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Magnekite
(Magnetocephalous adamas)

Creator: Bufforpington
Ancestor: Magnethead
Habitat: Maineiac Water Table
Size: 20 cm Long
Diet: Herbivore (Table Cushion, Villigrass), Lithotroph (Iron)
Reproduction: Asexual, Spores

The magnekite replaced its ancestor, the Magnethead in Maineiac Water Table. This is due to their expanded diet and less awkward shape. The magnekite's most noticable change is the change of its magnet's shape. Instead of being a wide bar, they instead manifest as shorter, flatter protrusions from the head that run down the entire body. This growth makes it vaguely resemble a kite when viewed from above. This structure is filled with magnetite-based sensory organs and allows the magnekite to pass through narrow spaces while still being able to use magnetosensory. It primarily uses this sense to seek out and consume the iron that has drifted down from the water column due to the diamiarm's predation and search for villigrass. The magnekite gains its iron through lithotrophy and the consumption of villigrass, and gains the rest of its nutrients from table cushions. The magnekite's main food source is the villigrass. This is because the villigrass is easier for the magnekite to 'see' with its magnetosensory organs. The villigrass provides the magnekite with both iron and carbon. In order to better navigate the table cushion-infested waters of Maineiac Water Table, the magnekite's legs have become more articulated with the addition of another joint. This allows the magnekite to better adapt to changing elevations. The magnekite's shell is coated in a symbiotic rustmold species. Fungiferrus magnephilus smothers the iron exoskeleton, exposing it to less oxygen and as a result, decreases the rate of oxidation considerably. When the magnekite molts, it sheds its coat of rustmold with it, leaving it to be consumed by Fungiferrus magnephilus as the shed exoskeleton oxidizes in the open water. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for a magnekite that has shed its exoskeleton to get a new coat of rustmolds.

Spiny Dwarfjack (Ericimustelus rufus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Burrowing Tamjak
Habitat: Hydro Tropical Rainforest, Hydro Tropical Beach
Size: 15 cm long
Diet: Omnivore (Clusterspades, Fuzzweed, Marbleflora, Vermees, Snapper Scuttler, Gushflier, Gushitos, Sapshrooms, Supershrooms, Dartirs, Sapworms, Xenowasps, Xenobees, Minikruggs, Pionferruses, Cloudswarmers, Pioneeroots, Silkruggs, juvenile Stowaway Harmbless, Eusuckers, Cleaner Borvermid, False Cleaner Borvermid)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth, Milk)

The Spiny Dwarfjack split from its ancestor. It became very small due to island dwarfism. At its size, its ancestor’s armor wasn’t especially effective, so it has elongated the scales on its back into hedgehog-like quills. These are not as mobile as hedgehog quills, however, and as such it has a quilless belly so that it can mate. Similar to its ancestor, it is a burrower, though it has also regained some ancestral nest-constructing instincts and fortifies the burrows with bits of wood collected from small flora. It can gather these by backing into flora while swinging its sharp tail from side to side, cutting through stems and saplings with ease. It carries the materials back to its nest in its mouth or tucked between its quills. If it has too much to carry that way, it can also walk on its hind legs with additional materials gripped in curled forepaws. It will also use twigs from fallen branches, but it has a preference for fresh material because it is more flexible.

With no endothermic omnivores on Hydro Island, and no omnivores at all within its size range, the Spiny Dwarfjack has claimed a generalized niche eating various small flora and fauna. On occasion, it is known to board damaged or under-construction Seashrog nests and consume the borvermids inside. It is also able to consume iron fauna and flora, though it does not use most of the iron and as such its poop is unusually iron-rich.

The Spiny Dwarfjack, like other tamjacks, is placental. It mates belly to belly, like many spiny animals on Earth. At its very small size, its gestation period is 30-40 days long, and its babies are born naked, blind, and helpless. They are born too large to fit in a pouch, though the pouch is retained to protect the teats when not in use. They take only 2 months to mature, a significant speed increase from its ancestor. The Spiny Dwarfjack can live up to 5 years.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 1 2020, 08:26 AM

Uksip Lazarus (Uksip lazarus)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Uksip Marfinnus
Habitat: Krakow Polar Shallows, South LadyM Polar Ocean, Fermi Polar Coast, South Jujubee Polar Ocean, Nemo Polar Shallows, Colddigger Polar Coast, South LadyM Ocean (Twilight Zone), Jujubee Ocean (Twilight Zone), Krakow Twilight Seamount, Fermi Twilight Seamount, Dixon-Darwin Twilight Floor, Dixon-Darwin Twilight Slope, South Sagan 4 Ice Sheet
Size: 40 cm long
Diet: Carnivore (Miniswarmers, Larvaback, Scuttlers, Miniwhorls, Squidwhals, Red Echofin, Common Oceanscooter, Finback, Imprisoned Wolley, Gillarill, Southern Gillfin, Gillaysheaia, Hallucigillia, Floating Pumpgill, South Polar Shardgill, Squire Finworm, Marine Gilltail, Marine Filtersquid, Sticky Urphish, Gilgan Waterworm, Ebony Pump Gilltail, Speckled Spinderorm, Crallsnaper, Metamorph Spinderorm, Shoalrorm, Deep Ribbon Gilltail, Mucurorm, Stegosnaper, Gulperpump), Planktivore (5-20 mm), Scavenger
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Broadcast Spawning, Eggs)

Though sometimes regarded as god-like, such as by the sophont Tripodician, the Nauceans who study Sagan 4 are ultimately people. Even with time travel and other technology well beyond what we can ever hope to comprehend, potentially including the ability to detect and scan every species on the planet, people can still make mistakes. One of these was regarding the Uksip Marfinnus, which was regarded as having gone extinct by the Irinyan period. Obviously, this was completely false.

