We literally have a rule titled "But they did it!" which states that just because someone else made an implausible organism doesn't mean you can

Octherma was supposed to be doing chemosynthesis with sulfur, presumably requiring heat for the reaction. It was just poorly worded.

I guess we're just using this for Week 27 then.



I still need to make a write-up for this but VC on the discord drained my energy haha (and I may need to throw in a few more herbivores). It's another predator for lamarck, but it's an omnivore and can fall back on other food sources if necessary.

Yeah, that is too far. It can ONLY have a range that's connected to the ancestor's range.

In Beta a more distant biome might be allowed by flyway rules, but that's too far even for a flyway.

It's supposed to have a light underbelly, yes. I didn't realize until I was coloring that it wouldn't be very visible in this pose.

Wait a minute, how did this get to Vonnegut? The ancestor isn't even found in the same hemisphere.

whoops, yeah google kept autocorrecting it and it looks like I missed one

Lunging Camoback (Saliensaurus longicollum) (long-necked leaping-lizard)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Camoback
Habitat: Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Highboreal, Lamarck Rocky, Maineiac Volcanic, Maineiac Plains, Lamarck Highvelt, Lamarck Alpine, Lamarck Lowboreal, Lamarck Prairie, Lamarck Steppe
Size: 1 meter long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Adult: Carnivore (juvenile Wingless Florasnapper, juvenile Tyrannical Corvisnapper, juvenile Pebbleback, Harvester Pedesorm, Fruitsnapper, juvenile Logcrusher, Violet Kitshrox, Atholat, Crowned Treeshrog, Sormlicker Sauceback, Corvisnapper, juvenile Snowy Florasnapper, Snow Corvisnapper, Scaled Diveskunik, Frosty Sauceback, Sormsnapper, Mountsnapper, Teacup Saucebacks); Juvenile: Omnivore (Teacup Saucebacks, Harvester Pedesorm, Minikruggs, Silkruggs, Scaled Diveskunik, Marbleflora, Sapshrooms, Supershrooms)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm (Basking)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Hard-Shelled Eggs)

The lunging camoback replaced its ancestor. As an ectotherm in a cold climate, it was naturally unsuited to the role of apex predator in an environment containing many insulated endotherms. It was especially unsuited to being a pursuit predator, as it could only keep up on hot summer days. So, it shrunk in size and began ambushing smaller prey instead.

The lunging camoback’s hind legs are much longer than its forelegs. Instead of propelling it in a sprint, these launch it forward in a pounce. Should it miss, it will swing its long neck around to try and grab the now-fleeing prey in its mouth. Its fangs and beak allow it to easily get a secure grip. Once it has caught its prey, if it’s small it will eat it whole, but if it’s larger it will tear it to pieces, holding it down with its claws and pulling with its mouth, and chew with its meat-slicing teeth if necessary. It has lost its tail so that it won’t be in the way of its legs.

The lunging camoback is solitary and territorial. It advertises its health with its color-changing dewlap, intimidating rivals with a vibrant green or, when the season is right, impressing potential mates with rainbows and contrasting colors. In territory disputes, if neither backs down, they will fight until one submits. Injuries sustained in such fights can be fatal, but it usually doesn’t come to that.

The lunging camoback, as an ectotherm, is incapable of surviving awake over winter. Because of this, it hibernates in burrows deep underground, like many temperate-climate reptiles on Earth. It makes use of antifreeze proteins to survive even subpolar winters.

Like its ancestor, the lunging camoback lays hard-shelled eggs. It buries these underground where they will be safe from most potential predators and offers no further parental care. It mates and lays its eggs in the early summer. About a month later, they hatch into small omnivorous juveniles, which supplement a diet of small creatures with marbleflora and shrooms. The juveniles, like the adults, must hibernate. This results in them taking at least 6 years to reach full size in the subpolar biomes, but only 2 or 3 in the temperate regions, as their growth is dependent on food and environmental factors.

