The main thing outdated with the habitat rules is that for whatever reason a few biomes are placed in the wrong type and lumped into a single flavor when they shouldn't be, mainly oceanic biomes, because prior to the ice age they were not split into temperature types and were treated completely differently altogether before the ice comet and the rules simply have not caught up for some reason (a fact I am certain of because if they were taken at face value, a species in both tropical and glacial oceans would be allowed). This looks like it fits into the rules anyway, at least in terms of types and flavors.

That said, I don't think this could go global like that. Shrogs do indeed transport a lot of fauna, but unless these are being kept as long-term pets they aren't gonna get across the ocean any further than about flyway distance, and if they are kept long-term, they would need two additional flavors (coast/shallows and open ocean).

Edit: This thread explains better. http://sagan4.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=928

honestly I don't understand a lot of it myself, but with plents, because of how much was done to them retroactively to make them as plant-like as possible, we have to assume plant-like traits unless proven otherwise, and then find a way to bend plant-like traits to fit.

Nearly all of Sagan 4's biochemistry is completely unelaborated. Until I pointed out how stupid it was, plents were stated to have sap filled with literal chlorophyll instead of blood.

Actually, the thing that makes the yellow vertebrate-specific cannot apply to plents specifically because of biochemistry. The particular pigment is highly dependent on having vertebrate-like blood, which plents canonically do not, as their blood cells are modified chloroplasts. @colddigger

I've been informed that the yellowish color of urine is a vertebrate thing. Further biochemistry investigation needed, may require an art update depending on the verdict.

Floravermis would be more accurate I think (for a genus)

Genus groups need plural titles.

Veto - needs to list specific hosts. Only genus groups may be vague on this.

Removed from species hold - dependent on a species not yet approved, therefore cannot be approved yet nor put in the hold on the off chance the species it depends on is rejected (thus requiring this species to be edited to fit)

support is Exoskeleton (Chitin)

it was a joke

I have added the additional supplementary image

Renamed it under peer pressure, also working on an additional supplementary image

Hang-Gliding Pinyuk (Tympaniyakus conscendus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Tree Pinyuk
Habitat: South LadyM Temperate Ocean, South Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Jujubee Tropical Ocean, LadyM Tropical Ocean, North LadyM Temperate Ocean, North Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Fermi Temperate Coast, Wind Temperate Coast, Dass Temperate Coast, Jlindy Tropical Coast, BigL Tropical Coast, Clarke Temperate Coast, King Tropical Coast, Chum Tropical Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast, Soma Temperate Coast, Fly Tropical Shallows, Hydro Tropical Coast, Oz Temperate Coast, Maineiac Temperate Coast, Blocks Salt Marsh, Bone Salt Marsh, Huggs Salt Marsh, Irinya Salt Marsh, Yokto Salt Marsh, Maineiac Salt Marsh, Always Salt Swamp, Bardic Salt Swamp, BioCat Salt Swamp, Blood Salt Swamp, Gec Salt Swamp, Glicker Salt Swamp, Ichthy Salt Swamp, Jeluki Salt Swamp, Kenotai Salt Swamp, Pipcard Salt Swamp, Terra Salt Swamp, Wright Salt Swamp, Driftwood Islands Tropical Shallows, Driftwood Islands Temperate Shallows, Driftwood Islands Tropical Bank, Driftwood Islands Temperate Bank
Size: 35 cm long, 70 cm "wingspan"
Support: Endoskeleton (Hollow Bone)
Diet: Herbivore (Mangrovecrystal crystals, Topship Fuzzpalm leaves, Tlukvaequabora leaves, Bonegrove leaves, Mainland Fuzzpalm leaves, Fuzzpile leaves)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Feathers)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Hard-Shelled Eggs)

The hang-gliding pinyuk split from its ancestor, becoming a living oxymoron. Somehow, this 5-legged superficially goat-like creature has unlocked the secrets of soaring without having powered flight, nor even being capable of evolving it from its current gliding method, and gone straight from life as an arboreal parachuter in the forest to gliding as high as 2 kilometers above the open ocean. This brings up a very important question: How on Sagan 4 did that happen?

