2 feet a day is fairly plausible, though perhaps difficult to imagine evolving all at once.
(https://www.almanac.com/plant/corn) According to Wikipdia, some species of bamboo can grow 91 centimeters (36 inches, or 3 feet) in 24 hours. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo)

It's hard to imagine how it could sustain such a rapid pace of growth but only temporarily conduct photosynthesis. The easiest method for it to live like a worm is to tap into the energy of other flora. This would require research into parasitic and hemiparasitic plants. The easiest technique would be it becoming parasitic on its own ancestor or relatives, or becoming parasitic on trees, a bit like mistletoe or strangler figs.

For plant movement, it could be useful to learn about dodder, a parasitic plant that send vines upward that slowly move (or grow fast enough to "move") in search of a host. Many moving plants achieve movement by hydraulic mechanisms. Wikipedia probably has a list of plants that can move. The easiest way for it to "breach out of the soil" is to have a very lengthy in-folded structure just beneath the soil that is rapidly unfurled by a hydraulic mechanism, or to have a sort of spring-loaded mechanism. It's hard to imagine the practicality of the entire flora breaching out the soil.

One compromise that shouldn't require too much research is making it spread by a huge fragment of itself, and covering the fragment in sticky hairs, hooks, or spines, so that even the slightest touch by a fauna makes it detach so rapidly as to seem to leap out of the ground. This would make it like a jumping cholla, a kind of cactus that very easily detaches pieces of itself and hooks onto animals.

I recommend either reducing the scale of the worm-plant's impressive feats, or using this as an intermediate for a more impressive descendant.

I was going through my file of ideas when I found some microbe or tiny parasite options. I am providing these 80-90% done ideas mainly for input on whether I should design them as widespread single species or genus groups. If genus groups, I may need help adding more detail to their descriptions.

Spearsore: Basically, shrog impetigo. Highly infectious, but a minor pathogen: it's mainly just annoying and itchy.


Antisanguine Polyfees
A Polyfees genus group adapted to compete with Sanguine O'Spheres to ensure a reliable blood supply, which inadvertently protect their hosts. May be in a good position to replace Polyfees, if only for a few kinds of organisms.


Nachoetoes
A genus group of commensal microbes which lives on the feet or hands or furred shrews, bestowing them with distinctive odors. It is largely harmless, and, rarely, causes a mild skin infection. It's based on the bacteria or yeast species that live on the feet of dogs and give their feet the smell of nachos. Could use a little more detail.

QUOTE

Still, how exactly could i even remove those lines?....

You would digitally paint over them by imitating your pencil strokes via copying (i.e., the "copy" function, left-click) surrounding strokes to make an ad hoc brush, or doing so manually using the pencil tool set to the appropriate color of the area. You would need to open your original file, or a copy thereof, to do this. It's kind of like digitally painting over acne in a photo by imitating the properties of the surrounding healthy-looking skin with a digital paintbrush setting.

I have a variety of styles. One of them is like yours: I make a pencil drawing, scan it, clean it up, and digitally color it. The Agate Krugg is just the most recently-submitted example: it has a little texturing, too. (The Flagg Grazer is one example of heavy texturing.) When I need to alter my drawing on the level of individual lines, I believe I zoom in, select and copy a circle or square of the surrounding area to make a custom ad hoc brush, and then brush over the line at half opacity. It might also work to capture the surrounding main color and carefully paint or spray over the stray line, reconstructing intended lines as needed using an ad hoc brush based on the line or a modified pencil tool on the paintbrush or spray can.

I can make art in a range of styles and sub-styles. If you want to know how to do digital texturing, it would be easiest for you to ask me how I've made a particular piece of art, and I'll recall what I can about the process. (But not the CGI ones: I don't have access to a CGI program right now.) There are online art tutorials for this, of course, which may be more thorough and immediate for your purposes. My value in teaching you about the process relies on mixed-media pencil sketches enhanced digitally and adapting the process according to what you're trying to achieve.

Some samples of my digitally-enhanced pencil art include the Polychrome Flagthroat, Poultu, Flagg Grazer, Acucravat, Maulwart and Mangot, if that helps.

Incidentally, you forgot to fix "alright boys!" I can't exactly help you if you're addressing only male Sagan 4 members.