The Uksip Lazarus has replaced the Uksip Marfinnus in Krakow Polar Shallows. Like the Terran coelacanth, it can be regarded as a living fossil, implying a ghost lineage (now busted) which has been residing in Sagan 4’s oceans for a whopping 357.5 million years. It survived the gamma ray burst through representatives in deeper waters, which later repopulated the sunlight zone. It survived the ice comet impact event thanks to its small size and generalized diet. When its population was once again pushed deeper by the ice age, it resurfaced once food returned. It survived the snowball event thanks to its tolerance to cold water, though as the ice receded it was eventually left restricted to only a few locations.

The most remarkable aspect of this creature is that externally, it looks almost exactly like its ancestor. Even its lifestyle seems similar, at a glance. However, it has made quite a number of less visible changes over time, such as in behavior and anatomy. The most visibly notable of these is that its tooth grows continuously and has more enamel on the inner side relative to the spiral, which causes it to wear unevenly and stay sharp. Further, though it can still kill by ramming its prey, if it misses it will grab it with its tentacles and pull it against the tooth. Like a Terran cephalopod, its tentacles have suckers which bear toothy sucker rings to help it grip. It has also taken up scavenging, detecting carcasses over a great distance with chemoreceptors on its tentacles.

There have also been significant internal changes. The most immediately obvious one is to the Uksip Lazarus’ gut. Rather than a simple blind gut, its gut is U-shaped--meaning it has an anus inside its mouth--and it has many chambers for different stages of digestion. The first of these chambers was originally used to aid in suction-feeding, and as such it can expand to suck in water and food particles. When water is pushed out, it passes through setae which are homologous with the insulating coat of the extinct Snowky. This allows it to filter feed to some extent. This chamber is also vascularized and has many bumps tipped with protective setae, allowing it to also function somewhat as a gill. It also became much smarter over time, as it had to compete with both other predators and increasingly smart prey. At present, its intelligence is comparable to that of a Terran shark.

The Uksip Lazarus has a relatively small population density, due in part to its eggs being consumed by the cosmopolitan planktivorous swarmers. Its reproductive method is full-throttle r-selection, broadcast spawning mass numbers of gametes with the hope that just a few will be fertilized and grow into surviving offspring. Hatchlings somewhat resemble the Uksip Luliformes, but as they grow they rapidly change to better resemble the adult form. The reproductive opening is located inside its mouth, next to its anus.

Like its ancestor, the Uksip Lazarus swims using six ribbon-like cuttlefishesque fins and a horizontal fish-like tail fin. It lacks any internal skeleton at all apart from a hydrostatic skeleton formed from its abdominal cavity, the only hard parts of its body being its tooth, its sucker teeth, and the lenses of its compound eyes.

Squidwhals (Lolligouksip spp)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Uksip Marfinnus
Habitat: Global (Sagan 4)
Size: 10-20 cm long
Diet: Planktivore (0.05-20 millimeters), Carnivore (swarmers half their size and smaller, other similar-sized fauna), Scavenger
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Spawning, Eggs)

Squidwhals are the descendants of the other surviving population of Uksip Marfinnus, replacing the Justin Polar Shallows population. These smaller marine uksips are similar to their cousin the Uksip Lazarus, the two diverging when the glaciers melted at the end of the Bloodian period. Thus, like the Uksip Lazarus, they have a U-shaped gut (meaning their anus is inside their mouth), a continuously-growing tooth that wears in such a manner that it automatically sharpens through use, a larger brain, a chamber derived from the ancestral sucking function of the mouth which can expand to suck in food, and they are very r-selected. Their suction chamber lacks protective setae inside and is less vascularized than their cousin's, and they depend more on obtaining oxygen through their skin. Far more developed, however, is their filter-feeding ability.

When the two Uksip Marfinnus populations diverged at the end of the Bloodian period, the ancestors of the Squidwhals had taken greater advantage of the booming populations of swarmers. Initially they remained restricted in range, but their new burst in speciation is correlated with the also-recent rise in meiofaunal swarmers. Similar to their cousin, water pushed out of the suction chamber passes through a filter of setae. The setae of the Squidwhals are stiffer and bear feather-like branches, able to capture wriggling zooplankton such as smaller Miniswarmers, as well as the arguably-phytoplankton Microswarmers and kin.