Atholat (Atholus atholus) (domeless domeless)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Kakonat
Habitat: Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Highboreal, Lamarck Rocky, Maineiac Volcanic, Maineiac Plains, Lamarck Highvelt, Lamarck Alpine, Lamarck Lowboreal, Lamarck Prairie, Lamarck Steppe
Size: 25 cm long
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Diet: Herbivore (Vingrasions, Pioneeroots, Marbleflora, Octovinbion, Brieneux, Polyprong Orbush, Sappy Pinknose, Mainestalk, Pilunoroot, Pilokepderi, Fuzzpile leaves, Tepoflora, Larands, Sunstalks, Supershrooms, Sapshrooms, Hair Nimbuses, Parasitic Floats), Scavenger
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Cotton)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth)

The atholat split from its ancestor and moved inland, finding success all over the Lamarck landmass. Much like its ancestor, it makes use of its mobile mineralized fangs to snip food into bite-sized pieces, and it has taken almost entirely to herbivory, though it is not opposed to nibbling on the occasional carcass. Its coat color varies from reddish to black depending on its environment and it has a longer, denser winter coat.

The atholat uses its tongue, which has a hand at the end, to pull flora into its mouth, and then it cuts it with its fangs. It then places the cut piece into a pouch beneath its tongue and repeats the process. The pouch allows it to carry food back to its den for storage or to feed to its offspring if it happens to have any. Lacking anything that can be easily modified into grinding teeth, the atholat makes use of gastroliths embedded in a specialized pair of pads in its stomach to grind up plant matter. Like most plents, it has a blind gut and must eventually regurgitate its waste.

As the atholat is now herbivorous, it no longer expends electricity stunning prey. Instead, it stores that electricity so that it may discharge it in self-defense. When facing a predator, if the atholat cannot flee on foot, it will stand its ground and wave around its tongue as a warning. The green color makes it highly visible next to the purple flora and reddish or black soil in its environment. If the predator does not back off, it will grab at it with its tongue and discharge the stored electricity. This can outright kill smaller predators, while larger ones will be stunned long enough for the atholat to flee. The atholat cannot limit how much it discharges and needs to recharge before it can do this again, during which time it is vulnerable to predation. However, its predators might not know that and can still be deterred by its warning. Regardless, if it is caught by surprise, it may not be able to react in time before it is killed, so the atholat is far from immune to predators.

As the atholat has no claws, it does not burrow, but it does live in dens where food is stored and which it can flee into when threatened. These are usually either the abandoned burrows of other species, hollow logs, tree hollows that are accessible close to ground level, or under the remains of an abandoned shrog nest. A large amount of food is stored in these dens so that the atholat can stay healthy even during harsh winters where less flora is available.

The atholat has no breeding season and mates many times a year. It no longer noisily bonks heads over mating rights like its ancestors, thus it no longer has a dome on its head. Its lower jaw, quite flexible thanks to its wooden makeup and lack of teeth, easily bends to accommodate the birth of 2-3 babies each roughly the size of its head. Only the mother takes a part in raising the young. Babies are fed softer flora until they have their fangs and their stomachs can handle gastroliths, at which point they are able to start eating tougher and more abrasive flora. The atholat reaches maturity in about 3 months.

edited

Tyrannical Corvisnapper (Tyrannocorvus lisafrankii) (Lisa Frank’s tyrant-raven)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Corvisnapper
Habitat: Lamarck Lowboreal, Lamarck Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Temperate Rainforest, Lamarck Highboreal, Lamarck Rocky, Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Maineiac Volcanic
Size: 2 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Hollow Bone)
Diet: Carnivore (Wingless Florasnapper, Pebbleback, Logcrusher, Ballshrog, Fruitsnapper, Camoback, Violet Kitshrox, Crowned Treeshrog, Frosty Sauceback, Maineiac Uktank, Corvisnapper, Sormsnapper, Mountsnapper, Sormlicker Sauceback, Teacup Saucebacks, cannibal of unrelated chicks), Scavenger
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Downy Feathers)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Hard-Shelled Eggs)

The tyrannical corvisnapper split from its ancestor. It is much larger than its ancestor and completely carnivorous. It is a ground hunter which chases down prey on foot and latches on with its hooked wing claws, but it incorporates flight to cross uneven terrain that its prey has to slow down to navigate around on foot. Alone, it usually hunts small prey, but it is also capable of taking down larger prey by hunting as a mob. In addition to grappling with prey, it also uses its claws to attempt to tear open the nests of ballshrogs to access the shrogs hidden inside.

