Wait...shouldn't it have the Support field?

I meant the stripe-like technique for depicting the fin rays, using a fuzzy brush option, it seems. I know they aren't literal stripes.

You could add the Quassagule to its diet if you think it's plausible and the Quassagule will get approved first. "useless woody armor" is mean phrasing, and I doubt it's entirely useless, even if bony armor is superior. Otherwise, I see nothing else that needs improvement.

I do not recognize the word "ballont". There is no mention of it in the wiki. An in-description specification of "ballont" could help, as could using it in a glossary on Sagan 4's wiki.
"the exact amount" "The" should be capitalized here.

As far as I can tell, it's plausible.

I like the striping on its tail fin.

" becomes heart-shaped," "Became heart-shaped".
"evolve" Evolved.
"Its usual hunting strategy[...]" the sentences in this paragraph are too long, and could be split. They sound breathless.

You could call it a "False Bandersnatch", a la false vampire bats of Australia having nothing to do with real vampire bats, or mention in the description itself it's actually a Spectresnatch, for clarity's sake.

I noticed a lot of organisms exist across big habitats separated by large rivers, with unclear ways of existing across rivers. Since I wasn't sure how organisms spread across such big rivers without specified adaptations for it, I decided to make the Quassagule exist only west of Blood Tropical River.

Should it be assumed that all fauna are capable enough of swimming, wading, floating, rafting, or clinging onto organisms capable of those things, to cross large rivers frequently enough to establish populations unless otherwise specified? (e.g., a noted vulnerability to drowning or inability to swim) It's not that implausible, since it seems most mammals (barring great apes and possibly giraffes) can swim.

I have corrected the data. Its ancestor is the Thorny Hedgelog.

Does anyone know what support information should be used for flora?

Alpine Hedgelog (Saepeligna alpina)
Creator: Coolsteph
Ancestor: Thorny Hedgelog
Size: 1.3 m (average)
Diet: Photosynthesis
Habitats: Drake Alpine (rare), Drake Boreal, Drake Rocky
Support: Unknown
Respiration: Passive (Stomata)
Thermoregulation: Ectothermic
Reproduction: Sexual, Two Genders (Flowers, Berries, Seeds)

Alpine Hedgelogs are shrubby, needle-leaved flora found 2.7-3.4 kilometers up in its habitats. They can slowly grow offshoots from their roots, allowing them to form broken “hedges” in suitable habitats.

Its leaves are stiff, thorny needles, borne in pronged clusters. Alpine Hedgelogs grow 1.0-1.8 m tall, with the smallest ones in Drake Alpine, and the biggest in Drake Rocky. Alpine Hedgelogs often have shallow, wide-spreading roots, due to the shallowness of suitable soil, especially in the Drake Boreal and Drake Alpine habitats.

Uniquely among contemporary Hedgelogs, Alpine Hedgelogs’ poisonous and acidic compounds aren't exclusive to its yellow berries. Now, its roots produce large quantities of the strong acids, helping it break down rocky soil. Its outer stem tissue also contains small quantities of the poison and acids. Generating its poison is energetically costly, so it makes the poison in its tissues and especially its fruits only as needed. They make fewer poisonous, highly acidic yellow fruits than their ancestor, and those fruits are less acidic and less poisonous. The berries often taste like rhubarb or sweet lemons, and the flowers often taste like sweetened cranberries. (The exact taste varies somewhat across populations.)

There’s a mismatch between the habitat of its ancestor’s chief pollinator, the Hopping Ketter, and its own habitat range. It therefore relies on smaller, more wide-ranging pollinators, such as Xenobees and Xenowasps. In Drake Alpine, pollination is rarer due to fewer pollinators around, so it produces fewer berries. Those in that population have berries that drop easily whenever large fauna (generally the Loafpick at time of evolution) brush up against them.

Population Notes

Despite the name “Alpine Hedgelog”, Drake Alpine actually has the smallest population of Alpine Hedgelogs. They live in only a narrow sliver of Drake Alpine in its east and northeast section, for almost all of Drake Alpine is 4 kilometers or above. It is called the "Alpine Hedgelog" because, at time of evolution, it's the only Hedgelog to live in Drake Alpine at all, and despite its limited geographic range is very conspicuous as the largest flora there (at time of evolution) and the only non-genus flora species. They are actually fairly common there, but their numbers are inherently limited due to the small sub-habitat sizes.