Most Squidwhals are social and live in bands of up to 10 individuals. This is because, making use of their increased intelligence which occurred over the half-eon since their ancestor first evolved, they maximize the number of small swarmers they can eat at one time by coordinating to round them up into dense clouds. The swarmers have little room to turn without colliding, so when the Squidwhals start sucking them in, they will have difficulty escaping. Most Squidwhals will also hunt larger prey, either ramming them with their tooth or otherwise grabbing them and pulling them against it. However, some species have abandoned this practice and likewise have shorter tentacles and a smaller tooth.

Unlike their cousin, Squidwhals do not broadcast spawn. When the breeding season comes along within a given species’ range, they gather in brackish estuaries and the males intentionally spawn over the females’ eggs. Hatchlings resemble miniature adults, and they live in the estuaries until they have reached about half their adult size. They join social bands early in life, usually with others from the same estuary, but if their band is split or massacred by predation, they can form or join new bands. Similar to their cousin, their reproductive opening is inside the mouth and next to the anus.

There are over 200 species of Squidwhal. They can be found all over the ocean, especially around reefs and upwellings where swarmers are abundant. Most species are associated with specific estuaries due to their breeding habits. They come in many colors. Many with an affinity for the open ocean are red or silver, the former making them less visible at greater depths. Those in the shallows are more varied depending on their environment, such as having stripes to disrupt their shape among oceanic flora or bright colors to help them blend in with reefs. Some species change color as they mature, having patterns that keep them hidden in the estuaries but switching to something more plain once they leave.

Like their ancestor and cousin, Squidwhals are soft-bodied. The only hard parts are their tooth, sucker teeth, and compound eye lenses. The only internal skeleton they have is a hydrostatic one formed from their abdominal cavity. They swim using six ribbon-like cuttlefishesque fins and a horizontal tail fin. Similar to their cousin, they can taste and smell with chemoreceptors on their tentacles.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 4 2020, 02:59 PM

Hair Nimbuses (Filamentonimbus spp.)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Nimbuses
Habitat: Global (Sagan 4)
Size: 1-10 mm wide cells; up to 20 cm long colonies
Diet: Photosynthesis (UV Light), Diazotrophy (not all species)
Reproduction: Sexual (Cellular Mating), Asexual (Colony: Fragmentation; Cell: Binary Fission)

Hair Nimbuses split from their ancestor. This genus of nimbus forms long colonial chains which are less susceptible to becoming saturated with water and falling. This is due to their high association with real clouds, aided by the appearance of Cloudbubbles which can serve as structural support. Clouds are the wettest part of the atmosphere--basically an oasis in a habitat otherwise more arid than a desert--and to take advantage of this water source, avoiding too much saturation is necessary to their survival. In addition to the sky, they are also present in montane regions, cloud forests, and anywhere else where fog or ground-level cloud cover is common, but in these habitats they are tethered to rocks and rooted flora. They may also occasionally grow on hibernating fauna. They stand out from other nimbuses in that, in three dimensions, they actually resemble the two-dimensional representations, only having fronds growing in a ring around the main body of the cell.

In order to keep their genome fresh, Hair Nimbus cells are capable of mating. Like in many unicellular eukaryotes on Earth, they do so by fusing and then undergoing meiosis. However, their many fronds and status as aeroplankton make this a difficult endeavor, as their chances of meeting outside of colonies and coming close enough to actually mate are very low. They mitigate this by mating when colonies collide: the filamentous shape of the colony causes them to become tangled easily anyway, and they come apart during the process of meiosis, so they both undergo sexual reproduction and avoid becoming vulnerable to saturation with water in a single action.

After undergoing meiosis, the resulting Hair Nimbus cells will proceed to divide a few more times, forming spore-like cells which are very small and do not cling to neighbors. Cells in this stage can survive falling as rain and can reenter the sky through dust storms or sea spray. They are dormant until they bump into larger aeroplankton, such as the Cloudbubble. In the case of Cloudbubbles in particular, they are often captured by the sticky feeding tendrils, but if they land on a different part of the plant, they will proceed to start dividing, growing out from the chosen surface to form their namesake filamentous colonies. This does not harm the host plant, as they use UV light for photosynthesis and are transparent in the spectrums that most plants use. Unlike in typical cell colonies, but as is typical for the Nimbus lineage, the cells are not connected by their main bodies, instead clinging by their fronds. This makes them very light, but it also makes the colony susceptible to fragmentation. Broken lengths of colony can rarely reattach to a new host, but they are more likely to collide with other colony fragments in the sky, allowing them to mate. Fragments that never meet other fragments or hosts will eventually die, either of dehydration, predation, or falling as rain, though they have a chance to survive the latter and return to the sky if they land in the ocean or in dry dirt or sand and their fronds aren’t too severely damaged.

There are many species of Hair Nimbus. They often have different adaptations for different parts of the atmosphere. They cannot rise as high as the stratosphere, but they do exist in the upper troposphere. These high-altitude species, along with those residing in polar high winds, employ antifreeze proteins to protect themselves from the frigid air. In general, the width of a hair nimbus cell will decrease in wetter parts of the sky, as they are more susceptible to becoming rain and having shorter fronds makes them more likely to survive the fall. For species which live closer to the ground, such as in montane environments, the aforementioned dangers of rain and dehydration do not necessarily apply, so these are often the largest and fastest-growing species and they typically mate on the ground. Some species of Hair Nimbus are also capable of diazotrophy, fixing nitrogen in the air and the increasingly “lush” clouds to help themselves grow. Not every species does this, but their existence makes them a vital addition to the third sky ecosystem.

