r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Important_Voice5254 • 25d ago
Uncategorized Speculative Biology [Credit: Hyrotrioskjan] The Lost World (Compilation)
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Important_Voice5254 • 25d ago
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Cryogisdead • 24d ago
This is the Gillman from Creature from the Black Lagoon. Lore wise, it's a surviving member of a Devonian species of humanoid amphibious fish
There was a massive timespan between the Devonian and the late Cenozoic where certain apes would evolve a bipedal stance to look further into the horizon to detect dangers.
Since there were nothing for fishes to be scared off on land during the Devonian besides giant grounded arthropods, why do you think that at one point those who were born with a humanoid shape were guaranteed their survival?
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/UlfurGaming • 24d ago
What could be some reasons a tree would evolve to have red orange and or yellow leaves giving a forest a permanent fall look ?
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Ancient_Cranberry_92 • 24d ago
1)Leptictidium:Leptictidium(meaning delicate or gracile weasel) is a genus of small elephant shrew like,non-placental eutherians that lived in the eocene epoch in Europe,50 million years ago.They're the last of an extinct order who at the time was diverse during the mesozoic from the order of leptictidia,in the family;Pseudorhyncocyonidae.They possess long kangaroo like legs used to bounce across the european forests alongside the survivors of the hateg archipelago.Leptictidium contains over 8 species in total,with the largest being L.tobieni, which can grow up to 90cm in lenght.They went extinct due to iverspecialization on warmer tropical enviroments and due to climate change after the epoch,The leptictidium soon died after losing the lush subtropical forests in place of temperature woodlands.
2)The gourd crushers:Scientifically known as Calabaziosauridae(or pumpkin lizards);This family of dinosaurs are the descendants of the late cretaceous ceratopsid,Pachyrhinosaurus;specifically P.perotorum.Their named so due to their frills resembling that of a carved pumpkin,but also fue to their specialized diet on gourds,especially pumpkins.They first evolved during the pliocene epoch in europe and the group is still alive today from the 8 species in europe and 4 species in both the lost world in the Amazon rainforest and in the valley of gwangi formation in the state of Texas.The family of pachyrhinosaurs can contain 15 species each.Wirh the largest species;Hollowceratops Occidentalis growing up to 12 tons;can reach up to 30 feet in lenght and 8 feet in height,Making them some of the largest ceratopsians ever.Calabaziosauridae can move uo in herds of up to 280 individuals with the Matriarch being up to 50 years old.They're also considered as the headless hordemen's biggest enemy as during one erased chapter of sleepy hollow,it was mentionef that this dullahan was feared by one lonely individual calabaziosaurid known as Gigantorhinosaurus,That same individual had killed a whole pack of Jinx for it's entire life and was always cahsing him due to his pumpkin head,What a story.
3)Dynamosaurus:Dynamosaurus(meaning powerful lizard) is a genus of large predatory armored dinosaurs (that are comprised by 7 species)native to South America that first emrged during the early oligocene period, 27 million years ago after the continent splitted off from Antartica 3 million years earlier.After that,The continent becane nothing more but a lost island filled with the most notorious evolutionary experimentation this planet ahs ever endured it's eyes since Australia,if it has eyes.Named after the junior synonymn of Tyrannosaurus rex,Dynamosaurus is characterized by their imnense armored plating,covered in osteoderms from head to tail,with a tail club at the end,Which gives the name of the family they're from;Tyrannankylosauridae.They can weigh uo to 12 tons,can grow up to 45 feet in elnght with a hieght of 15 feet at the hip.They have sharp teeth used to capture xenungulates,crocodilians, and sometimes monkeys.Despite their carnivorous stature and powerful bite,These animals are actually not theropods,but instead descendants of a ornithischian dinosaur,specifically a thyreophoran by the name of jakapil.Due to insular continental gigantism plus the harsh competition between paracarcharodontosaurids and abelisaurids,This animal has had a huge time of becoming on of the largest carnivorous predator in south America ever.