I believe a tuber can survive without a shoot aboveground. Several plants "die back" (aboveground parts die) during the winter.

If you want to make a "plant" (we use "flora" here) that basically becomes a worm, you would find that easier to do with crystalflora. Crystal Entourage Swordgrasses (a submission this Generation) could be suitable, though you'd have to wait for them to be approved and for the Generatiion to be completed.

Making an obligate parasite flora would be the easiest route. Unfortunately, I don't recall many hemiparasitic plants in this timeline. (There might be some, but evidently, they're rare.) The Botryrophis would be a candidate, except by all logic it should be extinct. (I've brought that up in the "Tracking Extremely Maladapted Species" thread in the Science section.)

QUOTE (Disgustedorite @ Aug 26 2022, 03:03 PM)

I've put sound effects in images before with no issues. I generally avoid it in single-species submissions, but it can be useful when depicting a genus group since there's gonna be several poses showing different behavior..

Do you mean main images? If so, I don't recall any. Supplemental images would likely have lower standards.

I wonder if making group overview pages might encourage people to diversify particular lineages over others? I wonder if there's any correlation between description length or number of pictures or descendants? Certainly, the Seashrog, which has a very long description and more than one picture, has many descendants, but there are multiple factors contributing to shrog popularity. I wonder if there's a way to automate pattern-finding like this.

I've had multiple demands on my attention lately. I think I mentioned that somewhere...I should put that somewhere more obvious.

Plants submissions tend to get few comments. People don't pay much attention to flora or microbes compared to fauna, it seems. I ought to make a guideline on how to ask about flora...in any case, the fact people can simply refer to a widespread genus may very well hurt future biodiversity. Sometimes people make flora just to improve a habitat for a more exciting fauna submission (as seems to be the case for some of your shrog submissions), but it nonetheless benefits other, future organisms.

As you know, I have strict standards on large-bodied genus groups. At least these are small trees, and Robust Arid Ferines and its close relatives (e.g., Arid Ferine descendants) are already fairly biodiverse and exist in a variety of habitats.

Do these all have the same leaf shape? The fact there's only one leaf style shown suggests such.

Bees and butterflies both have favorite colors, apparently. Bees' favorite colors (the ones that are most likely to attract them) are blue, violet, and purple. Butterflies are most attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple flowers. The fact it has a wide range of colors (even among the "common colors" listed) suggests they either have a range of potential pollinators with different sets of favorite colors per pollinator type, or that whatever pollinator genus or type they have has a wide range of favorite colors.

Can you elaborate on the "puffy male spores"?

This is a nonessential detail, but since you asked: you can elaborate on the range of flavors and potential flavor compounds or nutrition of the fruits.

Since many species can exist in the same biome, it might help to elaborate on niche partitioning on soil conditions, slope, shade, moisture, or ability to co-exist or compete with other kinds of flora. I know they're full-sun flora, but you can elaborate: say, some might live on north slopes or tolerate mild shade.

I'll have to get back to this later.

"under their body" is a grammar error.
There are so many genus groups now...
The little "thip" in the image is...unusual for an image. It's like a comic. Usually, words are only in an image to indicate the Generation, creator, and occasionally diagrammatic information. You should probably remove the "thip". (Yes, I am imposing censorthip on your image.)

Using Rustcells as an indirect means of gaining energy from iron seems best, although respiring using oxygen yields much more energy than iron respiration, and so it would probably be inefficient for the host to use Rustcell symbiotes as a significant source of energy. You could have Rustcells provide some other function to the host other than pure energy. You could, for example, create a soil pathogen that infects the Quillfence descendant and happens to compete with or endanger a Rustcell descendant in some way, and so the Rustcell descendant produces defensive compounds to weaken them. If the Quillfence descendant got into a close symbiosis with the Rustcell descendant, it could gain resistance to the pathogen. The fact Quillfences and their relatives are purely asexual (which is another plausibility issue, admittedly) just increases its vulnerability to such a disease, and its pressure to find some way around it if it can.