Diamiarm
(Adamabrachia ambulomyces)

Creator: Bufforpington
Ancestor: Cave Diaminet
Habitat: Maineiac Water Table
Size: 30 cm Diameter
Diet: Filter-Feeder, Carnivore (Eusuckers, Magnekite, Floating Stickyball, Table Cushion)
Reproduction: Sexual, Hermpahrodite (Spores), Asexual, Fragmentation

The diamiarm has replaced its ancestor in Maineiac Water Table. It evolved from a mutant population that evolved muscle-like structures in their mycelial arms. With the use of hormones, these arms can be moved. The flailing produced by these progenitors gave them an immediate advantage over their ancestors due to them being able to cover a wider area and potentially being able to ensnare and hold prey items in their arms, allowing them to replace them.

In order to facilitate this behavior, the arms have developed tactoreceptors that allow them to feel their way around the cave. They also evolved statocysts inside the edges of their crystal shell. When combined, these simple receptors combined with its hormone-based 'nervous system' allow it to make coordinated movements and navigate the cave it dwells in. Their main form of locomotion depends on their orientation. When upside-down on the ceiling, they will grab the ceiling with one of their arms and release the one used to hold onto the ceiling before to swing its next arm into reach of the ceiling. The process then repeats. When moving along the ground, it will crawl along the floor using all four of its arms in an awkward manner. They climb up walls by reaching out with one of its arms and grabbing the wall before reaching out with an adjacent wall and grabbing a section of the wall that is further up. They generally prefer to dwell on the ceiling, but often find themselves tumbling down to the floor, where they will have to begin their arduous climb back to the cave ceiling.

The diamiarm has evolved the means to consume the hard-shelled iron fauna. They now not only release enzymes, but ions that oxidize the pure iron shell of their prey. This allows them to break down the exoskeleton and access their prey's soft insides, which they dissolve and digest with their enzymes. They will often coil their arms around their prey so that they can expose them to more enzymes and break them down faster. This also makes it harder for prey to escape.

The diamiarm has two modes of reproduction. The first are sexual spores, which are derived from their ancestor's self-fertilizing spores. However, instead of fertilizing their own spores and being left with a genetic copy, they will seek out other members of their species and mate with them. The two clouds of isogamous spores will then fertilize each other and become a zygote, which will develop into a new diamiarm. Juvenile diamiarms are little more than simple blobs of mycelia that gain nutrients through filter-feeding. Diamiarms can also reproduce via fragmentation, in which if an arm breaks off, it can grow into a new diamiarm.

Borewurm (Dentafacies petrophagus)

Creator: Bufforpington
Ancestor: Rustwurm
Habitat: Maineiac Water Table
Size: 5 cm long
Diet: Lithotroph (Basalt), Rhizovore (Table Cushion, Villigrass)
Reproduction: Asexual (Budding)

The Borewurm has split from its ancestor and returned to the water table. On its way, it picked up strange new adaptations that helps it survive in the water table's rocky interior. The most notable of which is its fayalite exoskeleton, which is produced from the broken-down remains of the basalt the borewurm consumes. This is made possible by the borewurm's new chemeba symbiont, which breaks down the basalt into its basic components, leaving the borewurm with SiO4, Fe2+, and Mn2+. While the SiO4 and Fe2+ is used to form its fayalite exoskeleton, the Mn2+ is excreted as a waste product due to the borewurm not being able to use it. This causes the borewurm's tunnels to be filled with manganese deposits. Because the hardness of fayalite exceeds the hardness of basalt, the borewurm is able to bore through solid rock. This is achieved through a modified form of its ancestor's sucker. This radula-covered digging apparatus is effectively a sheath of muscle coated in thick flesh and fayalite radula. The borewurm digs by pulling the sheath in and out of its mouth, causing the radula to scrape against the basalt in front of it, grinding it down in the process. The thick flesh of the sheath helps protect it from being damaged by shards of basalt. However, in spite of its amazing digging abilities, the borewurm prefers to dig through soils than solid rock, as doing the latter is energy-intensive. The borewurm derives its main source of carbon from the rhizoids of Table Cushions and Villigrass. In spite of their redundance, the gut majurums that inhabit the borewurm's gut can still be of use when the borewurm consumes villigrass rhizoids, as the presence of gut majurms allows the borewurm to convert the rhizoids' Fe3+ into Fe2+. This allows it to use the iron gained from villigrass in the formation of its fayalite exoskeleton.

This post has been edited by Bufforpington: Nov 30 2020, 02:48 PM

Bonegrove (Nigranucleus litus)

Creator: Bufforpington
Ancestor: Branching Bonespire
Habitat: Fermi Temperate Beach, Fermi Temperate Coast
Size: 5 m Tall
Diet: Photosynthesis
Reproduction: Sexual (Nuts)

The bonegrove evolved from a population of branching bonespires that ventured too close to the salty shoreline of the beach. After millions of years of struggling to survive on the salty, waterlogged shorelines of Fermi Temperate Coast, they finally managed to gain enough adaptations to gain a foothold, giving rise to the dense forests that line much of Fermi Temperate Coast's shoreline.