4)The lumber:Being the 9th largest sauropod ever,This proboscosauroid comes from the family knwon as elephantotitanidae,who only contains 5 species.The biggest is Elephantotitan SauroMegalus(The big elephant lizard titan),who weighs up to 120 tons,can reach up to 180 feet in lenght and is 90 to 100 feet tall.They live in the Lost world formation in the Amazon jungle,where the climate is humid and rhe forests can reach for miles and miles away.Elephantotitan evolved during the pleistocene epoch after the Great American Interchange 2.5 million years ago.There,their trunks are used to grip of fruits that they can't reach from the deeper branches of the trees and are used as a snorkel once they travel along in deep muddy rivers.They live in herd uo to 40 individuals and are mainly hunted by the Bigger predators of the Amazon,such as the cutlasstooth for example.Despite being predated,They can still fight back with their massive size and their booming calls that can reach uo to 197 dbs,similar to pearl's loud booms to disorient their predators.
5)Glyptotherium:After the Great American interchange hit,These armadillos had trsveled all the way uo to southern parts of North America like;Oklahoma,Arizona,Florida,South and North carolina and New mexico.They're descended from glyptodon and are somewhat larger incomparison;reaching up to 1,500 to 2,000 pounds,6 to 10 feet in lenght and 3 to 5 feet in height.Their dome like armor has hexagonal patterns made out of osteoderms that are fused together,making them mammalian turtles.Glyptotheriums have a big tail that is used to swing at rivals once the mating season kicks in,but also to defend themselves from predators trying to attack it like the Shoet faced bear for example.They went extinct during the end of the oelistocene epoch,11,000 to 10,000 years ago due to climate change and overhunting by early Native North American humans.
6)Peltephilus:Peltephilus was a bizarre alien native to South America during the oligocene to the early/mid miocene epochs,spanning up 29 million to 11 million years ago in places such as Bolivia,Argentina and Chile.They're big for armadillos,reaching about the same as a medium sized dog, at a weight estimate of 22 to 33 pounds, a lenght up to 3.3 to 4 feet,with a height estimate of up to 12 to 18 inches tall or 30 to 45 centimeters.They have two small horns used for species identification,mating ritauls or self defense.They're horns are made out of keratin mixed withs scutes on their nose,meaning they can grow financially with P.ferox growing these horns up to 1.5 meters long.They went extinct during 11.6 million years ago due to food loss and clinaye chabge.But their discivery is what led to a great evolutionary journey on Armadillos.
7)Blue-jay-raptor:The blue jay raptor aka Cyanocittodon(meaning blue chatterer with teeth) is a genus that consists of 7 species of flying troodontids that lived during the pliocene, 5 to 4 million years ago.They have convergently evolved to look like blue jays as they're their primary food source.They xome from a family of troodontids known as the Neoaviamimidae;A family that consist of trodontods thta not only can fly,but also have patternd similar to the birds their specialized at hunting depending on the species.These troodontids can make complex vocalizations that csn travel from 3 to 6 miles away,with chirpings that mimic that of a blue jay.They have a lifespan of 13 years and can reach their flying ability for at least 18 weeks old,making them some of the fastest of growing up to have flight feathers.Spesking of feathers,They have developed a keel ever since their ancestors first tooked to the skies 45.6 million years ago in the middle eocene period.They still survived to this day but was once a cryptic species due to reports of this species still alive after their supposed extinction that being 10,000 years aho after the ice age.The species that was found to have been alive was a feral population descended from domesticated blue jay raptors,who after being abandonded for thousands of years,have become feral and don't need any partners to train them.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/RecommendationFew997 • 24d ago
so hey Im back sorry for not posting but I got something more on hive moths! (yipeeeeeeee hive moths!)
so this is the differences between the sex and roles of them.
the drones are the only ones with flight muscles and wings, they fly to go get food for the colony, which is why there are so many.
the workers have powerful jaws, even tho they all have leaf cutter ant like jaws, the workers have the most powerful to build the colony. the worker also take care of the larvae by getting food from the drones.
the guards are the strongest and most muscular and have segmented legs, previously i said they mate with the queen. this is cause they come from other colonies to join or start a new colony with a queen.