Here's a link on bacteria-to-eukaryote gene transfer:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro.2017.137

On one hand, if you're using horizontal gene transfer with Rustcells, Rustcells are easier to put in the same spot as Quillfences and their close relatives. On the other hand, if you're doing something drastic like horizontal gene transfer of something with a substantial, highly visible function in macro flora, you'd probably want to make it as believable as possible. Chaococoons, at least, are in the same kingdom as Quillfences. Rustcells and Quillfences aren't in the same kingdom. (https://sagan4alpha.miraheze.org/wiki/Taxonomy/Sandbox/2#Kingdom_-_Erythrobacillales_(majurums_and_rustcells)) This is not to necessarily say that you can't do horizontal gene transfer with Rustcells, but that you'd need to do it carefully, possibly with multiple steps, and provide similar real-world examples in your organism description.

It seems horizontal gene transfer can occur between plants based on parasitic plant connections or symbiotic fungi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant%E2%80%9...l_gene_transfer

Here are some other sources:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2148
https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2015...l-gene-transfer

The best plan depends on exactly what you want to achieve, and how many steps or organism submissions are acceptable. If all you want is defensive structures high in iron, and not iron metabolism, this would be much easier to do.

"to better move unnoticed" That suggests intent-direction in evolution, which is misleading. I suggest, "which helps it move unnnoticed".

I like the "Lizalope" variations. I had no clue the Grazing Gossalizard would yield so many interesting descendants.

I notice it eats Toxiglobes, which are, obviously, toxic. Toxiglobes' toxin is deadly towards plents, though other kingdoms of lifeforms are less affected. The Toxiglobes description could be read to imply that they have the weakest effect in Carpozoans, and Gossalizards are in the kingdom Binucledia, not Carpozoa. Is the poison mitigated by it being such a rare part of the diet, it being so large relative to the Toxiglobes it eats, or being somewhat more resistant than might be expected to Toxiglobes?

Some "fiddlehead" (young stage) ferns (among other plants) are simultaneously edible to humans and substantially toxic, if that gives some perspective.

"If the Secretive Lizarduiker spots a small fauna with their sharp vision" "Secretive Lizarduiker instead relies on their long forelimbs" "for their eggs" Its. Please note the pronoun agreement in sentences.

"stuff like the" "species" or "organisms" would be appropriate. I'd recommend "flora" if not for the fact "crystal flora" precedes it, and repeating "flora" twice looks awkward.


"Alright boys!"
...Interestingly enough, I am female.


I like the dinosaur-esque, colorful face and menacing, glassy-eyed expression.

There are three conspicuous leftover lines in the drawing. The line on the back, along the plates, can be excused as a scar, but the lines across the legs and belly should be cleaned up.

I like the complex coloration and fuzziness.

No, I totally forgot. It's been a while, and I've had multiple demands on my time lately.
If the sketch is good, I can (eventually) use it to make the new official art.

This is a very quick check. I'll have to go over the rest later.

Can you increase the contrast or use the magic wand tool to erase the gray background? The gray background makes it less readable. I think the organism is supposed to be purplish, but due to the low twilight-esque contrast, it looks like a vaguely purplish gray.

"it's ancestor" should be "its ancestor".

QUOTE

The robynsnapper is not really a significant competitor as it is entirely carnivorous (why is it named after a robin when it is nothing like one?).

I was probably struggling to make a name for it at the time. It's a relatively small flying insectivore with vaguely birdlike feet and two vaguely birdlike legs, and an underside of a drastically different color from the back, like an American robin.

I don't think it's possible to do exactly what you're seeking, at least in one step.

Drawing back on iron metabolism that far is in conflict with the atavism rule on page 2 of the Alpha rule submissions.
Atavism Rules
An atavistic species cannot draw traits from any further back than 10 project Generations or its ancestor's ancestor, whichever is earlier, without extraordinary justification. Beyond this point, old traits are considered genetically lost and cannot be reactivated. This includes adding ancestral traits to unelaborated larvae.

Rustballs: Generation 81.
Your submission: Generation 166.
So: 85 generations.
Ancestors between Rustball and Moleroot: 5. (surprisingly few, given the time spans, but still sufficient.)