This transition began when tree pinyuks in Yokto Temperate Riparian migrated south to Yokto Salt Marsh. There, they used mangrovecrystals the same way they used vesuvianite trees, climbing them like a Terran goat would. They began to eat the crystals from these trees more often than anything else, and they gained longer flank feathers and hollow bones so that they could leap between trees without falling into the wet marsh below. This was aided in part by the thermals generated by colonial bubblgea, and they learned to glide towards those to get a significant upwards boost. They became smaller to suit this lifestyle more and more, gradually becoming more feather than pinyuk, as it both made them lighter and allowed them to climb through denser branches.

Over time, these transitional forms got so good at gliding that they could travel between the more scattered mangroves in the coastal areas further south, in Soma Temperate Coast. Their flank feathers functioning like the numerous airfoils of slotted wings, they were able to glide very far--in fact, when they took advantage of thermals, they could gain height and glide indefinitely. This is similar to how Terran humans can gain height when using unpowered gliders. As they could reach cloud height by gliding in a circle within the thermal, they could very easily scan for mangroves and floating flora over hundreds of kilometers without traveling far from home. As a result of this, combined with regular dispersal caused by mangrovecrystals breaking away from the seabed, they rapidly dispersed all over the ocean.

Image Caption: Underside of female showing full breadth of flank feathers


Image Caption: Flank feathers removed to show anatomy


The hang-gliding pinyuk's hindquarters are very unusual in that they have seemingly moved from its back end to its midsection. This was able to occur because of a lesser-known detail of the anatomy of terrestrial spondylozoans; despite their tetrapod-like appearance, they actually lack a true pelvis and, by default, the hind legs are supported solely by a muscular sling, similar to the forelegs. This means that, at least in species with primitive hindlimb anatomy such as pinyuks, they can relatively easily have their position shifted, though this is not usually selected for because the support they provide for the rear end is very useful and shifting them forward makes mating somewhat more difficult for males because their own legs get in the way. In this case, however, doing so shifted the hang-gliding pinyuk's center of gravity forward, which in turn makes it far more balanced and stable in the air, as it is no longer back-heavy. This has had the side effect of making "hexapod" mutations--where the tail limb branches at the base--no longer automatically crippling, though 6-legged individuals usually do not survive to adulthood; while they are able to run and glide just as well as their 5-legged siblings, the reduced left-right flexibility of the tail limb makes them poor climbers.

The hang-gliding pinyuk's ears have fully disconnected from its eyes and the cartilage "ribbing" which crossed the tympanum is now absent. This grants it even better hearing than its ancestor (and once again better than any other "dweller" thus far), despite no longer having a "mammal-eared" silhouette. The hang-gliding pinyuk lives in and feeds from various tall flora, both floating in the open sea and forming mangroves in coasts and estuaries, and constructs its nests from fallen leaves, twigs, roots, and smaller floating flora it gathers from nearby, as well as its own shed feathers. Its feathers are not waterproof, so after swimming around to forage for floating nest material, it must bask to dry off. When at rest, its flank feathers splay outwards at an angle, but they can also be pulled up or flattened against its side. They are attached to its ribs and tail leg bones, preventing them from being torn out by rough winds.

Like its ancestor, the hang-gliding pinyuk is sexually dimorphic, with males (pictured) having an orange crest which is completely absent in females. Though it lives in smaller groups than before (though groups of 40 are still possible, they are limited by the size and number of trees nearby), it is still polygamous, and males fight one another ritualistically for the right to mate. Using its passive flight ability, males from other trees or mangroves may migrate from afar to mate with unrelated females. As mentioned previously, the change to the hindlimbs makes mating more difficult; to solve this, the male will mount the female diagonally instead of straight from behind and rest one of his hindlimbs on her back to keep it out of the way. With somewhat fewer current predators and less livable space in its chosen environment, it only lays 16-24 eggs at a time.