The bonegrove has changed considerably in its bid to colonize Fermi Temperate Coast's shoreline. The first and most noticeable of these is its adventitious roots, which hoists the bonegrove above the waterline. These roots are covered in lenticels that allow it to extract nitrogen from the air, which are then processed into a useable form by nitrocycle microbes. It has grown smaller as a means to make itself lighter and thus, easier for its roots to support. In order to survive the increased salt levels, the bonegrove also possesses more leaves and in turn, has greater photosynthetic capabilities than its ancestor. These extra leaves also have a secondary purpose, in which old leaves will be slowly loaded with salt and be shed when the leaf has reached maximum capacity. The leaf will then be replaced. During the winter, all of these leaves undergo this function while the bonegrove hibernates. These leaves will then be shed in the spring and give rise to a new set of foliage.

The bonegrove reproduces in the latter days of spring. Their reproductive method is extremely similar to that of its ancestors'. However, the bonegrove relies on the coastal nectarworm as its pollinator instead of the nectarworm due to their increased frequency along Fermi Temperate Coast. Their nuts have changed drastically. Instead of being nutritious and filled with tiny seeds, the bonegrove's nuts are nutrient-poor and filled with only one, large seed. This seeds reach maturity during the early summer and fall into the water, where they germinate into propagules that will float along the coast until they hit an area suitable for setting down roots. The propagule will then become a sapling and rapidly grow into a 2-3 meter tall tree with enough leaves to survive the winter. Any sapling that fails to gain enough leaves will freeze to death during the winter.

The bonegrove has dramatically changed the ecology of Fermi Temperate Beach and Fermi Temperate Coast by erecting a barrier between the two. However, the flumpus often breaks down this barrier by knocking down adult bonegroves and crushing saplings that grow near their colonies. This barrier affects the seashrog particularly badly, as seashrogs must navigate a prickly labyrinth of adventitious roots and trunks to reach the shore. While this isn't too much of a problem for visiting seashrogs, those who need to build new rafts find it impossible to push their rafts out to sea. While they can clear segments of the mangrove, it often proves to be too annoying and time-consuming to complete. Meanwhile, pushing their rafts through the clearings created by flumpus colonies almost always end in failure, as the seashrogs pushing their raft out to sea are either chased off or killed by aggressive male flumpuses. This leaves the majority of the Fermian seashrog population stranded on Fermi, with only the most determined seashrogs making it off the island.

This post has been edited by Bufforpington: Nov 26 2020, 12:49 PM

Coastal Nectarworm (Nectavermis litus)

Creator: Bufforpington
Ancestor: Nectarworm
Habitat: Fermi Temperate Beach, Fermi Temperate coast
Size: 2 cm Long
Diet: Nectarvore (Bonegrove) (Adult), Sapivore (Carnosprawl, Fuzzweed), Frugivore (Carnosprawl, Fuzzweed) (Larvae)
Reproduction: Sexual (Hermaphrodite, Eggs)

With the evolution of the Bonegrove came a new species of nectarworm to accompany it. The Coastal Nectarworm has taken to the shoreline to feast on the new source of nectar. It originally arose from a group of young nectarworms that lived too close to the seashore. These larval nectarworms had to survive continuous exposure to an excess of salt, and had to adapt or die. This led to the coastal nectarworm developing some adaptations that allow it to maintain a normal amount of salt in its body. These include the development of 'salt pouches' in the segments near the back of its body, which are organs filled with cells with massive vacuoles. These cells will store brine. The sacs are capable of containing this hypersaline brine, keeping it from osmosing into the rest of the coastal nectarworm's body. This adaptation doubles as a defense, as the sheer amount of salt contained within the coastal nectarworm makes it lethal to eat in large amounts. Another adaptation to regulate the amount of salt it contains is to excrete the extra salt in its waste. This is its main way of doing away with salt. The coastal nectarworm has also developed aposematic coloration as a means of warning predators of its dangerously high salt content.

The coastal nectarworm's life cycle has changed little from its ancestor. The only major change is its mating grounds and larval diet. Instead of mating around oases, the coastal nectarworm mates in the depths of the bonegrove forests, where it is harder for predators to access them. Meanwhile, the larvae have taken to feeding on the sap and fruit of the low-growing plant species that the seashrog introduced, as their sudden introduction provided them with an uncontested food source.

This post has been edited by Bufforpington: Nov 30 2020, 11:19 AM

Vesiplanktoid (Oculicaliginis parvanare)

Creator: Nergali
Ancestor: Microswarmers (Noplanktoids)
Habitat: North Jujubee Polar Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North Jujubee Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North LadyM Polar Ocean (Sunlight Zone), North LadyM Temperate Ocean (Sunlight Zone)
Size: 3 mm Long
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritivore, Planktivore
Reproduction: Sexual (hermaphroditic, spawning)

Descended from the Noplanktoids, a small species of planktonic plent from which this has split, the Vesiplanktoids continue on their ancestors' rich legacy of floating about in the water column while ever at the mercy of the ocean currents. It is a simple lifestyle, though one that has proven successful for this lineage, which has been further bolstered by an evolutionary change to hermaphroditism - for such poor swimmers, no longer would excess energy need to be wasted when it came to finding a mate when any other individual will suffice in regards to their spawning needs.