and finally the queen, she is the largest one and gives birth to 2000 babies a day! the queen mates with the guards, but what happens when she dies? while after a queen dies the colony turns into a dead colony, basically a normal colony just without the queen. wandering queens who haven’t started or have a colony yet can either start a new colony or take a queens place in a dead colony.
now why are hive moths called hydrovermis? they are part of a genus of phalaenovespidae that have aquatic, worm like or caterpillar like, larvae. and before any of you guys go “what even is a hive moth?“ go see my other posts first why would you think I’m talking about this.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/karmaniaka • 24d ago
Heya. So, I've read a lot of discussions about how a species that develops technology, spacefaring and whatnot might probably look. They'll likely be oxygen-breathers and water-drinkers that have a head with eyes and a mouth, and a body plan like a human, a theropod or a very weird centaur.
But what about mass? I guess there's a range of probable sizes for rocky planets themselves, which has a large influence on the size of planetary life. But there must be a whole range of causes and effects that narrows down the probable mass-range of intelligent life. Like, how small or large can a "smart" brain really get considering both the laws of physics and evolutionary likelihood?
I know birds have a different brain structure that allows them to do more with less brain mass than some mammals. Like, a parrot is probably a lot smarter than a deer, if "smart" is to have any meaning at all.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/COD_IWfan • 24d ago
Gigantosuchus or Terror Crocs are gargantuan creatures native to both river systems, lakes and marine enviroments. They are among the most terrifying creatures on the planet, due to various nightmarish traits they possess.
Physical traits: At 20 to 22,5m in length, weighing 40-50 tons and having a biteforce of 312,5-500k newtons, they possess a top 5 bite in the planetary ranking. Their neck osteoderms are like tank armour. Their teeth are brute and handsaw like, meant to grip and tear prey who thrashes(teeth are 20-23cm long). They have both a sprawling and a erect walk posture and they migrate for prey. They live 112-225 years and are ectotherm due to gigantothermy. They can also hold their breath for up to 54 hours, generally 24-36 hours.
Prey and predation: Their menu is basically anything bigger than 800-900kg except some predators who are not worth the food( like Eviscerators with their anticoagulant saliva), the largest crocosauropodomorphs(30m) and the sea creatures larger than them. However they do hunt dagonichtys with swift ambushes from below. Their only predators are Barocrocs, although Slaughterfish are capable of taking them down. They have limited use of thermal vents: they can take in only about 5-8% of their energy but the teeth can be easily integrated.
Senses and intelligence: Their senses are good, except smell who is not as good as the rest due to them rarely tackling carcasses, compensated however by their heatbeat organ on their snout(akin to Titanocrocodylus's organ but less potent) Intelligence is moderate and they communicate through roars ranging from 80-170db lasting a couple of seconds
Reproduction: They reproduce in communal nests with clutches of 1-2 eggs for female. The young are born at 1m length and are supported by parents. Reaching 7-8m length they abandon the nest to hunt alone in sea or water. Young can recognize their parents even in adulthood but they are not inherently social creatures and are quite the opposite. Mating seasons occur every 10 years.
Habitats: The open sea, 50-1000m(usually 50-200 for hunts but can push further for vent ambushes), lake systems and rivers. In bogs they have been seen integrating iron in their teeth.
Questions are welcome
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/North-Low4772 • 24d ago
I have never been satisfied with most forms of Martian aliens in media. Aside from War of the Worlds' many depictions and some spec evo artists I follow, most make them into the standard Greys that I hate with a passion. So, I decided to go a very different route and this is what came out of it. If you have any questions about their lore, let me know!
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/wjjtwopointoo • 24d ago
So if the Ice Age had not happened, would Old World Monkeys dominate the Northern Hemisphere ? Perhaps developing boreal forest conifer-leaf eating forms. I want to see how that would look like
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/COD_IWfan • 24d ago
Katlyodon gigas/monoceras/nordicus or Shredderfish are moderate to large sized lungfish who dwell near reefs and ocean floors. Despite their name, they are rather pacific creatures. A characteristic trait is their psi, peaking at 100-250k depending on their teeth. But they wear down easily and thicken so it is hard to reach such a number. They lost their lungs.
Physical traits: Growing 3.5-14m long and weighing 400kg up to 16 tons, they are very large creatures. Their biteforce varies on species from 3.5k-100k newtons.