If you want to do something strange with purpleflora and iron metabolism, it would probably be easier to achieve what you want from the Fuzzy Beachballs, That being said, a descendant of the Fuzzy Beachballs would have the Rustballs as its ancestor's ancestor's ancestor, which is too far back: there's no way it recover iron oxide metabolism, at least in one step. It would need to "re-invent" it from what it presently has, like how pandas' ancestors lost a digit (an early tetrapod, Acanthostega, had 7 fingers) and then "re-invented" a thumb using a wrist bone.
The Rustballs do have a descendant which interacts with iron oxide and is still extant: the Chaococoon. If you make a Quillfence or other purpleflora descendant which uses iron in an interesting way already, and it gets a close relationship with a Chaococoon descendant and symbiosis super-organism interactions or horizontal gene transfer occurs, it might be plausible to do something like what you're seeking. Soil microbe interactions could also work, or help things along by perhaps acting as an intermediary. Chaococoons don't live in overlapping habitats with the Quillfence. It might be easier to use a purpleflora that lives on beaches, or closer to Chaococoons' habitat, and then make a terrestrial/somewhat terrestrial Chaococoon descendant.

You should know that getting a few of the Rustballs' genes from the Chaococoon via horizontal gene transfer is an multi-step sequence that requires extensive planning, and also has uncertain permissibility compared to making a purpleflora that does something interesting with iron whose evolution has little if anything to do with Rustballs. Here's a list of plants which accumulate very highvery high quantities of certain metals. Thistree tree, in particular, has very conspicuously high-nickel sap. It's not out of the question at least some descendants of Rustballs would have high tolerance to high iron levels in soil and have higher amounts of iron in their tissues than other flora types, but something dramatic like iron-based quills would need to be elaborated upon in a plausible way. Try researching the adaptive benefits of high iron tolerance or iron accumulation. You could go for a belts-and-suspenders approach by making a organism hyper-accumulate iron because a very high-iron environment (e.g., a special landmark) allows it to, hyper-accumulating iron because it lives in a very low-iron habitat, having iron adaptations in relation to disease (this would require plant disease research and making disease organisms), having specialized pests which conveniently happen to be sensitive to high iron levels and are poisoned if they eat too much, and deterring herbivores with iron-rich phytoliths because the herbivores are very persistent in eating the organisms, and have very tough teeth.

Just for a very quick check: I've never seen "mesocarnivore" as a dietary option. "Omnivore" would be better, with "mesocarnivore" specified in the description.

Just as trivia: I made the sketch a long time ago, and believe I completed the art and half the description within the past year. I took so long to submit it that I forgot which ancestor and environment it was supposed to be in, realized the ancestor in its notes didn't quite fit, and just quietly adjusted it to be a Silkrugg rather than a regular Krugg species. I think I listed its ancestor originally as the Spiked Krugg, but the fewer abdominal segments made more sense for a Silkrugg. I consequently added Silkrugg-specific details.

That little blob on the upper-right, behind its second pair of legs, are its vestigial third legs.
With the Catch-Me Krugg, Tonsa Krugg, Swimming Krugg and Mottlekragg, I sure have a habit of giving Kruggs weird third-pair legs.

Agate Krugg (Sericumpes corpusplana) (Silk-foot flat body)
Creator: Coolsteph
Ancestor: Silkruggs
Habitat: Huggs Montane River, Huggs Montane Riparian
Size: 11 cm Long
Support: Exoskeleton (Chitin)
Diet: Omnivore (Marbleflora, Snotflora, Chainswarmers, Pioneeroots) Scavenger
Respiration: Unknown
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Snail-Like Eggs)

Like Kruggs in general, Agate Kruggs have six legs (although two are almost vestigial), leathery exoskeletons, and lay snail-like eggs in soil (damp soil, in this case). For the Agate Krugg in particular, its exoskeleton is only leathery on its limbs and underside: the top side is calcified, somewhat like a Terran crab's, if not to the same extent. Its crunchy texture makes it a somewhat less appealing food to some of its predators, but it mainly relies on camouflage, hiding, incompatible activity times, and high reproductive rates to survive.

