Genus groups should not encompass that much. It is unrealistic for them to do so. I suggest referencing my guide to making realistic genus groups for a good idea of what genera should be like--in short, they should only encompass a single niche in a large number of environments, more like a single species entry.

I believe the embryos divide into segments, rather than adding more; more like a vertebrate than an arthropod, I think, or perhaps the development of fingers might be a better comparison.

The evolutionary development stages thing in embryos is a myth. It's been disproven for decades, but it's still taught in old textbooks, so I won't hold it against you. "Primitive" body features present in embryos are generally those that are required to develop features that are still retained; for example, unborn humans have gill slits because they are required to form the jaws, which are modified gill arches. (There actually is a feature like this in most asterzoa; as their bilateral symmetry comes from modifying the original radial body plan, they are forced to have a radial developmental stage).

A single connected system of fluid used for movement using hydraulic pressure is a hydraulic system. Starfish have this. It's distinct from hydrostatic, where the volume doesn't change.

Edit: I'm tired. We're having a discussion on what to do with terminology on the discord

I think those would be hydrostatic muscles, not hydraulic (I used incorrect terminology in certain asterplents, which I have since fixed).

The claws are made of keratin. How do they manage keratinous internal structures?

I'm also not sure of the part where they gain more segments as they grow. How do they do that? In the ancestor, the number of segments was constant throughout life. (Also, increasing the number of segments on the body would also increase the number of segments on the counter-arms)

I'm looking at this more closely now - why does it develop an endoskeleton, and why hydraulic muscles?

Note, if you assumed earth anatomy for asterzoa, please try to avoid that--while they tend to resemble starfish, they do not have starfish characteristics.

We also have a rule that the same shape endoskeleton cannot evolve twice, to prevent there from being 73629349726719610 independent vertebrate lineages.

It's becoming clear that we also need a list of which living lineages have two knees and which have one knee. Here's ones I know so far:

Should have just one backwards knee (Like the externally visible part of a bird's leg):

• Soriparasites
• Dwellers
• Flunes
• Skysnappers, amazingly
• Shrogsnapper

Should have both a backwards knee and a forward knee (Resembles most tetrapod legs):

• Living furred shrews
• Bubbleskins
• Tilebacks
• Glowsnappers
• Earbacks

@OviraptorFan

QUOTE (TheBigDeepCheatsy @ Oct 15 2021, 06:03 AM)

Wait, wild idea. Super Duplication of the ears becoming "ear-fur"?

The ears would also have to be dead tissue, otherwise it has the same problem as fatty lumps did: doing the exact opposite of what fur does.

Approved

There is no rule against having a paper background and I do not personally think this is distracting. The art contrasts well enough with it.

I believe there's a rule that you can only post an incomplete submission twice per generation, yeah. It's not a hard auto-reject rule if you're prompt, but please keep it in mind.

The extinction event has already happened, technically submissions are closed while we finish up some stuff behind the scenes but I'm trying to get things expedited.

Are you on the Discord server? I don't see anyone with the same name.

I've added more information about the blueness of the males after getting comments on the spec evo discord.

I actually did not have pandora in mind when I made this, guess it just kinda accidentally fit into that too lol

I don't think the mid-summer heat is fatal like that unless you're a big woolly thing.

There only needs to be a comma after "reality" is there is also one after "are". I excluded commas here because it sounds more natural to say it without those two pauses.

Also fixed title (name changed midway through making post lol)

Argantua (Gigargus rugosus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Argusraptor Complex
Habitat: Dixon-Darwin Boreal, Darwin Temperate Rainforest, Javen Temperate Rainforest, Vivus Temperate Rainforest, Darwin Temperate Woodland, Vivus Boreal, Vivus Volcanic (uncommon)
Size: 6.4 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Chitin)
Diet: Carnivore (Adults: Haglox, Westward Haglox; Juveniles: juvenile Haglox, juvenile Westward Haglox, Rainforest Phlock, Tileobsidian, Ouranocorn, Darth Shroom Herder, Hornboss, Gruesloo, Greater Plentshirshu, Goliath Flunejaw, Scrubland Hornface)
Respiration: Active (Microlungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Adults: insulated by size; Juveniles: feathers)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Bird-Like Eggs)

With Dixon-Darwin Boreal mostly devoid of large carnivores, some argusraptors turned their attention to the westward haglox, as there were no carnivores specializing in it. These argusraptors grew larger and larger, hunting older and older hagloxes, until they became large enough to take on adults. This produced the argantua, which split from its ancestor and grew considerably in size. After evolving in the mountains, it also expanded its range to include all other biomes which are home to hagloxes, though it is uncommon in the sparse Vivus Volcanic.

Argantuas generally hunt in pairs and will stalk their prey from some distance before ambushing them. They are not mated pairs, but rather siblings or unrelated friends that have known one another from a young age and are of the same sex. When hunting hagloxes, one draws its attention so that the other can rush in and bite at its neck, chest, or limbs without risk of being struck by their prey's powerful tail. Argantua mandibles are serrated like steak knives, so when the haglox struggles, it unintentionally aids them in cutting through its flesh and severing major arteries, causing the haglox to bleed to death. Similar strategies are used by juveniles hunting other species, but juveniles are also more cursorial and may chase down some prey instead of ambushing it.