The tyrannical corvisnapper is not especially social, but it would be inaccurate to call it completely asocial. As mentioned previously, it is capable of mob-hunting to take down larger prey. It is not especially territorial, but when two have their eyes on the same prey, they might fight over it. In general though, tyrannical corvisnappers have a silent agreement with one another to not steal one another’s prey and to keep a respectful distance if they happen to cross paths. When food is plentiful, there is no need to fight.

The tyrannical corvisnapper mates in the early summer and nests in elevated locations, such as on cliffs or atop boulders. The hatchlings are altricial and eat food which is brought to them by their parents. They become fledglings capable of leaving the nest within 3 weeks, but continue to be cared for by one or both parents for the first several months of their lives. Juveniles are generally better fliers than adults due to their smaller size, and will often use their wing claws to scale trees where they are safe from their own predators, including unrelated adults of their own species. At one year of age, they are independent and primarily scavengers, but will also hunt for small fauna. They reach sexual maturity in 2 years and can live for up to a decade.

Quick note, I'm currently making a species that uses its claws to tear open ballshrog nests. Some kind of defense against predators might be good to add.

Wingless Florasnapper (Pseudornithischia pascor) (grazing pseudo-ornithischian)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Snowy Florasnapper
Habitat: Lamarck Lowboreal, Lamarck Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Temperate Rainforest, Lamarck Highboreal, Lamarck Rocky, Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Maineiac Volcanic
Size: 1.5 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Hollow Bone)
Diet: Herbivore (Vingrasions, Octovinbion, Polyprong Orbush)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Downy Feathers)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Hard-Shelled Eggs)

The wingless florasnapper split from its ancestor. It has completely lost flight via deletion of its wing finger, as it rarely flew and the wing was often torn as it used its forelimbs for other things. This deletion was caused by a change in morphogen levels, similar to that which handles the number of digits on the limbs of Terran vertebrates, which resulted in the last finger simply never developing at all. It is a grazing herbivore which lives over much of Lamarck, mostly eating vingrasions and related flora which it clips using its beak and chews using its teeth. It is able to exist as a grazer in the woodlands due to Lamarck’s trees not providing significant shade, thus allowing a lush undergrowth to thrive. It has developed a tympanic ear which allows it to listen for danger. As it lives in generally warmer climates than its ancestor, its plumage is shorter and its tail has returned to a greater length for better balance. Northern populations have longer, shaggier plumage, however, and southern populations have a longer winter coat. Over the winter, the wingless florasnapper survives by using its clawed forelimbs to uncover the prongs of dormant vingrasions for sustenance.

Much like its ancestor, the wingless florasnapper lays hard-shelled eggs. In the northern part of its range, it must take advantage of the short subpolar summer and nest as early as possible, while further south its nesting season is a little bit more relaxed, spanning late spring and early summer. It nests hidden among shrubs such as tetrabrachs, and both parents watch over the nest and incubate the eggs. They will brutally attack anything that even looks like it might be a predator, ensuring their young are safe. Chicks are fully feathered and able to run very soon after hatching, allowing them to follow their parents and flee from danger. Wingless florasnappers reach maturity in one year and can live for up to nine.