Unlike its ancestor, it is aquatic, and can hold its breath for about 32 minutes. Agate Kruggs spend much of their time at the edges of rocky streams, hidden amid or under pebbles, purple flora, and occasionally scraps of bark or other plant matter. Its flattened, small, sturdy body is well-suited to hiding under heavy pebbles or bark pieces in purpleflora-dominated streams. Its last three body segments are highly compressed. Agate Kruggs have a blotchy, painting-like pattern of purple bands and light-purple blotches. A ridge lies in the middle of its face, culminating in a slight beaky overhang over its mouth. Like its ancestor, its jaws fit closely together.

It is well-camouflaged to hide among swathes of freshwater marbleflora. Its vision is also good enough to allow it to distinguish different kind of flora by color, identifying the purple flora under which they can best hide. Agate Kruggs do not roam far from secure, pebbly areas. They create silken pads from their forelegs to help attach themselves to pebbles in relatively fast-flowing streams. Adult Agate Kruggs, but especially larvae, use silk to bind together pebbles to stabilize particularly good hiding spots by the barely-submerged edges of streams, particularly when predator density is highest. Due to their size, adults have more trouble hiding within burrows between pebbles or underneath pebbles, and so tend to situate themselves underneath larger purple flora, larger rocks, or occasionally in small divots in damp, flora-coated ground beside rocks. Occasionally, Agate Kruggs carried away in floods end up in new areas and snap at resident Agate Kruggs as they try to take over pre-existing burrows to ensure they can have shelter quickly. Otherwise, they are not territorial.

Agate Kruggs live at remarkably high latitudes for a small ectotherm. The adults cannot survive the harsh winters of the higher limits of their ranges, but eggs typically survive, hidden in the soil and under scraps of bark and floral matter. Its third pair of legs is small and not used for walking. Instead, they are used as mating claspers. During the breeding season, silk glands in the hind legs secrete a spongy silk that connects two Agate Kruggs together, allowing them to complete mating, even when the water runs fast.

Most of Agate Kruggs' diet consists of soft organic matter, and it avoids high-cellulose material or large, tough bones. It is nonetheless equipped to scrape away at gristle, small or weak bones, and exoskeletons, and in fact is so fond of small bones and exoskeletons that placing a small bone or exoskeleton underneath a cluster of pebbles and coming back five hours later and lifting the pebbles almost always yields at least five Agate Kruggs. Small bones and exoskeletons fairly reliably tempt them to leave the safety of their pebble nests within streams.

Agate Kruggs have several predators, including the Toadtuga, Spineless Toadtuga, and Thorny Toadtuga. Mottlekraggs sometimes catch and devour Agate Krugg larvae if they are uprooted by strong currents. Agate Kruggs are more common where River Saltgrasses are sparser, for the hunting strategy of one of its predators, the Mottlekragg, relies on hooking onto River Saltgrass. This is despite the fact adults tend to situate themselves more beside large flora: adults are better at evading predators, have thicker shells, and a stronger bite, and so Mottlekraggs rarely try to eat adult Agate Kruggs.

Chainswarmers tend to be more nutritious and tastier than what Agate Kruggs usually eat, so they slurp up small colonies like spaghetti, particularly when the colonies are beached on the sides of the stream and slowly slithering back into the water. As Agate Kruggs are fairly common (if local and well-hidden) small herbivores active in every season but winter, they create a small but notable influence on the density of Chainswarmers in their habitats. As a consequence, Agate Kruggs make their habitats a little more dominated by purple flora than they otherwise would be, helping their camouflage.

Agate Kruggs are almost ubiquitous in their habitats provided their habitat needs of stream flow, pebbles, dense purpleflora growth (e.g., Pioneeroots, Marbleflora) and rocks or large stream-side purpleflora are met. They are hard to see due to their small size, camouflage, tendency to hide and activity times.

I agree: a retcon is the easiest solution. Other than the glasseater, the wallahopper has only two other descendants, with no descendants between them.

It may be possible to link the development of a chin-spike to its teeth, in some way. The developmental changes could be split into two phases across the Wallahopper and the Glasseater.

Naked mole rat teeth are on the outside of its lips. It's believed that odontodes (toothlike structures on the skin) and teeth originated from the same basal tissue (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7738188/). The suckermouth armored catfish is one example of a vertebrate with odontodes. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10222-y, https://www.newscientist.com/article/228275...teeth-evolved/)

As TheBigDeepCheatsy suggested, fused-teeth with a keratin cap (or some other material) could also be an option. It would seem keratin, or a keratin-like material, is indeed found in tooth enamel, making this fairly plausible. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288020623_Keratins_as_components_of_the_enamel_organic_matrix)

Out of curiosity...what nodent species is that? A Dundigger, perhaps? Since it's headless, it might be worth identifying in the description.