The hang-gliding pinyuk is a common sight aboard topship shrog nests, due to the large number of trees together on a single platform encouraging it to land there when dispersing. Topship shrogs are generally tolerant of hang-gliding pinyuks, as while they eat the leaves from the trees making up their nest, they are generally harmless in small numbers.

That sunlight zone thing is not how the biome system has been treated at all since the snowball event over a decade ago. The rules are filled with comically outdated things like that, they're really disorganized. (I had to go through them all for Beta)

The "yellow = sulfur" thing was apparently explicitly true in earlier weeks, but it is unclear if it is still true now / yellow may mean sandstone instead. There were no indicators that things changed, and any post that may have existed specifying on the old forum is gone.

That is only 3 flavors (open ocean (sunlight zone), shallows, and wetlands). Salt is not a flavor, and coasts and shallows (and bay, though there are none this week) are the same flavor.

Now I want to make a predatory krillpede called a killpede.

Support should be "Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)". This is the standard formatting, and for plents it is extremely important to specify jointed vs unjointed.

Colonial Bubblgea (Polybullaphyta sartus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Southern Bubblgea
Habitat: South LadyM Temperate Ocean, South Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Jujubee Tropical Ocean, LadyM Tropical Ocean, North LadyM Temperate Ocean, North Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Fermi Temperate Coast, Wind Temperate Coast, Dass Temperate Coast, Jlindy Tropical Coast, BigL Tropical Coast, Clarke Temperate Coast, King Tropical Coast, Chum Tropical Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast, Soma Temperate Coast, Fly Tropical Shallows, Hydro Tropical Coast, Oz Temperate Coast, Maineiac Temperate Coast, Blocks Salt Marsh, Bone Salt Marsh, Huggs Salt Marsh, Irinya Salt Marsh, Yokto Salt Marsh, Maineiac Salt Marsh, Always Salt Swamp, Bardic Salt Swamp, BioCat Salt Swamp, Blood Salt Swamp, Gec Salt Swamp, Glicker Salt Swamp, Ichthy Salt Swamp, Jeluki Salt Swamp, Kenotai Salt Swamp, Pipcard Salt Swamp, Terra Salt Swamp, Wright Salt Swamp, Driftwood Islands Tropical Shallows, Driftwood Islands Temperate Shallows
Size: 20 cm wide, 40 cm tall
Support: Cell Wall (Cellulose), Air Bubble
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: Passive (Diffusion)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Sexual Budding), Asexual (Normal Budding)

The colonial bubblgea split from its ancestor, returning north. But while from its ancestor it was merely a split, this species rapidly outcompeted all other descendants of the bubble droopgea in its range. There were multiple factors that allowed this to occur.

First and most importantly, the colonial bubblgea has gained sexual reproduction. Through a mutation, it evolved to produce external, largely unformed buds on its roots, which contain half of their parent's genetic material. These detach themselves during development when they consist of only a few cells and fuse with those of other colonial bubblgeas they encounter suspended in the water, producing offspring with the complete genomes of both. No longer attaching to the seabed, they instead become buoyant very quickly and float throughout their life. Early in its evolution, before it evolved meiosis, their sexual buds contained their parents' full genetic material; as a result, the colonial bubblgea's genome grew over 100 times its previous size, giving it a lot more genetic material to work with to evolve further. This also automatically made it inherently healthier and better at evolving than any other species.

Second, the colonial bubblgea no longer dies to produce young asexually. Instead, the buds produced in its leaves grow to adult size while still attached to their parent. In fact, they never detach at all except when broken off by waves or predators. This has caused the colonial bubblgea to be able to reproduce rapidly and cover the sea, physically crowding out other species in the process. Asexual budding occurs from its leaves, and the connecting stem leads from the parent's leaf to the underside of the offspring's bubble.

Third, the colonial bubblgea has formed a symbiosis with a species of swarmerking. This species, ''Colonimanxerxia polybullaphyta'', is shade-tolerant and clings to the colonial bubblgea's submerged parts, providing excess ammonium through its waste in exchange for shelter from predators and something to cling to. This allows the colonial bubblgea to grow considerably faster than any other species, reaching full size in just 1 week under optimal conditions.