Red Rivershrog (Vulpelutra rufus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Maineiac Rivershrog
Habitat: Maineiac Temperate Riparian, Maineiac Montane Riparian, Maineiac Temperate Palus, Maineiac Lake, Maineiac Temperate River, Maineiac Montane River, Maineiac Marsh, Maineiac Temperate Mudflat
Size: 1 meter long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Carnivore (Scorpodile, Riparian Scorpodile, Maineiac Shocker, Srugeing, Dwarf Maineiac Gilltail, Red-Eye Seaswimmer, Miniswarmers, Grabbyswarmers, Larvaback, Flashfin Gilltail, Scraperbeak Gilltail, Pruning Gilltail, Minnosparrow larvae, Scaled Srugeing larvae, Srugeing-of-Paradise larvae, Aossi larvae, Finback)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Fur)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth, Milk)

As the course of the Maineiac river changed, it no longer crossed the forests from which Maineiac rivershrogs sourced much of their wood, forcing them to adapt. This produced the red rivershrog, which replaced its ancestor.

The red rivershrog is very similar to its ancestor, at least physically, outside of its shorter, redder fur and longer facial osteoderms. The main difference that sets it apart is in its nests. Without a near-infinite supply of wood, the iconic “villages” of elaborate compound nests that its ancestor built were unsustainable. This is not to say that the red rivershrog no longer makes elaborate nests, but it is far more comfortable in close quarters than its ancestor, so many shrogs will inhabit a single structure. The nests themselves also differ considerably, no longer made only of wood and instead including a significant amount of mud and thatch in their structure. They better resemble elevated beaver lodges than shrog nests, which also helps to make them less conspicuous, especially as flora such as vingrasions--which, coincidentally, help hold them together due to their net-like colony structure--more readily grow on them.

The nests are generally constructed on overlapping clusters of diagonal tetrabrachs that grow along the river and lake, which by their shape naturally hold them up. Though these shrubs don’t support heavy weight further along their length, close to their base they are very strong, which makes them useful for this purpose. This is more efficient and stable, and less labor-intensive, than using stilts and beams made from dead wood which has been artificially introduced by the shrog, though prongs from smaller tetrabrachs and saplings will still often be incorporated into the nest. The prongs themselves eliminate the need to construct bridges and ramps to different nodes of the nest. This makes the red rivershrog semi-arboreal, though it is hard to say when in its evolution this happened, as its ancestor already lived in elevated nests.

The red rivershrog no longer fells huge trees for wood. As such, the osteoderms along its tail have vanished. Its tail saw has taken on an axe-like shape, suited to cutting down young trees and lopping off the flexible prongs of tetrabrach shrubs. Ossified tendons keep it straight, making it more effective and less prone to injury, like the tail of a terran ankylosaur.

Semi-arboreality is somewhat integrated into the red rivershrog’s hunting strategy, though not always. Like its ancestor, it lives mainly along slow-moving ponds and tributaries and uses pieces of meat as bait to attract larger aquatic creatures, which it then ambushes as a mob and kills using simple wooden spears. Some populations along the lakeside and swamp make use of extremely horizontal tetrabrachs to take this to the deeper waters, where their prey will be less wary, and prod the resulting carcass with spears to get it to shore. This does present the potential problem of falling into the water, which could lead to drowning or predation by larger fauna, so only smaller mobs that can stay stable on the bending horizontal prong are likely to do this. Individuals and juveniles may also climb along the prong to hunt smaller fauna, such as gilltails and swarmers, even if the particular population won’t hunt large creatures this way.

In general, the red rivershrog is more socially coordinated than its ancestor, though it rarely lives in groups of more than 15. Groups will often have a leader whose judgment they trust. Cultural “words” for cardinal directions based on the flow of the river still exist mostly unchanged, though they differ somewhat in lakeside populations to instead refer to the direction relative only to the water’s edge, as they never cross the lake. However, as they no longer form “villages”, they no longer have a word that can be used to point out a specific nest, leaving them with only 4 common words. The key word is “common”, however, as occasionally, new local words will pop up to refer to landmarks. Red rivershrogs are instinctively capable of recognizing one another by their horns, but much like a human seeing a face in a random blob, this can lead to them seeing a set of horns in, say, a tree stump, a rock, or a pile of sticks. After hearing too many inquisitive trills from others wondering “who” it is, one rivershrog might finally decide to assign it a name-bark, turning it into a named landmark. Otherwise, the red rivershrog’s vocalizations and body language are the same as its ancestor’s.