This eats so many juvenile fauna this might as well be a kid-killing eagle.

"However, it still digs using its beak. Like its ancestor, its skeleton[...]" This sentence sounds breathless, and should be split.
I like the lighting and pelage detail.

I see it eats Robust Arid Ferine berries. Robust Arid Ferines have been around for so long, have become such an important part of the ecosystem, and have yielded multiple descendants. If there's ever a "mascot list" for Sagan 4, I recommend including the Robust Arid Ferine as one, or at least making it a default illustration for its genus. (It seems the taxonomy of purpleflora hasn't been as thoroughly covered as for fauna, and that's probably a very low priority, though.)

Hahaha.
This fairly unrememarkable rat has made one of the fiercest, cleverest shrogs go locally extinct.
It's interesting to see a frontal view with that particular configuration of eyes. It emphasizes that even mammal-esque Carpozoans are aliens.
Did you mean "Vermees"?
Seeing five flora I made, listed in a row, just emphasizes how many I've made for Raptor Volcanic specifically...and I plan to make 4-5 more.
This sure looks...marketable. It's a quirky, adorable, fuzzy, not-too-strange creature.

The fact it can regenerate its organs so fast leaves...interesting ideas for parasites and predators.

A little more undergrowth/groundcover would be ideal, but it's a decent approximation of something like Alexandra, New Zealand.

I can't see the image either. It just says, "user posted image".

Please don't use textspeak.
Broadly, it's good. The coloration, texturing, pattern, and pose is interesting.
I'm not sure what a "lowboreal" is supposed to be (a quick check revealed nothing useful), and so I cannot evaluate whether it's suited for the habitat.

Theoretically, depending on the exact size of the food, having to substantially bend their legs to reach the ground and graze would make them more vulnerable to predators, like giraffes bending down to drink, if to a lesser extent. (I presume the legs bend backwards at the "knees") However, since giraffes can have such a very vulnerable position and still not go extinct, this is not a plausibility issue. It's just something useful to note if someone plans to make a predator of them.

The angle of the toe-claws (tarsi?) and joints makes the outer legs (closer to the viewer) look like they are spread outward, rather than forward and back: more like a seal's flippers than a cardinal's toes, if that helps. It should be a quick fix, though.

If these eat tough cellulosic material (e.g., most likely Thorny Hedgelogs, judging from what you say), it could be useful to have tough teeth. That's assuming they don't eat like goats and use their tongues or lips (these don't seem to have lips) to selectively eat tender pieces of a thorny bush. Alternatively, they could have ever-growing teeth, very long-rooted teeth, grow replacement teeth, or just use gastroliths. For tough teeth, calcium reinforcement is an obvious option (e.g., in crab shells), but zinc and iron could also work.

Botryrophis have only one host, and are obligate parasites. Its host is substantially different enough from its ancestor than Botryophises would probably not be able to parasitize the Tinsel Quillball's ancestor instead. Botryrophises aren't (for example) connected to a wood-wide-web of fungi that could feed them or serve as awkward substitute-hosts long enough to make a better-adapted descendant. Logically, they should be extinct.

Yes, sunstalks make sense as a component. They would probably be abundant. Using sunstalks as nesting material in addition to food might be additional pressure on them to make a locally-adapted descendant.

QUOTE (Disgustedorite @ Aug 21 2022, 01:04 PM)

That's weird. Did it get spread by something?

Perhaps. Its fruits are very hairy and can spread through the fur of fauna. Specifically:
"These fruits are thickly coated in hairs with fishhook-like tips. These hairs allow it to cling to the hair or feathers of passing fauna, spreading it beyond its parent flora." However, I cannot trace this on the wiki. It's possible this was just an oversight, because it doesn't look obviously like an obligate parasite.

Inconveniently, one approved organism, the Switchfang, already eats it. Thankfully, it has a wide diet, with no special relation with the flora in question.