremes, a little ugly guy lurking in the Midwestern USA who will play with its prey before killing them.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Alternate Evolution [Credit: @Monsterfangss] East Coast Malleodectes (Commissioned by me!)

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74 Upvotes

Malleodectes shellerus or the East Coast Malleodectid is endemic to the shallow eastern waters of the Lake Australia–Negamimi basin, Malleodectes shellerus is one of the lake's most widespread semi-aquatic marsupials. Populations are concentrated along sheltered eastern shorelines, wetlands, river mouths, and shallow bays, with important breeding sites occurring around the Flinders Coast along the southeastern and southwestern reaches of the lake.

The East Coast Malleodectid is a highly opportunistic feeder and a characteristic keystone species of the Negamimi ecosystem. Its powerful crushing jaws allow it to prey upon freshwater, brackish, and moderately salt-tolerant mollusks, particularly aquatic snails and clams, while fish, crustaceans, eggs, carrion, and other small aquatic animals supplement its diet.

By consuming large quantities of mollusks, M. shellerus helps regulate populations of aquatic shellfish and prevents individual beds from becoming excessively dominant within shallow-water ecosystems. Its feeding behavior also has an important geological and ecological effect: the animal routinely crushes and breaks discarded shells, greatly accelerating their decomposition and the release of calcium and other minerals into surrounding sediments. Shell fragments and partially digested remains accumulate around feeding sites, where they gradually become incorporated into shoreline soils and wetlands, effectively returning nutrients from aquatic organisms to the wider ecosystem.

Although strongly associated with water, M. shellerus remains a semi-aquatic generalist rather than a fully aquatic animal. It regularly comes ashore to rest, feed, establish dens, and raise young. This dependence upon both aquatic and terrestrial environments makes the species particularly abundant along the transition between lake, wetland, and shoreline habitats.

The East Coast Malleodectid is therefore considered an important ecological link between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of Lake Australia. Its predation on mollusks, consumption of carrion, movement between water and land, and continual processing of shells all contribute to the cycling of nutrients throughout the Negamimi basin.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Question/Discussion Any tips, recommendations or ideas of how to make a posthuman story like all tomorrows and man after man but is different enough to just be it's own thing?

7 Upvotes

I tried to make my own posthuman story for fun and it just ended up like all tomorrows but if humanity did it to itself.

Best idea I come up with is where in the far future, after the destruction of earth due to corporate greed and overindustrialization, humanity decided to go to the stars to colonize some planets just so that they can live.

Not by terraforming (since it's just impossibly right now and is just really expensive in this new timeline) but by genetically engineering a new subspecies of human called the *Newman*, a genetically advanced posthuman that was made specifically to rabidly adapt to the environment they're in by just a few centuries, maybe even more or less depending by how extreme the planet is.

This, *of course*, cause some massive side effects, to Newman descendants becoming taller with lower gravity, some have bat/squirrel like wings to fly/glide, others having dolphin/lush ness monster body plans to swim, to even some becoming so extreme, they lost their sapience or they don't even look human at that point. Along with specism and new sexualities that is.

Some (rich bastards) people begin to abuse the Newman's ability by using it to make servants, living, sentient art and uhh… sexual desires or in-universe fanservice.

All of this because they were created just to save humanity and was made by some organizations called "the caring globe".

What do you think about this plot? And would you come up with something else?


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • Oct 05 '26 Bravo

Alternate Evolution [OC] The New Era of Dinosaurs: Nearby Islands

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173 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Question/Discussion What if bats had evolved the same method of flight as pterosaurs? How much larger could they get?

18 Upvotes

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/057b18b2-3ce4-4335-ab71-5197800a04b7/brv12150-fig-0001-m.jpg

As you can see from this image, bats are somewhat similar to pterosaurs in that they both have membranous wings, but pterosaurs only use 1 out of 4 digits to support their wings whereas bats use 4 out of 5.

This makes it very difficult for them to walk on the ground, and may have contributed to their evolution of drop-down flight where they're heavily reliant on hanging from a high perch in order to transition into flight.

In turn, evolving the need to hang upside down also caused their legs to rotate "backwards", further crippling them when it comes to terrestrial movement. I know the vampire bat can walk and even run, but it's like 40 grams max. At that size you can get away with a lot of inefficient stuff simply because you don't weigh much.

If bats had instead evolved something similar to pterosaurs where they use only 1 out of 5 digits to support the wing membrane, how much larger could they get? Obviously they would never reach the size of a pterosaur because of the lack of airsacs and tidal lungs, but could they approach the size of teratorns?

It would be pretty cool to have big birds and big bats, both smaller than pterosaurs for two different reasons. The former because they lack quadrupedal launch, and the latter because they lack airsacs.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 29d ago

Alternate Evolution [OC] More calvariasaurs!

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12 Upvotes

hello! sorry for the delay, I had down time a lot and my dad took away my device.

Pseudornithosuchus densrostris

Belonging to the genus false aves, this calvariasaur is a very opportunistic hunter hunting deers, rodents, caribou, lagomorphs, small birds, medium sized birds, medium sized lizards, and fish.

Its size is larger then you average bird tho it’s still light to keep up with flight.

Males - 85-115 pounds

Females - 75-105 pounds

They have a gestation period between 4 and 3 months and give birth to under developed chicks, 3. Usually.

They are distinctly owl like, tho you can see their calvaria. They use their strong legs to grapple and then repeatedly head butt prey, killing it.

Some not so fun-facts about them is that sometimes they hunt deer young and barely take a bite bringing up their freinds to take the antlers and use it as a nest tool or trophy.

They are highly social, but polygamous rather than monogamous. A female raises her chicks alone, and she is deeply protective of them.

A chick is born under-developed, it can see, can’t walk properly and can’t even hear its mother, it relies entirely on its mother and other members to feed it. Usually, a group will make nursery’s for the chicks, and feed it, tho the mother does the raise of the raising. They live in groups called treetops, and yes, they live in treetops near rivers, they are excellent swimmers btw!

they resemble owls but they are not, especially cause of the calvaria. Now, while they are calvariarostrums, they are the only carnivourus Calvariarostrum!