Like its ancestor, the red rivershrog has a mating season in the late fall, and multiple neighboring groups will come together in the same place along the river to ensure genetic diversity. It uses its horns as a health indicator when selecting a mate. Males often have larger horns than females, though not as a rule. It settles disputes over mating competition through ritual clashing and raking of horns. The loss of its tail osteoderms means that it no longer has to mate belly-to-belly, as the remaining osteoderms on its back are not very sharp and serve more as armor. This makes mating quicker and easier, reducing the chances that they might be interrupted by a threat such as a predator. Similar to its ancestor, the red rivershrog is polygamous and exhibits bisexual mating behavior, where they will mate with both the same and opposite sex.

The red rivershrog gestates for 3 months and gives birth in early spring. Newborns are naked and helpless, but well-developed, and live in their mother’s pouch. They grow and develop enough to be weaned in a matter of weeks, and they take about 4½ years to reach maturity. Some will stay in their home when they mature, but most will disperse, joining other communities and ensuring genetic diversity. The red rivershrog can live as long as 30 years, should it not die from disease or predation.

The red rivershrog retains all of its ancestor’s relationships with other species. Maineiac shailnitors keep their nests clean by eating feces and rotten meat, and red rivershrogs, despite finding them cute, will still sometimes kill them for bait if there are too many of them. Despite there being fewer nests, the Maineiac shailnitor maintains the same population and reproductive rate as before, as more shrogs in a single nest produce more waste for the shailnitors to eat. The red rivershrog also only exists in the less brackish parts of the marsh close to the river, as the Maineiac shailnitor will die if the water is too salty and the red rivershrog is dependent on it to keep its nests clean. The nests are also populated by cleaner borvermids and false cleaner borvermids.

Could you add more spacing between the paragraphs please?

What do they do during wildfires and over winter?

I lifted the term from the pine pambu! I like doing little nods to classic species and lineages like that.

The background is abstract. It's unclear what the bark texture would be for this lineage.

I've added a note about diagonal morphs in wetlands

I added a note that they turn white on death as well

As you were told previously, single species have a single size, not a size range.

The artwork must still have color somewhere, such as the background, to indicate that it is not just uncolored.

Unless this species really is just pure white, all illustrations need to be in color.

Nimbuses are not white.

Pretty sure it's just a coincidence

Tetrabrachs (Tetrabrachipropagum spp.)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Four-Prongion
Habitat: Lamarck
Size: 8-20 meters tall (base to branch-tip)
Support: Cell Wall (Cellulose), Woody Trunk
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: ?
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual and Asexual (Hardy Spores)

Tetrabrachs split from their ancestor and diversified into a genus of trees and shrubs found all over Lamarck and the surrounding islands. Resembling some sort of hybrid between a fern and a pine tree, these hardy everpinks survive just about everywhere in their range from the frigid boreal forests to the warmer temperate shrublands and even the wetlands and beaches, and they even dot the plains.

The many tetrabrach species vary primarily in size and the degree of “spread” or “sprawl” of their four prongs. Woodlands and rainforests are populated by two main morphs, those with thinner, more flexible prongs sticking straight up and those with thicker, diagonal prongs mostly supported by loosely interlocking with one another. The two morphs will usually co-exist in the same area, with the diagonal morphs catching the light which passes the narrow profile of the vertical morphs. This duality is also observed in old growth shrubland, though shrubland species are typically much smaller than woodland ones. In the dry open plains, most local species are small and vertical and are only found in isolation or in small clusters around bodies of water. Vertical morphs are also more common in the mountains. Part of the reason for this is because the flexible vertical morphs are more wind-resistant than their less flexible diagonal counterparts. However, the diagonal morphs dominate in wetlands, palus, beaches, and tiny islands in the mangals, as they are more stable on the soft ground. Some wetland species have a sprawl so great they might even be better described as horizontal than diagonal. The two morphs readily evolve into one another, and can even exist in a single species.