As an adult, the argantua is largely featherless, apart from tufts along its legs and on the tip of its tail. Most of its body is covered in tiny chitinous scales, which are in reality formed from suppressed feathers. This gives its skin a leathery appearance and texture. Juveniles retain a covering of downy feathers, but these are shed as they grow older. Normally, in a temperate or montane region and especially one that is forested, fibrous integument would be retained in such large creatures, however the black trees absorb so much heat during the day that temperatures below the canopy in the dead of winter are more comparable to early fall at their worst, so a fully-feathered adult argantua would overheat for most of the year except in some high altitudes.

Adult female and juvenile argantuas are generally a similar color to the rocks found in their environment, so they may be mistaken for boulders. Adult males, however, are brightly colored all over, displaying their health and fitness to females. This is unusual for a superpredator, but a variety of factors have come together to allow for this vibrant sexual dimorphism. Adult argantuas only eat hagloxes, which are completely blind, thus there is no need to have camouflaged coloration to hunt them. An adult argantua is also so large and dangerous that their primary threat is other argantuas, rather than other species. The only notable predator they do have as adults, the twineshrog, uses pitfall traps instead of actively hunting, so their coloration does not increase the chances that they will be killed. The bright coloration begins to develop long before adulthood, but is initially restricted to the face and tail and spreads over the body over the course of 2 years. Old layers of chitin on the mandibles, shells, tail spike, and hooves peel away, causing them to fade towards the bright adult coloration. Though the full-body color transformation takes a lot of energy, the fact that a male stayed in good health and developed these bright colors is plainly visible proof of fitness, as disease and malnourishment during the color transformation is reflected by patches of grey or brown.

Image Caption: Adult Male


Argantuas mate once a year when it's warm enough, which translates to early or mid spring in the temperate regions. As they travel and hunt in pairs of the same sex, in general they mate pair to pair; a pair of males, after impressing a pair of females, will take turns mating with both of them. As a result, a single clutch of argantua eggs will usually have two fathers. The pair of males take no part in raising their young, as their bright coloration would draw attention to the nest, thus the pair of females raise them instead. They use their leg feathers and wing toes (which in males only serve for health indication) to incubate the eggs without crushing them. The babies are already half a meter long at hatching and follow their mothers around early in life. They hunt small prey on their own but stay close to their mother until they find a hunting partner, at which point they leave, however if they reach half their adult size before finding one they will be chased away.

The argantua is aggressive towards rival species, and it is the natural enemy of the twineshrog where their ranges overlap. When it discovers a twineshrog nest, it will immediately kick it to splinters with its hooves, and if the twineshrog within tries to flee, it will chase it down and stomp it to death. This is because twineshrogs are a major threat to the argantua, as falling into the pitfalls they dig is a guaranteed death sentence. When the argantua expanded its range beyond Dixon-Darwin Boreal, it also displaced some of the existing large carnivores in the Darwin-Vivus area. They completely wiped out the megajaw and the shikaaree in their range, and they have put considerable pressure on the bubblewraptor. Juveniles, which hunt smaller prey, have also caused the extinction of the scrubland hornface in their range by eating them all.

--

This came out way prettier than I intended, I hope it still counts - I tried to echo the Barlowe style by making it very large, ugly, slightly shrinkwrapped, and covered in wrinkles.

Btw, since this is visible in the beta subforum, you should make it more clear in the title that this is for Alpha.

Do I post my submission when it's completed or on the 31st?

Man, I watched some genocide gameplay today and I forgot just how bloody Sans' death was. I know, some theorize determination and others theorize ketchup, but it really was the consistency of blood, you don't get ketchup soaking your hands like that.

A lot of things in Undertale have crazy implications now in the context of Deltarune...it's crazy that both pacifist and genocide have secrets spawned from that encounter with Sans near the end that contain what I would consider strong evidence that, somehow, Sans Undertale and Sans Deltarune are the same Sans. A theory which probably sounds completely absurd to anyone who hasn't played the games.

I use when hinting at everything from extinction events to cursed plans (or just to mess with people), it's not in the main emote menu

shhhh

(excluding some event-specific ones)


Feel free to use these in your posts!

No comments?

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Oct 10 2021, 02:29 PM)

I was going through my works with backgrounds to see which one would be most suitable for this meme. Hilariously, I'm pretty sure Kris and Susie are absolutely huge according to the scale of your image.

The original image is the lemupuses I drew; lemupuses are a lot smaller than they look, so Kris and Susie would if anything be undersized.

Did you write a Sagan 4 fanfic? Post it here!

@Changeling

Hey @Coolsteph you like Undertale and Deltarune, right?

I am here with another Deltarune crack theory of cursed proportions! Click the expand button to see...