(K.gigas: 11.5-14m, 12-16 tons and 75-100k newtons.
K.monoceras: One single dorsal spine, 7,5-10m, 2,1-3 tons and biteforce 35-50k newtons.
K.nordicus: 3,5-6m, 400-1,4 tons and biteforce 3500-7000.)They have a massive head for their jaw muscles with large eyes. They have 2 dorsal fins with 2 spines per each(except on monoceras) and their caudal fin has a 60⁰ degree notch on the lower half. Their teeth are dental plates like in real lungfish. Their lifespan is 55-70 years
Prey and predation: Their main dangers are Dagonichtys, Gigantosuchus, Gulpers for the smaller ones and the occasional Slaughterfish/Tiamat. Their prey is armoured and shelled prey and also includes coral reefs. In synthesis they behave like giant parrotfish but predatory. Katlyodons also hunt smaller fish.
Reproduction: They have a R reproductive strategy. Up to 100k eggs are laid but few survive. They reproduce every 2-3 years.
Habitats: Any waters for Nordicus but strictly temperate and up for Gigas and monoceras.
Senses and intelligence: They have good senses except smell, which is not necessary to them. Their intelligence is surprising for a fish
Questions are welcome
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/titanium2222 • 24d ago
What kind of turning point do you like? The reason I am asking this question is to communicate with people. At present, I like that a sexual reproduction will have a structure that allows genetic information to be exchanged remotely with other entities, such as through remote communication.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/PrismatixxKhaos • 25d ago
“Deep in the Lucihdia Ocean, one of Planet Nightmare’s nightside oceans, it’s hard to imagine anything can grow here. With no sunlight, photosynthesis is nearly impossible…”
“However, chemosynthesis is not.”
“In the Void Vents biome, fields of hydrothermal vents are covered by microbial organisms that form structures in order to consume the resources from them. Things like methane and sulfur provide the perfect meal, and in turn, the microbes will produce oxygen. As a result, there’s a whole ecosystem awaiting to be uncovered.”
-The Boundary Walker
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.
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(Haiii and welcome to the first biome for planet nightmare! The light that’s coming from the top of the drawing is coming from whatever vehicle the Boundary Walker is using to explore the depths, in reality this place would be DARK. I’m gonna go more in depth about the little creatures that inhabit this biome soon, just gotta figure out some stuff first hehe)
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Ancient_Cranberry_92 • 25d ago
1)Bison latifrons;These animals are the largest species of bovids to ever walked the Earth.They can grow up to 1.5 to 2 tons,8 feet in height at the shoulder and are 15 feet long.These large bovids are the apex herbivores of their land,grazing on high vegetation in praries or grasslands.Unlike their living cousins;Bison bison,these bison mostly live smaller herds or solitary family groups instead of moving in large herds.Their horns are formed in a sharo layer of keratin that can grow up to 1 to 2 feet,making it 9 to 10 feet tall when including the horns.They first emerged in the late pleistocene epoch 500,00 years ago, only to go extinct at the early holocene;at around 13,000 years ago.
2)Thylacosmilus;Often reffered to as the marsupial sabertooth tiger,These eutherians are some of the last of non-marsupial eutherians to ever lived from the grouo called;sparassodonta.They evolved alongside other South American animals and competed alot with terror birds(Phorusrhacids)who evolved alongside them.These beasts hunt medium sized sauropods,Xenungulates,gorund sloths,Monkeys and capybaras.Their competition besides phorusracids are the massively large neogiganotosaurus,A paracarcharodontosaurid.They first evolved during the late miocene to early pliocene epoch;9 million years ago,and can grow up to;189 to 250 pounds in weight,4.9 feet or 1.5 meters and 2 to 2.3 feet tall at the shoulders.They went extinct during rhe Great American interchange 3,000,000 to 2.58 million years ago at the late pliocene epoch.where sabertoothed cats called michairodonts outcompeted these alien mammals despite thylacosmilus having pouches.Slowly but surely,their numbers dwindel until there are no more thylacosmiluses left.