Typically, damage from pests triggers poison production as an epigenetic response, so those in more pest-ridden environments have more poisonous fruits. Drake Alpine, the yellow fruits are barely poisonous by normal Hedgelog standards and are simply astringent and sour; an adult human could eat an entire individual Drake Alpine Alpine Hedgelog’s crop of yellow fruits to no ill effect. Occasionally, the fruits of alpine populations are red rather than yellow, as its red pigments are superior at protecting it from intense radiation, but the trait is not universal among the population because of continued interbreeding between border populations. The berry color and toxicity variation fall within usual genetic variability within a species, like how some strains of the Earth plant Solanum nigrum have edible berries or red berries, despite the general rule of toxic, black berries.

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I don't know how it supports itself. I presume it's cellulose walls and generic woody or stiff herbaceous tissue.

I think I assumed there was a sliver of lower-altitude habitat in Drake Alpine due to imprecise color blurring on the right side of the habitat, but I no longer recall where the official altitude maps are. I've searched for them, and cannot find them.

The Generation information has been corrected.

The Generation information has been corrected.

I have now corrected that.
Was there anything else you wanted to remark upon?

over time in, ("over time")
"organisms head" (Organism's head)
"more powerful" Do you mean the muscles are more powerful, or its senses are stronger?

I like the color and art.

Larachoy (Larandum alpinus)
Creator: Coolsteph
Size: 1 cm (Boreal Ecotype), 0.5 mm (Alpine Ecotype)
Support: Unknown
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: Unknown
Ancestor: Larands
Habitat: Drake Boreal, Drake Alpine
Reproduction: Asexual Spores

Larachoys live from 4.7 to 5.4 kilometers above sea level. It specializes in cold, dry, windy areas with thin soil, where most large flora struggle to survive. Its buried shells-turned-bases function as rhizomes. Larachoys live for many years, and often reproduces every year. It goes dormant during the winter. Larachoys live in large patches or even Larachoy-dominant meadows in their habitats, so much of the ground can look dark bluish-green.

Larachoys exist in two ecotypes: genetically distinct populations or varieties within a species locally adapted to particular environmental conditions, but whose phenotypic differences are too small to warrant being called a subspecies. The two ecotypes both exist within a high-altitude range in the Drake Boreal and Drake Alpine habitats. Both are descended from a dark green Larands species.

Alpine variant: Spindly, spoon-shaped stalks; typically three spore stalks. The roots become very fine and delicate mere millimeters off the base, and are almost inevitably separated if one lifts the organism from the substrate. They are roughly 5 mm tall when fully grown.The alpine populations are very dark green with a bluish tinge, due to slightly different proportions of pigments between ecotypes.

Boreal variant: Upright clumps with many spore stalks; more than the alpine ecotype, and typically five stalks. Its shell-turned-base is an inverted, flattened dome shape. It has thicker, sturdier, bristlier-looking rhizomes. The boreal populations are very dark green. They are roughly 1 cm tall when fully grown.

The boreal population typically lives under the treeline, while the alpine population typically lives above it. Where conditions are unusually cold and windy, though, the alpine population can be found a little farther down.

I was thinking about making a landmark for the last Tripodician building, a stone ziggurat made of unusually study blocks. It's really detailed, too, with notes on the local flora of the ziggurat, its decay, the chambers underneath it, and the last Tripodician of a moon-worshipping tribe, an albino nicknamed "White Bone" who left extensive diagrammatic warnings of the solar flare's dangers to any future visitors.

However, given Tripodicians went extinct in Generation 145 and it's Generation 164 now, even an unusually sturdy, lucky, huge ziggurat would be long since broken down. I doubt it would even leave traces of unusual geology at this point.

Since it's long, long past the point at which any Tripodician buildings would remain, I can't make a landmark for them. Should there be a "Sophont Archaeology" topic?

There are still a few typos or oddities in the description: summer is probably not-capitalized just once, an the issue about juvenile couples wasn't corrected.

