I still recommend trimming the white space of the supplementary images and enhancing the contrast or otherwise getting rid of the paper texture.

Usually, words in the template are capitalized. ("carotenoid accessory pigments", among others, were not capitalized)

"Recombinated" seems very obscure. Is there a reason you're using that rather than "recombined"?

It’s not specified how many mating types they have. It is likely, but not certain, that they have only male and female types, but it’s not out of the question they have both dedicated-males and hermaphrodites in the system of androdiecy.

Somewhat related species which are hermaphrodites: Cotingos (Bloody Nose Cotingo, Dabbling Cotingo, Wading Cotingo) Elahpekonlap Bubblehorm.
The last common ancestor these share with Elahpekonlap Bubblehorns is the Spikedshell Bubblehorn (Spikedshell Bubblehorn--→Fraboohorn--→Metamorph Fraboo--→Frabuki---genus species-merge into Frabukis).
The last common ancestor they share with Cotingos is also the Spikedshell Bubblehorn.
Burrowing Purple Bubbehorns’ lineage (including Pedesorms) have two mating types, and descend from the Spikedshll Bubblehorn.
“Conchovermizoa, genders” yields 25 results on the wiki. “Conchovermizoa, hermaphrodite” yields 4 results. Many in this organism’s linage and relatives don’t mention the number of mating types at all.

In fish, hermaphroditism has independently evolved multiple times in different groups. Many gastropods are hermaphrodite. The nematode C. elegans has hermaphroditic options. Hermaphroditism is said to occur in a few insect species.

Depending on how easy it is to evolve hermaphroditism from gonochoric (just one mating type per organism), in general or under these circumstances, these could be made hermaphrodites without needing to individually specify traits in its lineage.

There's a minor spacing error in the diet of the larvae.
"smaller specimen": Specimens.
"utilized the Uktank": Utilize the Uktank.
How would the bands of tissue reinforced with calcium carbonate work?
"Crevasse", juduging by a quick check, is a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier. You probably meant "crevice".

The males don't starve to death prior to the eggs hatching, right? I figure the males regularly starving to death would be bad if they couldn't protect the eggs for at least the majority of their incubation time. How often does "regularly" occur? How would this defend-to-death behavior occur? Are the Drake Uktank eggs really tasty and/or vulnerable?

Here's a handy reference for reptile/dinosaur-esque polar adaptations. While supplied with Fermi's thornback species in mind, it could be useful elsewhere, too.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-dino...ved-in-the-snow
https://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/dinosaur-d.../leaellynasaura
http://blog.hmns.org/2017/12/polar-dinosau...able-than-elfs/

The Cretaceous polar climates were warmer than they were today, but nonetheless the polar forest references may be useful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Polar_r..._the_Cretaceous

Its name is similar to the previously-approved Velocitoon, but they are not even distantly related. For this reason, it would be good to change its name slightly.

It spreads so many species that using bullet-point lists and separating the description into different sections would aid organization. It could be simply the main details with transferred organisms afterward, or split into "Senses & General", "Cold Adaptations & Reproduction", and "Spread Organisms", or "Senses & General', "Cold Adaptations", "Reproduction" and "Spread Organisms".

Note that the previous suggestions of insulation in each habitat did not consider the things it had so freshly transferred to new habitats. Beach Piloroot, Talfuzz, and Fuzzy Beachballs are some of the more effective newly-spread insulation options.

Can you elaborate on the striped coloration? The reason presently given surely wouldn't work.

Merry Reindeer Day. (If American Thanksgiving can be nicknamed "Turkey Day"...)

How is progress on revising this according to the feedback?

These are 50 centimeters long, and Alphluks' maximum size is 4 mm (0.4 cm), making it more than 50 times bigger. For comparison, Carolina anoles, a common green lizard in the U.S., are about 8 cm long as a maximum, and webworm moths (a lawn-living moth used as a generic "moth" for this example) is 2.54 cm long, so the predator is about 3.14 times bigger.

That Aphluks are sorted third on the diet list suggests it's a big part of the diet or highly preferred. Unless they have a way to very efficiently eat large quantities of Aphluks, as a blue whale eats krill, it would surely be put farther down the list, removed entirely, or specified as a food only for tiny stages of their young. In the last case, it would be useful to specify the average size at hatching. Since the larvae and adults have different lifestyles, it would be useful to separate the diet listings.