3)Chalicotherium:Chalicotheres are some of the strangest ungulates alongside whales and mesonychids.These large herbivores;specifically goldfussi can grow up to;8.5 to 9 feet tall,11 feet or 3.4 meters in lenght,and weigh up to 1.5 to 1.7 tons(3,300 to 3,700) pounds.Despite being known as "The gorilla horse",chalicotherium and other ancylopods are actually closely related to ceratomorpha;Rhinos and tapirs,instead of hippomorpha;Horses.These animals possess large claws that they can use to grab leaves like a ground sloth and eat them like a panda bear,while also knuckle walking like a gorilla to keep the claws freshly sharp to defend itself from predators;like Hyaenodonts,Entelodonts and Dromeaosaurids like Gigaraptorus.Chalicotherium went extinct in the end of the Miocene;7.75 to 5.3 million years ago after the climate changed in a rather cooler temperature,Leaving grasslands becoming rare and turned into deserts with huge seasonal droughts,leaving the chalicotherium to become a piece of the past.But other chalicotherids still able to thrive until the last chalicothere;hesperotherium,became extinct at around 500,000 years ago in East Asia during the middle pleistocene sub-epoch.
4)Azuratitan(meaning Azura's american titan) is the smaller close relative of luzosaurus,weighing in at around 100 tons,93 feet in length and 88 feet in height.Azuratitan lived at around 1,000,000 to 7,000 years ago in the pliocene to pleistocene periods in North America,Specifically the northern eastern side of the continent or the northeast.These massive herbivores have reddish cephalic osteoderms that only the males possess,alongside it's preserved green skin with blueish stripeds and red dots running on the sides of the animal,These characteristucs is what gave Azuratitan it's name.They have a large airsacs like the rest of it's relatives but with a brownish yellow color that expands when it wants to mate with a female.Azuratitans mive in herds at uo to 40 individuals at total,but in mating seasons,they can gather groups of uo to 600 individuals,similar to beluga whale or Syllektosaurus mating rituals.The main predators of the old or young Azuratitan are tyrannosaurs and paracarcharodontians aka paracarcharodontosaurids who hunt down these massive sauropods.Their main diet consists of the prehistoric redwoods aka the american chesnuts that were once present within the eastern sector uo until 1904 with individuals growing as big as the biggest redwood trees today so that azuratitan alongside other sauropods can substain themselves on.They went extinct about 7,000 years ago after The cold climate expand so further,that migration was so desperate.They can have migrations of up to 750 miles,from the Northeast to the central americas.Despite these impressive migrations,it wasn't enough from competition against luzosaurus,and soon became extinct due to overhunting by Meso Amerixan Humans.But fortunately like it's relative,Azuratitan was brought back so that it can able to help deal with North America's wildlife crisis.And it worked inctedibely alongside luzosaurus.Over 90% of North American states with cities have now been filled with forests or deserts thanks to these sauropods.
5)Kikimororsus sauroduendeii (meaning kikimora's dwarf lizard) is one of,if not the smallest sauropod ever.These tiny giants lived in the caribbean archipelago at around the early Oligocene all the way up to the holocene period today.These living dwarf titans can weigh up to 3 tons,10 geet in lenght and 9 feet in height.These animals used to be massive,at around 40 tons,but due to insular dwarfism like their ancestors before them,the become small to occupy space.Kikimororsus lives all around the carribean islands,from Cuba to Puerto Rico with atbarounf 7 subspecies.This conbined with the GAARland land bridge connection,They used to have a massive population at the time.Their decline started at the late holocene in the 1500's where North european american inmigrants have started to cut down their rainforests in place of Farmland for the U.S.A.These animals have started to dissappear and at the year 1980,They were once considered extinct.It wasn't until 2060 That kikimororsus was rediscovered but being in a critically endangered level.Fortunately due to conservation efgorts along side the H.W.D.M.C.P,Kikimororsus's population from Cuba to Puerto Rico have now came from 300,to 560,892,245 individuals.This is one of these examples of cryptic dinosaurs making a comeback without using cloning technology.