Welcome, Clayren.
"to better protect" suggests intention. "which better protects the delicate 'fins'" is better.
"swooping, and pecking" There should not be a comma between them.
"I've never seen "florae" used before, but it seems valid.
"Summer" should not be capitalized.
"Juvenile Tenant Phlyer couples" Aren't juveniles incapable of breeding? Did you mean "subadults" or "adults with no territory"?


The art looks nice. What technique did you use to make it?

This is not an androgenetic, male-only species. I'm not sure if Sagan 4 has any androgenetic species. (The Pandocrystal doesn't count: it doesn't seem to have asexual reproduction.)

I have suggested the genus name "Larusanser".

Can I get any help on how to make this one more interesting? I had a false start earlier, partly because I forgot its intended ancestor. (This was a sketch from years ago.)

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Dixon Tropical Scrub
Ancestor: Prongoli

Quillboll

Short, thick fuzz-leaves which grow in cottony clumps. Vestigial, gritty thorns among its leaf clusters. Grows best in soils high in sand.

Quillbolls have dense, fibrous stalks, like weak, lightweight wood. Quillbolls live for two years, reproducing with spores in the second year. Quillbolls grows best in nitrogen-rich soil with good drainage.

It stores nutrients at its thick, swollen stem base, hidden underground, which fuel its rapid regrowth when herbivores eat it or when fires periodically burn its habitat.

Coincidentally resembles Quaxacas.

(I wonder how to make those Quillotestudo flora develop sexual reproduction..I'm surprised they still don't do that.)


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I also have an old, unreleased sketch of a Syrup Ferine descendant/relative. It's inspired by red maples, and it's meant to have foliage that changes color. However, I'm having trouble
finding a habitat for it. I'm not sure whether something inspired by red maples, but much smaller, fits in the Drake Polar Woodland, Drake Taiga, or both. In some possible habitats, a tree/large shrub 1-2 meters tall might have trouble growing in environments dominated by far taller trees probably better suited for cold, dry, windy conditions (that is, crystalflora trees). Should it be taiga to woodland, and be somewhat uncommon in the taiga?

Since I don't have any description of it (at least none that survived my computer going kaput around August 2020), it shouldn't be too difficult to rewrite the concept, though.

Name: Grelag (Vomax omnivorous)
Creator: Coolsteph
Ancestor: Bendohve
Habitat: Jlindy Tropical Beach
Diet: Omnivore (Fuzzweeds, Fuzzpile berries, Mainland Fuzzpalm berries, False Cleaner Borvermid, Minikruggs, Teacup Saucebacks, juvenile Stowaway Harmblesses, juvenile Serpungos, young Kakonat, Silkruggs, Sapworms (swarming), Dartirs (largely incidental when eating carrion)), Scavenger
Size: 60 cm tall
Reproduction: Sexual, Two Genders, Live Birth
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm

The Grelag, in contrast to its ancestor which probed the sand for eggs and tide pools for Scuttlers, seeks out much more visible food. It adapted readily to the new food supply of Shrog-spread organisms.

General Physiology & Behavior

Physically, most of its body has only minor differences from its ancestor: its thicker neck, straighter beak, a knob on its beak, a sturdier, rougher-looking beak, a slightly paler tail, slightly paler eyes, and different proportions when pregnant. Its biggest difference is its muscular, well-defined legs.

It is active in the daytime, and forages in open, sandy beach habitats with white sand in small flocks or two to four. Though it spends more time on the land of the beach than its ancestor, it is still semi-aquatic, with webbed feet which help it swim. As most of its food is terrestrial, it largely goes into the water to escape predators. Though it resembles a wingless seagull or goose, it walks and runs well, like a chicken or Indian runner duck. Usually, it runs away from predators. It has remarkable stamina and agility. Like its ancestor, it can repeatedly make vertical jumps to scare other fauna. Their leg structure is somewhat similar to that of human legs.

Grelags’ default response to threats is running away. If attacked, they make threat displays of beak-clacking and jumping. If further harassed, it will projectile-vomit and snap, bite, and jump forward to attack the predator.