No droopgea commensals or predators were harmed by this rapid change. The colonial bubblgea provides considerable amounts of shelter for small fauna such as common gilltails, squidwhals, krillpedes, and miniswarmers to hide from predators on the open sea. It also provides transport for small terrestrial fauna, aiding in keeping global genus groups global. In fact, the colonial bubblgea has facilitated the spread of the gamergate gundis genus group to Hydro-Barlowe through a rafting event.

Large mats of colonial bubblgea, due to their dark coloration absorbing so much sunlight, create thermals directly over them. These thermals usually generate a cloud. The thermals provide lift to various flying organisms, and the clouds provide extra habitat to sky organisms. The colonial bubblgea does not overheat in warm weather, as the thermal it generates is literally made of excess heat which is drawn up and away from it by the laws of physics. Because of this, it is not harmed by retaining a very dark coloration.

It fills a different niche from seashrog and uses lower-quality wood, so I don't think the two species would fight.

The ancestor lived on beaches and drank saltwater already, so I figure it has the same saltwater adaptations its ancestor did.

Its detritivory is a bit like how saplings might use nurse logs. I'm barely awake so I'll edit clarification later.

When it arrives on a beach, it's literally beached by waves and tides. Dockshrogs and mangroves do not occupy the entire stretch of beach and get broken up by flumpus regularly.

Topship Shrog (Lutrasorex reticularius)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Seashrog
Habitat: Jujubee Tropical Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North Jujubee Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), South Jujubee Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), LadyM Tropical Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North LadyM Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), South LadyM Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), Soma Temperate Coast, Maineiac Temperate Coast, Oz Temperate Coast, Hydro Tropical Coast, Fly Tropical Shallows, King Tropical Coast, Chum Tropical Coast, Jlindy Tropical Coast, BigL Tropical Coast, Dass Temperate Coast, Wind Temperate Coast, Clarke Temperate Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast, Fermi Temperate Coast, Soma Temperate Beach, Maineiac Temperate Beach, Oz Temperate Beach, Hydro Tropical Beach, King Tropical Beach, Chum Tropical Beach, Jlindy Tropical Beach, BigL Tropical Beach, Dass Temperate Beach, Wind Temperate Beach, Clarke Temperate Beach, Elerd Temperate Beach, Fermi Temperate Beach, Ramul Temperate Beach
Size: 2 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Omnivore (Topship Fuzzpalm berries, Mainland Fuzzpalm berries, Miniswarmers, Squidwhals, Common Gilltails, Larvaback, Marbleflora, Chainswarmers, Pioneer Raftballs, Colonial Bobiiro, Diamond Pumpgill, Floating Pumpgill, South Polar Shardgill, Metamorph Spinderorm)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Fur)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Placental, Pouch, Milk)

The topship shrog split from its ancestor. It purposefully exploits topship fuzzpalms to construct sturdy nests capable of lasting multiple generations. It identifies topship berries by their yellow color and extracts the seeds found inside. It plants these in its nest during construction and defends the sapling from predators as it grows, purposefully allowing them to take over the nest. This results in a living nest which requires very little maintenance, resists attack from shrogsnappers, and even has built in shade and sugary snacks. Topship shrog nests are often considerably wider than seashrog nests, sometimes measuring a whopping 30 meters in width and containing up to a dozen topship fuzzpalms, as they do not need to depend on finding trees that grow tall enough to make sufficiently large ribs for support. Their nests last multiple generations and they rarely construct new ones as a result; the learned skills have gradually fallen away and they rely more on instinct and intuition to make new nests when they need to do so.

Unlike the seashrog, which hunts large prey using spears, the topship shrog utilizes nets to catch considerably smaller creatures. These nets are made from excess topship fuzzpalm roots which grow inside the nest and are put together using a weaving instinct present in most tamjacks. Spears are still used for self-defense. When hauling an especially large catch on board, topship shrogs may drape the net over their head and shoulders, effectively gripping with their osteoderms and allowing them to use the strength of all four limbs to drag it aboard. Though their prey is smaller, this hunting method allows them to reap massive rewards--a single catch can include hundreds of gilltails or swarmers and can easily feed a large family. Leftovers are not stored except to feed the topship fuzzpalms, as they rarely fail to catch any food at all in a day. A net can also be cast over small floating flora to satisfy their other nutritional needs.