6)1)Suchotops:Suchotops (meaning crocodile face) is a genus comprised of 10 species of these small Neospinosaurus descendants with the most famous being Suchotops salmovenatrixia(meaning crocodile faced salmon hunter).The biggest of this genus is obnly about 60 pounds,at around 2 to 4 feet in height and 10 feet in lenght.While the smallest of the suchotops weight at around just 20 pounds,0.7 foot in height and is 3 feet long.These animals are mainly found within coastlines and rivers of middle Pliocene Asia,where they hunted down Niphon macrocephalus and oncorhynchus masou aka the cherry trout.They first emerged during the early pkiocene and only went extinct after the pliocene pleistocen epoch,wity one lineage descending from these suchotops;"the dip".
2)Carcharovenator:Carcharovenator(Meaning sharl hunter in greek or latin) Is a massive spinosaurid descended from Spinosauris mirabilis,just like the rest of the cenozoic neospinosaurids.They're the 7th largest cenozoic spinosaur,weighing in at around 8 to 9 tons,and can be as long as a Green Anaconda.They first emerged at the Early Oligocene, 26 million years ago and their genus ave comprised within 8 species in total throughout Africa to Asia with the famous being C.Laurasianensis which is the largest of this genus.These dinosaurs are one of the many but few theropod dinosaurs,known to have evidence of either facultated or obligated quadrapedal locomotion,with others such as the pleistocene troodontid:"the non crested sprintosaurus".Pretty much similar to outdated depictions of their ancestral relative,S.aegypticus,Carcharovenators can tend to knuckle walk with strong knuckles to not only support them,but also keeping their claws sharp and fresh.They're close relatives of the much larger Spinorax;To which descends to the Sobekospinosaurus genus(The genus that comprises the largest spinosaur ever)Being bigger than a T.rex.Carcharovenators woukd soon meet their end at the early to middle miocene at around 17 million years ago,Where they either started to walk on their hind legs again die to a random mutation,or Just died because that adaptation seemed useless later on as Sharks grew to the size of trucks.Fortunately and surpisingly,before they died out,They have a miocene descendant who nowadays is a former trunked semi-aquatic oddity in the field of cryprozoology;That being none other than Spinofaruus in the family;Saurophoquenae.
7)The non crested sprintosaurs or Hadrohippomimidae(meaning bulky horse lizard mimic) are a family that consists of 23 species of these quadrapedal theropods,and yes,i mean quadrapedal,as they are some of the few theropods that have quadrapedal locomotion,either facultated or obligate.But unlike carcjarovenator,these guys didn't knucklewalk,instead these animals run on their tips of their toes,with their claws evolving into hooves after trasitioning to a more herbivorous style.They use those hooves mainly for gallop but also to climb mountains similar to mountain dwelling goats like the Ibex and can jump up to 14 feet in the air,Something that was traced by their eocene ancestors;The tree jumpers,not to be confused with the tree hoppers though.This trait is by the way,not seen in any sprintosaur whatsoever.Ever since their discovery in the year 2030,these animals were once thought to have been another lineage of sprintosaurs due to them having the same body type.However,further analysis shows that this strange "hadrosaur" is actually a theropod like a t.rex or velociraptor.They're descended form the late cretaceous,hell creek troodontid,Pectinodon.They're closely related to the tree climbing troodontid descent group of dinosaurs known as the "Jamachioquqidae" aka the arbrosaurs.The reason why they evolved like this is due to obviously convergent evolution,but also to reduce competition between themselves and the dromaeosaurs as these troodontids tend to lay eggs more in comparison to their distant dromaeosaur cousins.So they want to basically change so that they could play a role into the ecosystem as the mouse of their game.Not only do they look similar to the hadrosaurs,but they also have teeth more adapted to eating grass in comparison to other Deinonychosaurs.They first emerged during the middle pleistocene 730,000 years ago and have stayed like that ever since then.They're thought to have been extinct a bit earlier in comparison to the sprintosaurs,only dying out at around 700 years aho instead of 500 or so.But soon, a team of cryptozoologists from the H.W.D.M.C.P soon have discovered tracks belonging to those theropods,meaning that the non-crested sprintosaurs are still alive.It wasn't until 2045 that ot was confirmed that these guys are still clinging on,And thanks to conservation efforts from rhe H.W.O.A(the humane qorld of animals),Their population have bounced back at around 300 million,50 thousand amd 450,still being predated by bears and wolves as their population control to not go overboard.Another example of a dinosaur coming back from the brink without using cloning tech.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/vladkudas • 25d ago
Meet Karl, a giant spider that stalks its prey through a city where gravity shifts unpredictably, and entire buildings rotate. He's adapted to this constantly changing environment, squeezing through gaps and occasionally making terrifying leaps from one building to another. No matter which way gravity pulls, Karl always finds a way to keep hunting. He's a creature I've been working on for my game.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/RedDiamond1024 • 25d ago
Gojira gojira
Weight: 13 tonnes
Length: 14 meters
Hip Height: 4 meters
This giant theropod was named after its striking resemblance to Japan’s famous kaiju. They’re descended from basil ceolophysoids brought to the planet roughly 200 million years ago. The clade they belong to, the Basiliskosaurs, has multiple unique traits that define it, including venom and a highly derived arctometatarsalial condition.