Unlike most Microswarmers, the Vesiplanktoids are fairly unique for possessing a primitive jaw of sorts, rather than the typical gaping maw for sucking in nutrients and water found in their kin. It is nothing too complex, though, being little more than a simple flap-like structure with little strength behind it. When it swings upon, it creates a very slight current that is more than capable of pulling in bits of detritus and other nutrients, as well as other, tinier organisms such as their own smaller planktonic kin like Whip Swarmers, Swarmerkings, and lone Chainswarmers. This change in diet compared to that of the ancestor helps to supplement their photosynthesis, which in turn helps to fuel a faster growth rate as well as their reproductive capabilities.

The most prominent feature of this species, the air vesicle-like structures found within their upper pair of tentacles, are still very much present within this species. Much akin to the pneumatocyst of certain seaweeds native to Earth, like them these structures contain buoyant gases such as CO, O2 & N2. This specialized pair of tentacles have, over countless generations, slowly migrated in position towards the top of the body, a location where they are more effective without disrupting this species' balance. However, that is not all that has changed. Not only have these structures become larger, the Vesiplanktoids are now capable of venting them of excess gas should they need to lower themselves in the water column. This process is relatively quick, and can be identified by the presence of small gas bubbles forming and dissipating upon the surface of these tentacles. Afterwards, when they need to, the various life processes of this species - such as photosynthesis - aid them in restoring the gas balance within these vesicles. Such a lifestyle has meant that the side fins of their ancestors - which were already greatly diminished even in them - are now externally nonexistent, having been fully absorbed into their bodies. Some internal support still exist, though, and as such on the very rare occasion a mutant is born that retains their fins, though they are fairly functionless.

Just as in the Noplanktoids, despite their apparent vulnerability as they drift about, the Vesiplanktoids retain a potent, hidden defense to ward off predators. Potent toxins build up within the bodies of these planktonic plents, ones that induce terrible blistering and burning lesions upon contact with exposed flesh. The toxins mostly accumulate within the tentacles, and bear a passing resemblance to those utilized by various seaweeds of Earth, in this case lyngbyatoxin A and debromoaplysiatoxins. Selective planktivores tend to quite quickly learn to avoid preying on Vesiplanktoids after one or two painful "learning experiences", though significantly larger, more generalized planktivores are largely unaffected as the doses of toxin required to cause significant gastrointestinal pain within them would require thousands of individual Vesiplanktoids to be consumed. Of course, should conditions be right and nutrients plentiful, a plent bloom can occur... and then even the titans of the deep can succumb. Such events are rare, though, and tend to be localized and thus easily avoided.

This post has been edited by Nergali: Dec 6 2020, 02:05 PM

Shrew Sauceback (Vermisorex muscauda)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Spotted Sauceback
Habitat: Barlowe Temperate Rainforest, Barlowe Temperate Woodland, Barlowe Chaparral
Size: 5 cm long
Diet: Adult: Carnivore (Sapworms, Xenobees, Xenowasps, Dartirs, Minikruggs, Silkruggs, Cloudswarmers, Mistswarmers, Hemoswarmer, Sauceswarmer, Vermees); Larvae: Detritivore, Scavenger, Opportunistic Carnivore (Vermees)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Eggs and Larvae)

The Shrew Sauceback is a very small sauceback measuring no more than 5 centimeters in length. This size decrease is due in part to its eyeless nature not being especially competitive in a world of eyed creatures, so it simply got smaller until it hit something it was more competitively viable in. It is named not for any resemblance to [[shrew]]s, but for its dietary habits as an adult, which are like those of a Terran shrew. As such a small endotherm, it must eat constantly to survive, so it is always on the hunt for prey which is often much larger than itself. Tooth-like extensions of its existing tooth jaws assist in grasping and killing large prey. It can starve so quickly that, in order to survive the night, it doesn’t sleep--it hibernates. However, it is a totally different story for its larvae.



Like many other [[sauceback]]s, the Shrew Sauceback has worm-like larvae. Unlike its ancestor, and indeed unlike most other saucebacks, the Shrew Sauceback does not care for its young at all. Shrew Sauceback larvae are completely ectothermic, burrowing, and feed almost exclusively on carcasses and detritus, only occasionally snapping up the [[vermees]] they stumble upon. The larvae hatch at less than a millimeter in length, and they reach their full adult length before they undergo metamorphosis. In fact, a mature larva is bigger than an adult, as it will pack on a lot of weight in fat stores before it begins its metamorphosis. This is necessary because the Shrew Sauceback’s adult metabolism is so high that otherwise it would starve to death before it finishes the transformation. The larva will hide in a burrow while undergoing metamorphosis and emerge as a full-sized adult. Due to their small size, most Shrew Saucebacks will die before they ever mate, so to compensate they will lay thousands of eggs per mating.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 27 2020, 03:43 PM

Minifee (Parvainfantemigelata spp.)