Diet

The many fine serrations on the beak help it grip its small prey. Most of what it eats is one-sixth of its size or smaller. Fuzzweeds are one of the most common, strongly preferred things in its diet: it eats by uprooting them and swallowing them whole. Their destructive way of feeding on fuzzweeds prevents fuzzweeds from dominating the habitat of Jlindy Tropical Coast. Grelags compete somewhat with the Dixon Hookphlyer, due to similar diets. It occasionally scavenges, and is not deterred by any Dartirs or Dartir larvae on the meat. It has some resistance to being poisoned by decaying meat.

Other

As a plent, it mates and gives birth through its mouth. Its throat-womb is at the base of its neck, almost on its upper chest. Birthing is quick and easy: it can consciously control the muscle contractions to some extent. They usually birth two, sometimes three chicks.

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If this is accepted, I recommend "Larusanser" ("gull-goose") as the genus name for this and the Bendohve.)

(Is the plural "Serpungo" or "Serpungoes"?)
This feels a little short, by my standards. Are there things I could elaborate on?

Every shrew? Impressive. I just realized the Tamjame's belly stripe is unique among tamshrews.

Alas, the Tamybara doesn't have a little baby on its back. It's a little disorienting to see a depiction of it without one.

Yes, that helped. I'm still not sure about the support structures, though. Both its ancestor and its ancestor's ancestor don't list a support structure.

It's not possible for an organism to live in the entirety of Dixon-Darwin Rocky, Dixon-Darwin High Grassland, Dixon-Darwin Desert, and whatever that nearby yellow habitat is (Dixon Dunes?) unless it's able to cross several rivers. Should it be presumed the rivers are much narrower than they seem on the map, and can be forded by organisms good at wading or swimming? Are they all slow-moving and/or shallow rivers with many island "rest stops"? Should one assume periodic droughts that decrease the rivers' sizes?

Quassagule (Quillotestudo quassa)
Creator: Coolsteph
Ancestor: Quaxaca
Size: 18 cm tall
Habitat: Dixon-Darwin Rocky, Dixon Tropical Scrub, Dixon Savanna, Dixon-Darwin High Grassland
Support: Cellulose Walls, Lignified Stems
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: Passive (Stomata)
Thermoregulation: Ectothermic
Reproduction: Super Fast Asexual Budding, Very Resistant Spores

Quassagules are small, weedy generalist species found in abundance in their habitats.

After millions of years, it adapted to the many herbivores eating it. A Quassagule is less digestible than the Quaxaca: its tissue and especially its side shoots are tougher, more fibrous, and higher in cellulose. Like its ancestor, it has tiny, spine-like thorns hidden among its fuzzy leaves, which aren't long enough to stick out through its fuzz, and gradually wear down the teeth of herbivores. The thorns are particularly hard to digest. The extra cellulose has a metabolic cost: where herbivores are less abundant, its ancestor can outcompete it for resources.

Like its ancestor, root adaptations allow it to use available phosphorus fairly effectively, and hosting nitrocycle microbes in its roots gives it a dependable supply of nitrogen.

The young Quassagules are redder from photoprotective pigments, which are masked by purple pigments as they grow, but still exist. Unusually for most purpleflora, when it dries, it becomes a pastel reddish-purple, like a washed-out mulberry shade, not the typical pink or champagne, due to its underlying red pigments. Pinkish herbivores adapted to the color of dry purpleflora stand out in stands of dry Quassagules.

They are not particularly suited for prolonged dry periods. In their drier habitats, they die out in the dry season fairly often, but their spores grow quickly once the wet season starts.

It photosynthesizes both from its stem tissue and from its long, fine, fuzzy leaves. Undisturbed, Quassagules will grow three shoots. However, in nature, it is fairly common for it to have more, especially if substantially damaged while young. The secondary shoots are somewhat flattened, like blades of grass. Mature Quassagules have faint, thin dark purple stripes on the central stalk.

Their stalks wave gently in the wind of the plains, hence their name being derived from a Latin word meaning “to wave”.

They are most genetically diverse west of Blood Tropical River.

(Trivia: Actually, “Quassagule” is nonsensical, and it’s only a coincidence it sounds like something meaningful. This was originally designed for Generation 158, and never released until now.)


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I noticed a lot of organisms exist across big habitats separated by large rivers, with unclear ways of existing across rivers. Unless there's a good explanation as to how it got across the river, I recommend keeping it west of Blood Tropical River, as a way of making the different sections of habitats separated by rivers more distinct.