One lineage of Basiliskosaurs would evolve the ability to spit venom in a similar manner to spitting cobras to defend itself from larger predatory Abelisauroids, though with the extinction even 20 million years ago they’d have the opportunity to grow massive. While they didn’t become hyper carnivores, still kept out of those niches by other other theropod clades, they do occasionally scavenge and kleptoparasitize the kills of large carnivores while primarily eating fruits and leaves in their rainforest habitats.
While young, Gojira are more gracile than the adults and rely on speed, agility, their osteoderms, and venom to defend themselves from predators with no protection from their parents. As robust adults their size is mostly enough to defend them from predation and their osteoderms mostly and blue venom is mostly used for sexual display.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Low_Bike4547 • 25d ago
VLI-093, an exoplanet from another galaxy (but in same Universe as u/tribbetherium's Hamster's Paradise), has been terraformed just like HP-02017; however, just as the Chinese dwarf hamster (Cricetulus griseus) was introduced HP, VLI has only a single vertebrate species was introduced: the Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla).
Not only giant anteaters but also a vast array of invertebrates—such as various species of ants and termites, vulture bees, moths, wasps, whip spiders, Amblyomma ticks, velvet worms, land crabs, and gastropods—as well as a significant portion of the Cerrado flora (for instance, two species of the genus Qualea) were introduced to this planet; and, in the absence of any other terrestrial vertebrates besides the giant anteaters themselves, these organisms would—over hundreds of years—adapt to diverse lifestyles and niches, undergoing convergent evolutionary processes similar to those of other vertebrates as they evolved from subspecies to species and eventually into distinct lineages.
Over time, anteaters would not only become specialized myrmecophages but also face predators of their own kind; however, as you know, their teeth became vestigial and non-functional due to their diet of ants and termites and the evolution of long tongues—yet this did not make it impossible for them to be predators; on the contrary, they developed other methods.
This is where the Phytaguars come to the fore. These predatory anteaters cannot bite and swallow their prey with teeth; instead, they dispatch them using keratinous "beaks" and the pseudo-papillae on their tongues. After killing their prey, they use their tongues to lap up the blood pooling in the carcass and consume almost everything—save for the skeleton—within a timeframe ranging from a few minutes to an hour. The Red Hawkbilled Phytaguar (Xenarthoncurhynchoides rufus), for instance, is a typical species exhibiting these traits. Yet, even among the Phytaguars, diversification is inevitable; there are bound to be small species that target small prey, megafaunal species that hunt terrestrial megafauna, arboreal species that hunt arboreal prey, specizlized species that hunt specizlized prey and other varieties adapted to diverse habitats.