Because it can obtain so much more food at once and can make such large nests, topship shrogs live in fairly large groups, sometimes containing multiple families. They spend much of the day relaxing and socializing, though they watch the sky for predators as they do so. Obesity is common in topship shrogs, and individuals that are not at least fairly chubby compared to other warm-climate shrog species are rare. Solitary topship shrogs and smaller families also exist, usually found in former seashrog ghost nests which they took over and repurposed. They have similar vocalizations and facial expressions to seashrogs.

Topship shrog nests, being alive, keep themselves fairly clean. This has resulted in the nest being rather hostile to various species that usually inhabit shrog nests, as many of them rely on the presence of large amounts of waste and detritus. Most notably, shailnitors are absent. Kakonats, on the other hand, thrive in the larger topship shrog nests far better than they do in seashrog nests, nibbling at the nest's roots, snatching newly caught prey from the pile, and rarely even swarming and devouring baby topship shrogs.

The topship shrog has a smaller tail saw than its ancestor, as it does not need to use very high-quality wood to make a nest (even a rotting log would suffice) and therefore it uses its tail considerably less. Its tail wears down quickly, unlike the tails of other tamjacks which are fairly resistant to wear, and it grows back slowly. Like most shrogs, the topship shrog has 4 digits on each limb. The innermost digit of each forelimb is opposable and used to grasp tools.

Topship shrogs are somewhat less monogamous than seashrogs, due in part to living in larger groups, but generally still stick to a single partner. The osteoderms on their faces are attractive and they perform a sort of ritual combat where they use them to "head-wrestle". They have no breeding season and females are almost always pregnant or nursing. They gestate for 4 1/2 months and give birth to 2-4 offspring at a time. Newborns live in a pouch and drink milk until their osteoderms start to grow in, at which point they are weaned. They take as long as 6 years to reach full size, but they can live independently as young as 3. They will disperse on beaches upon landfall and set out in search of a mate and a new community to join; it is very rare for a mated pair to start a nest alone, instead finding others of their kind which are either making landfall for their own dispersal or searching for material to build a new nest.

Topship Fuzzpalm (Umbravellopalma navemfurem)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Mainland Fuzzpalm
Habitat: Jujubee Tropical Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North Jujubee Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), South Jujubee Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), LadyM Tropical Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North LadyM Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), South LadyM Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), Soma Temperate Coast, Maineiac Temperate Coast, Oz Temperate Coast, Hydro Tropical Coast, Fly Tropical Shallows, King Tropical Coast, Chum Tropical Coast, Jlindy Tropical Coast, BigL Tropical Coast, Dass Temperate Coast, Wind Temperate Coast, Clarke Temperate Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast, Fermi Temperate Coast, Soma Temperate Beach, Maineiac Temperate Beach, Oz Temperate Beach, Hydro Tropical Beach, King Tropical Beach, Chum Tropical Beach, Jlindy Tropical Beach, BigL Tropical Beach, Dass Temperate Beach, Wind Temperate Beach, Clarke Temperate Beach, Elerd Temperate Beach, Fermi Temperate Beach, Ramul Temperate Beach
Size: 9 meters tall, 1 cm wide berry
Support: Cell Wall (Cellulose), Woody Trunk
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritivore (Shrog nest material)
Respiration: Passive (Stomata)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, Puffy Spores, Berries, Seeds, Pollination by Xenobees

The "lids" of shrog nests were regularly lost, tossed overboard in storms or blown away by a strong wind, which would allow light in. Sometimes, this light would shine on trampled mainland fuzzpalm berries inside, encouraging the seeds within to sprout. Though the mainland fuzzpalm's adaptive trunk would allow these to grow towards the light, more often than not even if they survived predation by the nest's inhabitants, the nest provided very little support for them and would break apart before they reached full size, either from the shrog inhabitants dying and leaving the nest in disrepair or the tree and its roots aiding in destroying the logs that served as the nest's main support. Eventually, however, a new kind of fuzzpalm appeared that did not destroy the nest it grew in. The topship fuzzpalm split from its ancestor.