"Consumer" doesn't seem appropriate except for a microscopic microbe-eater.

For it to get this big, its host species or food species must have very nutritious spores. For comparison, some species of fungus beetles eat fungal spores (as well as other fungual tissues), and they are 2-5 mm in length. This organism is 5 times bigger than the bigger estimate. Some species of thrips (obscure tiny insects which are sometimes pests) also eat fungus spores, and the maximum for thrips as a whole seems to be 5 mm, judging by a quick check.

Do its hosts have very nutritious spores? If not, supplementing its diet with other things, or reducing its size, would be appropriate.

"Overtime": "Over time". Be careful about this one: it's occurred multiple times in your descriptions, and since "overtime" is a valid word, some spell checkers might not be able to detect the error.

"their first segment": Remember to double-check your pronouns in submissions: "it" is apprpriate.

"the crystank crystalworm" I recommend adding a comma.

So there were multiple groups of what could be called proto-Vibrant Glitterworms? Did they hybridize early on? Did they exhange genes prior to officially splitting off into new species? Given the number of habitats and possibility of early hybridization, there might be notable (if perhaps externally indistinguishable) subpopulations.

For an example: the Virginia opossums of Sapelo Island, Georgia, in the U.S., have greatly extended lifespans compared to mainland opossums due to having fewer (if any) predators on the island, and therefore don't need to invest so much energy into reproducing as fast as possible and having big litters, so thy can spread out their lives more.

"their head"
"Male and Female Twilight Echofins": This is erroneous capitalization.
"Hormone Carrier" is also erroneously capitalized.

Merging the hormone carrier anglerfish-style is very efficient. It could be a significant evolutionary development.

The description is functional, but small. Does it have notable reactions to chemicals or minerals, or other notable interactions with other organisms?

Is this a CGI image? It looks almost like it was made on Sculptris.

It's been about 3.2 weeks since you posted this. Has there been any progress?

It's been about 3.2 weeks since you posted this very fragmentary Work-In-Progress. Has there been any progress on this?

QUOTE (colddigger @ Dec 24 2021, 11:58 PM)

You could also I just let the mouth dry out, surface layer become dead, then shed when back to being active.

Given Sagan 4's pathogens are rather underdeveloped compared to real life, this would actually be plausible.

To quote Wikipedia,
"Vanilla plants exude calcium oxalates upon harvest of the orchid seed pods and may cause contact contact dermatitis."

Judging by Twineshrogs, as a proxy with some possible differences:
"[their tail saws are] mostly bone and keratin with very little non-mineralized living material".
If this is true for other shrog species, the burning sensation might not be much of a deterrent...until the shrog handles the wood, in which case it might cause contact dermatitis on the hands. (For comparison: agave information.)

Sensing daylight changes, with a confirming mechanism of reduced food, should be effective torpor indicators, judging by bears' torpor (frequently mistaken for true hibernation). Sensing changes in temperature might be less reliable, because anomalously cold weather for two days might trigger it. Notably, some parts of its range would get colder earlier (Drake Alpine, for example) than others.

Slowing breathing would minimize moisture loss, as would having some kind of moisture-retaining or re-capturing mechanism in their mouths. A turbinate-like structure on the roof of the mouth might capture water if the mouth's open just slightly, or perhaps some kind of moisture-capturing baleen-like structure growing at the edges of the mouth.

It's still necessary to update the habitat adjustments lists with bullet points and separations, and standardize the ending of the sentences. I recommend making them all end in periods.

I like the design and texturing.

Given just how many species Plowskuniks spread, it would be useful to list those under bullet points, and especially bullet points separated by direct flora and indirect fauna transfers.

"flippsima's": Flippskimas.
"The plowskunik[...]they". Unless "plowskunik" has an unusual plural, like "deer" and "sheep", the plural needs to be chnaged.

"digging whether": needs a comma.
"plowskunik mainly uses their chin": Singular-they error.
"brown though": It sounds breathless, so I recommend a comma.
"dug-out": Generally, burrows are dug out. Do you mean "dugout" as in earth lodge shelters? If so, that's different from a burrow.