The branches along the prongs are flexible and will readily bend when laden with snow, causing it to slide off. The bristle-like leaves are resistant to water loss, which helps the species thrive in both very cold and very dry environments. The prongs and branches can support small fauna and can bend under their weight, though only the diagonal morphs can support larger creatures without snapping. They can regrow after a prong is broken, and in some cases they will fork after such injuries.

Like their ancestor, tetrabrachs can reproduce either sexually or asexually with either gamete spores or clonal spores, respectively, which grow from the ends of their branches. They are dependent on water to bring their spores together, generally making use of rain or snowmelt. During development, they are initially skinny and only their trunks have heartwood until they reach their full trunk-level height, at which point the interior of the prongs lignify for support as they grow longer and thicker. Larger species can take decades to reach full size.

I'm kinda hoping it does with time, it's kinda set to evolve into highly competitive grassalogues that can finally shake up the dominance of puffplant derivative grasses and things that aren't really grasslike but pretend to be

The line of symmetry is the other way

Vingrasions (Octopusgramen spp.) (octopus grass)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Octovinbion
Habitat: Lamarck, Barlowe
Size: 25 cm-2 meters tall
Support: Cell Wall (Cellulose)
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: ?
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Asexual (Budding), Sexual (Spores)

Vingrasions split from their ancestor and diversified. Their hubs are even closer to the ground than before, and in fact in some species can be almost completely subterranean. This protects them from predators, which will instead focus on their tall leaves. This makes them somewhat like terran grasses, though they are a long way from really comparing to them outside of superficial appearances.

The leaves of vingrasions are long, symmetrical, and repeating. One side forms a flat blade-like shape, while the other grows another leaf pointed in the opposite direction. They grow one on top of another like this until they break under their own weight, are burned in a wildfire, or are cropped by herbivores, after which they are soon replaced by another chain of leaves growing from the same prong. In open biomes such as the plains and shrubland, they can reach great heights by supporting one another as they grow. They have developed sexual reproduction, the spores formed on their leaves being blown by wind or transported by fauna and depending on water from rain or snowmelt to come together. They also bud, each prong being able to grow a new hub.

Speaking of prongs, another distinct feature of the vingrasions is that not all of their prongs are above ground. Their hubs are placed so low that four of their eight prongs will instead essentially burrow underground, leaving them even more protected from herbivores. Prongs will grow hubs anywhere but only grow leaves when exposed to sunlight, the latter feature also allowing the species to avoid wasting energy producing leaves while, for example, covered by snow. The number of leaves that grow from a prong are highly variable, and while regular intervals like the ancestor are common, they can also be less regular and more clustered depending on the species.

There are many species of vingrasion found in a myriad of environments. During ecological succession, they usually first arrive after annuals. The smallest species are found in extremely harsh environments, such as the desert, tundra, badlands, and alpine. They depend on fertile soil and form clumps in patches of fertility in some biomes. To survive in environments with harsh winters, they survive dormant through their prongs and grow new leaves when summer arrives. Alpine species also make use of excess sugar in their leaves to avoid freezing overnight. Taller species can be found in the plains and shrublands. As the woodlands of Lamarck lack shade trees and are full of sunlight, vingrasions easily thrive on the forest floor, creating a lush understory. It is a different story in the darker forests of Barlowe, where the vingrasions mostly thrive in younger growth lacking in the tall black trees which would suppress them. Some species are also tolerant of brackish water and thrive in the beaches and areas where sediment has gathered to make small islands in the mangals, which aided the genus in spreading to nearby islands and crossing into Barlowe.