The topship fuzzpalm has adaptive woody roots which wrap around, "consume" (or, more accurately, take nutrients from as it naturally decomposes), and ultimately replace dead wood. This allows it to take over shrog nests, stealing their shape so that it may float like a boat. This has the side effect of turning it into a pleuston without having any adaptations for floating. Its name comes from the end result; as its adaptive trunk makes it grow out of the nest entrance in the center and a cowlick of fleshy roots at the bottom can create a point, a mature topship without its leaves has a shape vaguely similar to that of a spinning top. Its leaves are longer, though equally fuzzy, allowing it to absorb considerably more light than its ancestor. It commonly has "tufts" of leaves growing on its exposed roots as well. As it has such a rare, specialized habitat, the topship fuzzpalm can live for centuries, maximizing its chances of successfully reproducing at least once. It is able to absorb nutrients from the ocean to fuel its growth.

Topship fuzzpalms are common in "ghost nests", that is, shrog nests where the shrogs inside have died. This is for two main reasons; first, the topship takes a few years to grow and lives much longer than a shrog does, and second, ghost nests usually lose their lids very quickly without them being replaced, so the interior is lit up considerably better. If the original inhabitant of the ghost nest is still inside, the topship will grow its roots through its carcass for the calcium in its bones, creating a tangle of interior roots shaped disturbingly like a shrog. If one grows in a nest that has not been abandoned, however, the conversion of the nest into living material actually benefits the shrog, as a living nest can heal from breaches, resists shrogsnapper attacks, is inedible to pirate waxfaces, and requires considerably less maintenance, though the shrogs must regularly clear out the fleshy aerial roots that start to fill the space so that the tree does not consume their tools and food stores. The leaves also obscure the "deck", so flying predators such as the stonebeak phlyer will not see the shrog on board.

The topship fuzzpalm can sprout on ordinary driftwood, but without the boat shape created by shrogs, it will become top-heavy and eventually fall over. If it survives this and does not simply sink, the adaptive trunk will try to turn back upwards, shifting its center of gravity and causing it to rotate again, creating a feedback loop that causes it to take on a corkscrew shape. When a topship fuzzpalm dies, it itself becomes driftwood and will usually not be taken over by another of its species; when this occurs, it contributes to the floating islands made by raft-building cone puffgrasses, giving back more driftwood than it "stole" by existing.

The topship fuzzpalm has evolved xenobee pollination. It is pollinated (or rather, if such a term exists, sporinated) by xenobees nesting on floating flora, which have learned to recognize a fluffy purple tree in the middle of the ocean as a potential source of nectar. It has no flowers, as its lineage has never evolved anything of the sort, and depends entirely on the co-evolving xenobees having some instinctive understanding of its anatomy. Fortunately, this is very simple, as its reproductive organs are simply located beneath where its leaves grow. Its berries are now yellow, a change which exists to benefit another, much larger co-evolving species...

The mouth is based on that of the bloodbee, which is part of the ancestral genus group.

Oh, actually I'm wrong; I don't think waxfaces have the oral ring teeth anymore except developmentally, so those should be removed from the image. They went through a phase where they were liquivores, which would have caused them to lose use of their teeth, and basal jaydoh waxfaces swallowed their prey whole (no chewing). @Coolsteph

Could you include links to each? So people don't have to dig for them. @MNIDJM

QUOTE (TheBigDeepCheatsy @ Nov 3 2021, 02:51 PM)

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Nov 3 2021, 08:48 AM) It's probably too late to matter now, but I did see two errors: " its' ancestor's ancestor," should be "its ancestor's ancestor" For it to eat juvenile Minosparrows, it would have to get into Maineiac Salt Marsh: "The young, which cannot fly, live in large pools and shallow bodies of water inland in the marsh." Good eye! I'll update the approval status accordingly

I fixed those hours ago