Creator: Nergali
Ancestor: Camouflage Foi
Habitat: Global (Sagan 4)
Size: 5-20 mm Long
Diet: Planktivore, Detritivore
Reproduction: Fragmentation

For untold millions upon millions of years, foi have existed relatively unchanged - save for the occasional lineage or two - in the waters of Sagan IV, endlessly consuming and dividing as they went, nigh oblivious to the greater world around them. As such, it was of little surprise when this genus formed. Having split from its ancestor, the first Minifee shrunk somewhat in size, even if it did remain somewhat large for a single cell, so that it might better exploit its surrounding food sources. It was not long after, as one might expect of a cell, that it quite rapidly diversified in species and grew nigh exponentially in numbers. Now they have established themselves within the Sagan IV food chain, becoming the bane of smaller cells, from biofilm to algae, but in turn being prey for larger organisms.

Internally, the various Minifee are near identical to their ancient Foi ancestors. Like them, their bodies are supported by a complex cytoskeletal structure. These structures, sometimes referred to as "muscles" in past Foi do to their similarity in function, are composed of innumerable chains of actin and myosin. Intertwined throughout their bodies, they serve to provide vital support for their gelatinous bodies, and allow for the "quick" movements that nearly all of the various single-celled Foi have been known for.

As for externally, Minifee have not changed all that drastically there as well. They still resemble the original Foi very closely, save for a loss of the wings utilized by their distant ancestor for the purpose of swimming about in the water column. Other than that, they retain such features as their trio of eyespots - often referred to as eyes due to their size and sheer complexity - which, like similar such structures found in such species as Warnowiid and the Xenophyphores of Earth, are composed internally of several highly specialized, light-sensitive organelles. Capable of being rotated and even migrated slightly along the surface of their bodies, they allow the Microfee to sense potential threats as well as the time of day, especially when combined with their capability to detect vibrations in the water.

Minifee are found in nearly all aquatic environments close to the surface, from fast flowing rivers and stagnant swamps, to tropical shallows and the dark murk of the twilight floor. Few, if any, though, are found below those depths, which are instead dominated by other species as well as even several related Fee species. Reproduction often involves an individual fragmenting into numerous smaller ones, typically when certain conditions - such as an overabundance of food, warmth, etc... - are met. While some species do produce toxins within their bodies in order to defend themselves, most rely on instead on reproducing rapidly in order to produce enough offspring so that at least some will survive to adulthood.

This post has been edited by Nergali: Nov 29 2020, 07:01 PM

Pelagic Puffgrass (Thalassastipes pelliflos)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Beach Puffgrass
Habitat: Wind Temperate Coast, Dass Temperate Coast, Jindy Tropical Coast, BigL Tropical Coast, Clarke Temperate Coast, King Tropical Coast, Chum Tropical Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast, South LadyM Temperate Ocean, LadyM Tropical Ocean, North LadyM Temperate Ocean, South Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Jujubee Tropical Ocean, North Jujubee Temperate Ocean, Fermi Temperate Coast, Soma Temperate Coast, Fly Tropical Shallows, Hydro Tropical Coast, Oz Temperate Coast, Maineiac Temperate Coast, Yokto Salt Marsh, Always Salt Swamp, Glicker Salt Swamp, Jeluki Salt Swamp, Gec Salt Swamp, Biocat Salt Swamp, Huggs Salt Marsh, Blocks Salt Marsh, Bone Salt Marsh, Irinya Salt Marsh, Blood Salt Swamp, Ichthy Salt Swamp, Terra Salt Swamp, Bardic Salt Swamp, Kenotai Salt Swamp, Wright Salt Swamp, Pipcard Salt Swamp
Size: 80 cm tall
Diet: Photosynthesis
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Spores, Cone)

The Pelagic Puffgrass split from its ancestor. With the rise of the Seashrog came the appearance of massive amounts of driftwood left over from destroyed nests. The Pelagic Puffgrass grows on the driftwood, more or less using it as though it were a nurse log. This has caused it to spread over a significant portion of the ocean, but being specialized for life on driftwood it has not replaced its ancestor and it is very rare to find it growing on sand.

The Pelagic Puffgrass’s reproduction has been altered. Its unfertilized spores are no longer puffy. It now comes in male and female. Females do not release their spores at all, keeping them inside a protective fleshy structure somewhat resembling many individual scales of a pinecone growing along a stem. Male spores are still dispersed by wind, though they may occasionally land in the water and instead be splashed onto the female by seaspray. Either way, after fertilization, the zygote grows the long hairs that give the puffgrass lineage its name, and they are dispersed by wind. They actually do not wait to germinate, growing necessary structures such as small leaves and roots immediately so that they will obtain food and water in the meantime and be ready to go the moment they encounter driftwood. Pieces of driftwood can often be covered in many unrelated individuals.

Like its ancestor, the Pelagic Puffgrass deals with excess salt by transporting it to a few designated leaves which are then shed. However, given the ocean is much saltier than what its ancestor faced on beaches, it has had to make some improvements. It now also secretes much of its salt to make room for additional salt in the same leaf. It is also capable of not absorbing any more water at all if it has had too much salt buildup, such as if its log is too saturated or it grew too far down, instead waiting for freshwater to rain down in a storm for it to absorb; however, this will only occur after an extended period of time without rain.