"plowskunik will go into their burrow": Pronoun issue.
If this ability to go into torpor is only useful during unusually cold winters, rather than being automatically initiated, what biological signals do they use?
"vomit": How accurate is that? That suggests they generate gametes from within their stomachs, which is surely not the case.

What are their oxygen needs during a state of torpor? Since they breathe through their mouths, how do they minimize moisture loss over time?
"flora overtime": Over time.

Fermi Polar Beach:

Global options: Chainswarmers, Swarmerweeds, possibly Fermi-specific species of Brushrums.

Probably most effective options: Beach Snapper down, Beach Piloroot leaf-fur, Pilonoroot leaf-fur, Fuzzy Beachballs, Talfuzz fuzz

Probably less effective: Dry Gelatin, Polarblades, Beach Colonystalks stalks, Segmented Carnofern leaves

For Fermi Tundra, Snapperky down or feathers, possibly Colony Stalks defense phytids (better than nothing), freshwater Chainswarmers and freshwater Swarmerweeds (like Neptune Balls seaweed insulation), and perhaps Brushrums for Fermi Temperate Beach (Fermi Brushrums don't occur in rivers due to "poor osmoregulation", suggesting they don't occur in freshwater). Unless chainswarmer and swarmerweed insulation is much warmer than I expect, the insulation pickings are slim there, but if the rest of the architecture and hibernation setup is good enough and Fermi Tundra isn't extremely cold (not lower than about -37 Fahrenheit) it would be sufficient for most of them to survive.

Fermi Temperate Beach:
(In addition to Chainswarmers, Swarmerweeds, and possibly Fermi Brushrums.)

Bladesnapper fuzz, Seashrog fur, Fuzzpalm fuzz, Kakonat fur, Fuzzweed fuzz/the whole Fuzzweed, Pirate Waxface feathers, and Fuzzpile fuzz are likely the best insulators. Kakonat fur might be the warmest option, at least among the things obtained without too much danger to itself. (Though an adult Kakonat is 25 cm, and this is 30 cm, so unless Kakonats shed in clumps or unless there's a dependable supply of corpses, it would still be difficult to get.)

Getting Fuzzweeds and Fuzzpile fuzz would be very easy and fairly effective.

Bonespire, Bonegrove, and Branching Bonespire leaves, gathered en masse might have some value, and it's possible dried Gourjorn shell pieces would be weak insulators, if only to hinder cold air or winds from getting to the organism.

I'd recommend Dockshrog fur and Hypnotizer Waxface feathers, too, but the protocol for updating descriptions to incorporate non-paired species of the same Generation outside a dietary context is unclear, and, in any case, incorporating those would mean those two would have to be approved first.

Congratulations, Colddigger. You spotted a typo even I, the dedicated typo-checker, did not notice.
It's amusing hat you want to make "Shorgs" just to see their numbers drop. What would that be? A shrog descendant, or some convergently-evolved, distantly-related being?

I know I said I'd do it today, but I actually (impulsively, I admit) started it on December 20. I'll give you what I've written so far shortly. It doesn't have a picture yet. This can be a collaboration.

EDIT: Actually...Kopout, I misinterpreted your initial response. I'll send you the draft description too. It could be useful to discuss on a dedicated thread.

Though I am not officially authorized for approving Alpha organisms, my assessment might accelerate the process. This has been well-discussed, been available for review for a long time, and had very few problems to begin with.

----

Unofficial Opinion:

Approval Checklist:
Art:
Art Present?: Y
Art clear?: Y
Gen number?: Y
All limbs shown?: Y
Reasonably Comparable to Ancestor?: Y
Realistic additions?: Y

Name:
Binomial Taxonomic Name?: Y
Creator?: Y

Ancestor:
Listed?: Y
What changes?: Osteoderms, longer spikes, head shape changes, neck and dewlap changes, longer tail, longer legs an thumbs, hoof-like toes, ovoviviparity
External?: Y
Internal?: Y
Behavioral/Mental?: Y; exact degree unclear due to little information on its ancestor's beaviors.
Are Changes Realistic?: Y
New Genus Needed?: (If yes, list why)No