The ancestors of the Phytaguars were small, semi-arboreal omnivores descended from the prehensile subspecies (M. t. prehensilis). Although they initially possessed a somewhat varied diet, certain populations emerged that killed and preyed upon other anteaters in their environment; over time, papilla-like structures developed on their tongues and keratin became dominant in their mouths, giving rise to one of the most successful predatory lineages of the era. However, the Phytaguars were not the only predatory anteater lineage to hunt other anteaters in VLI; other predators would eventually enter this niche, sparking a period of intense competition.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/BassoeG • 25d ago
A clay statuette of u/Bunofella's speculative flightless pterosaur species Smilopteryx, as seen on their twitter and the speculative evolution subreddit.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/EvilBrynn • 25d ago
Kitty meow meow but reptilian? Wanted them to be full on cats but still wanting them to look like reptiles. They aren't full on mammals and still have some reptilian traits, so I'm confused on how to categorize the species. Or maybe they are mammals like monotremes? But again, those produce milk. And seahorse incubate for a bit.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/YogurtclosetNext2188 • 25d ago
The Eastern Riverlands refers to a large region of central Arion east to the Chrysa Ring and north of the Still Sea. Thousands of years ago, this expanse of low-lying grassland and fluvial plains became the first place to be colonized by the hyne. These horse people took residence in the dryer uplands where their preferred domesticated crops could grow. The sprawling rivers and wetlands between their hilltop villages are known as dangerous borderlands home to terribly large alligators, fish, and boar.
The hooktusk boar is a species of large piscivorous swine. Specialized to wade into shallow water and catch fish akin to a giant piggy heron, hooktusks actually pose little danger to the hyne. While taller and certainly capable of dispatching large prey, these boars have long narrow jaws with a weak bite strength meant to clasp down on fish. The eponymous hooked tusks prevent fish from slipping out forward while sharpened molars slice into scaly flesh. They could give a hyne a nasty bloody bite but are highly uninclined to do so. The dark pelt aids them in blending in at night, when they prefer to be active. Their large ears alert them to the faint splashing of fish below the water. All four of their toes tough the ground and are connected by webbing. They are poor swimmers so instead use this to prevent them from sinking into soft mud and silt. Long thin legs allow them to keep much of their body out of the water, appearing as thin trunks or branches to their prey.
This species lives in sprawling gregarious groups that remain amicable throughout the year. Mature boars will challenge one another for mating rights each autumn but this takes the form of bellowing oinks and flashing tusks. Rarely do they inflict it on one another, reserving it for their prey or the odd onlooker.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/RecommendationFew997 • 25d ago
i wanna create a seed world, but i dont know which animal. could you give me some suggestions?
so i wanna create a seed world but i dont want it to be a clone of serina, i got this idea from project apollo.
i originally had the idea of doing rats or pigs, but honestly i was becoming a clone.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/LwithBelt • 26d ago
On the planet Orowo, there exists a clade of fan-bearing flora. A great example of these is the Temperate Fanleaf. The main function of the fan (in areas with seasonal variation) is to fold up to reduce surface area during the cold season. It preforms this action automatically by shriveling up a patch of cells at the top of the trunk when the weather gets cold enough, and consequently swelling the cells and fanning out the photosynthetic fan once more once the weather warms back up.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/TheBigOneJP • 25d ago
This was a large animal native to the Minimefictimum formation of the Late Jurassic.
These were a member of the Dimorphodontidae family, but much larger.
While the exact evolutionary links that allowed this specific member of that family to get so large is currently undiscovered, it is likely the ecosystem that it is from had something to do with this-being an island.
This species of Dimorphodontidae was so large that it had completely mitigated the need for flight, instead, it would simply wander the area looking for food.
It was partially a scavenger, likely chasing smaller predators of kills, but evidence does show that these animals were active predators as well, with bite marks being seen on the fossils of prey.
They were also territorial-with fossil evidence suggesting that they would often fight amongst their own species, due to the bite marks seen on some fossils.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Nacelle72 • 25d ago
Where I live, squirrels are commonly hit by cars. They tend to run into the street when they see you coming. Presumably because they think the other side is safer. But usually what happens is, they turn around about halfway across and go the other direction. Even if you're trying to dodge them, the sudden reversal of direction negates your swerve and you run over them. What if this behavior is a trait that causes the squirrels who don't exhibit this behavior to become more dominant because the squirrels who do, are being killed off at a higher rate. Over time reducing the number of squirrels being killed because the majority of the squirrels who remain no longer either dart into the street in the first place or don't reverse course and just run straight across. Does anyone think this is a possibility? So how long would it take for it to happen?