Though it mainly grows on driftwood, it is also possible for Pelagic Puffgrass to grow on Seashrog and Marine Tamow nests which are currently in use. However, in cases like this it will often be trampled or otherwise crushed by activity.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 29 2020, 12:33 AM

Megalosheh (Tateatamus grandis)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Sansheh
Habitat: Barlowe Temperate Rainforest, Barlowe Temperate Woodland, Oz Temperate Beach
Size: 8 meters long
Diet: Herbivore (Obsidibarrage, Obsidibend, Mainland Fuzzpalm, Mangot, Qupe Tree); Larvae: Detritivore
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Eggs and Larvae)

Megalosheh split from its ancestor and became larger, making it one of the biggest saucebacks to ever live (and certainly the heaviest). While there were several factors to this occurring, the biggest of them is its tail. Calling back to the two-tailed saucebacks of long ago, the Megalosheh’s tail is forked. Having not been an obligate tripod, this was retained long enough for it to be perfected for walking and permanently established in the species. The fork occurs well after the lung segments, affecting the last five segments of the tail, though only four are especially mobile. This allowed it to become an obligate tripod as it grew larger, as the twin tail tip is more stable than a single hoof. An adult cannot walk bipedally at all. The Megalosheh’s feather coat is thinner, as its colossal size makes a full coat disadvantageous, and it has taken on a greyish coloration because normal camouflage is pointless at large sizes and it may as well pretend to be a rock.

Being so large, the Megalosheh no longer needs to stand up to eat from trees, simply raising its beaked trunk to pull down leaves. However, it will balance on its tail to knock down trees for younger members of the herd to feed from. Similar to its ancestor, doing this helps control populations of black flora which otherwise block too much light from reaching the undergrowth. It has a large fermenting gut, which is visibly located in its chest area, as unlike tetrapods which have their lungs in their chest and the guts behind them, saucebacks have their guts in the same segment as their legs and brain and the lungs behind that.

The Megalosheh, in order to reach the point where they are consuming flora and therefore able to reach adult size more quickly, metamorphose much faster. While eggs still take 4 months to hatch, the worm-like detritivore larva stage lasts only a single month before their legs erupt, though it takes another month for them to be developed enough to stand, at which point they join a herd. They usually join their parents’ herd, as they stick around while the babies are still larvae, but if this is impossible they can join other herds just as easily. Young legged Megaloshehs are cursorial and bipedal, able to sprint deeper into the herd at any sign of danger while the larger, slower, but more powerful adults fend off the would-be predator. Much like its ancestor, male megaloshehs attract females with bellows and shaking displays. It lives for 30 years and breeds about every 5 years starting in warmer months, laying 20-25 eggs at a time.

Megalosheh activity has caused the Mainland Fuzzpalm and Qupe Tree, already having been spread to the beach by the Seashrog, to also spread inland into Barlowe Temperate Rainforest and Barlowe Temperate Woodland.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 29 2020, 10:11 AM

Great Leotam (Thytamus leo)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Sabertam
Habitat: Barlowe Temperate Rainforest, Barlowe Temperate Woodland, Barlowe Chaparral
Size: 3 meters long
Diet: Carnivore (Sansheh, Longjack, Beaktrunk, Megalosheh, Doboor, Grassblaster, Tusked Grassblaster, Leemalla, Tappipper, Buttpiper, Grand Buttpiper, Dusty Spelunkhoe, Xatakbrak, Spotted Sauceback, Dualist Bandersnatch, Sanguine Padfoot, Triplethorn Bounder, Sango, Amblister Bandersnatch)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth, Pouch and Milk)

The Great Leotam replaced its ancestor and outcompeted the Tyrant Gossalizard and the Woodland Gossalizard within its range, taking over the niche of apex predator due to endothermy making it better suited to the niche. While adults mainly hunt large prey, juveniles are independant earlier and hunt smaller prey, which is why it outcompeted a non-apex large predator as well. It mainly hunts by ambush, and it kills by pinning its prey with its thumb claws and delivering a killing bite with its saber fangs. It is capable of standing on its hind legs and tail to scan for prey further away, or to battle a rival. Similar to its ancestor, it has a shaggier winter coat. It typically sleeps in scrapes in the ground, shallow caverns, or hollow logs.

Great Leotams are generally solitary, and they mainly meet to mate. Rather than just showing off their teeth, rival males will often fight for mating rights, biting each other’s faces and sometimes even delivering fatal wounds. Similar to its ancestor, the Great Leotam has marsupial-like characteristics. Newborns are fetal and reside in their mother’s backwards-facing pouch, suckling milk for the first part of their lives. They eventually leave the pouch and are weaned off milk, and their mother teaches them to hunt by bringing them live small prey. The father does not participate in raising his offspring. The juveniles leave once they can hunt, filling a smaller predator niche until they grow large enough to be apex predators like their parents. The Great Leotam usually has 2-3 offspring at a time.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 29 2020, 10:08 AM