Habitat:
Type?: Temperate
Flavor?: Desert, Beach
Connected?: Y
Wildcard?:

Size:
Same as Ancestor?: N
Within range?: Y
Exception?: N

Support:
Same as Ancestor?: Y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: N/A
Other?: N/A

Diet:
Same as Ancestor?: N
Transition Rule?: Y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: Y (mostly "insectivore", some berries, which appear rare parts of its diet)

Respiration:
Same as Ancestor?: Y
Does It Fit Habitat?: Y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: N/A
Other?: N/A

Thermoregulation:
Same as Ancestor?: Y
Does It Fit Habitat?: Y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: N/A
Other?: N/A

Reproduction:
Same as Ancestor?: N
Does It Fit Habitat?: Y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: Viviparity has evolved from oviparity more than 100 times in reptiles, and a few amphibians are live-bearing in some way. On a more minor note, that many thornbacks have developed reprouctive modes along similar lines suggests it is easy for the lineage to evolve.
Other?: N/A

Description:
Length?: Excellent.
Capitalized correctly?: Y
Replace/Split from ancestor?: Split (?)
Other?: N/A

Unofficial Opinion: Suggested approval.

If you're asking about kinds of tools it's never used before or seen used before, then I doubt it. I may be an instinctive tool user as a human, but (prior to researching it) if I found a Maori digging stick (kō) on the ground in front of me, I wouldn't intuitively know its use, even if I found it on a farm. It took looking at pictures of it being used and about a minute to figure it out, and Hypnotizer Waxfaces don't have the breadth of tool use experience to consult as humans do, nor pictures to look at. Unlike, say, New Caledonian crows, it has a poor ability to actually make tools, so it may not be able to guess function of unknown objects very well.

If you're asking about minor variants or styles or the same basic tools, then perhaps.

I still need feedback on this:

QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Oct 1 2021, 12:51 PM)

Does this seem more realistic? I could use the crab-eating macaque as the closest intelligence match instead of a chimpanzee. --- For tools, uses only spars of wood. A long, sharpened one is used for hunting big things or repelling would-be competitors. Smaller ones with broader tips are used to uncover food in the sand or silt or to flip over stones. Other than sharpening or narrowing the tips using its teeth, it has little ability to modify tools and often takes them pre-made from local Shrogs. Does not herd Gentonnas or pull down Mangot fruit-leaves for them. It's often associated with them, and Gentonnas do not often fear them. It protects them only inadvertently: predators that would eat it are also threats to its young and have overlapping diets with it. Gentonna flesh is particularly consumed in the winter due to its fattiness, relative safety to obtain, and the fact their body condition worsens less rapidly than some other Fermisaurs. Reduction or removal of spur on braincase.

It's possible that if the larvae are small enough, in thick enough or sturdy enough bones, the risk a predator of its hosts will eat them too isn't too great. The risk a predator will kill them by snapping through or crunching up the bones is, all else being equal, likely greater for small hosts like Kakonats. Sometimes predators eat prey whole, like snakes with mice, so whether they can properly extract nutrients from the cellulose-bones is less relevant. In the case of Kakonats, it doesn't seem as if any organisms which probably swallow them whole (e.g., young Kakonats and Grelags) overlap with this organism's habitat.

If they chewed through less-essential parts of the skeleton (e.g., ribs if the hosts have ribs, tail bones so long as the host can still breathe) that might minimize predation risk to the host long enough for them to mature. Alternatively, if the hosts were of a type that hid in burrows or undergrowth while it was ailing, instead of living in constantly-moving, alert herds like antelope, the host would be fairly safe.

Oh my! Ramul is a death trap island for shrogs.

Notably, Eeyore Stalks probably still exist on the tiny Coolsteph Islets landmark. Driftwood Isles protocol of giving landmarks specific species lists on the ecosystems page would be appropriate.

When you say "use the corpse as nutrients", do you mean "eventually, when it has become heavily decayed sludge or humus" or "surprisingly fresh", like carnivorous or protocarnivorous plants?

I know "hedera" was meant to be a reference to ivy, but with the nigh-monstrous description, I at first assumed it was a reference to the kaiju Hedorah. (Though if anything, Biollante would be more appropriate.)