Crawling Meiouk (Benthomeioukus perrepo)
Creator: SpeedTowel
Ancestor: Meiouks
Habitat: Elerd Temperate Coast
Size: Microscopic (150 μm)
Diet: Consumer (Sting Cells, Cilios, Sheet Snotflora, Salmunduses, Hexpouruses, Morsuses, Irisiris, Seacleaners, Ferruphiles, Nitrocycle, Cryoflows, Kyanoses, Umbröschla, Flashcells, Crocusisms, Microprobi, Chaoses, Polyfee, Microswarmers, Flovars, Prongangels, Swarmerkings, Whip Swarmers), Detritivore
Respiration: Unknown
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Support: Soft-Bodied (Hydrostatic Skeleton)
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female, eggs in water)
The crawling meiouk split from its ancestor and adapted to a benthic lifestyle. The species solely lives in Elerd Temperate Coast and has gained a new adaptation, transforming their lower limbs into legs that help them crawl across the ground. This helps it consume more microbes at the bottom of the coast's floor. The species most of the time consumes microorganisms but consumes detritus also. Their whip-like tails are not used in locomotion but instead for stability.. Crawling meiouks are not good at crawling across the sediment and will often fall over, but use their whip-like tails to balance themselves getting back up. The species still reproduces sexually and is externally similar to its ancestor.
"The species most of the time consumes microorganisms but also consumes detritus also."
The second "also" is superfluous and looks out of place.
Usually, microbes are listed as consumers and larger fauna are listed as filter-feeders, but this is a multicellular organism that is microscopic. I am uncertain what the custom would be for this.
If the whip-like tails are not used in locomotion, why would they persist? Do they serve some other function? At this scale, swimming in any moisture would be like swimming through honey. It may be useful to research especially tiny tardigrades to determine the plausibility of its movement.
They're surely ectotherms with passive skin-based respiration.
The second "also" is superfluous and looks out of place.
Usually, microbes are listed as consumers and larger fauna are listed as filter-feeders, but this is a multicellular organism that is microscopic. I am uncertain what the custom would be for this.
If the whip-like tails are not used in locomotion, why would they persist? Do they serve some other function? At this scale, swimming in any moisture would be like swimming through honey. It may be useful to research especially tiny tardigrades to determine the plausibility of its movement.
They're surely ectotherms with passive skin-based respiration.
I've updated some things about their locomotion and filled out the unknown spots
"but consumes detritus also. Their whip-like tails are not used in locomotion but instead for stability."
Ending a sentence in "also" sounds very odd or conspicuously old-fashioned. I recommend "but also consumes detritus". While the whip-like tails being used for stability would make more sense for bigger organisms, for an organism at this size, the water is very thick. Can one really fall over in something as dense as honey? On the seafloor, it would be surrounded by particles like silt particles, which would give it something to push against, likely from all angles.
If you don't want to reduce the tail, you could say its ovaries stretch into its tails like the ovaries of sea spiders stretch into their legs, or that it holds onto its eggs using some of its tails.
Ending a sentence in "also" sounds very odd or conspicuously old-fashioned. I recommend "but also consumes detritus". While the whip-like tails being used for stability would make more sense for bigger organisms, for an organism at this size, the water is very thick. Can one really fall over in something as dense as honey? On the seafloor, it would be surrounded by particles like silt particles, which would give it something to push against, likely from all angles.
If you don't want to reduce the tail, you could say its ovaries stretch into its tails like the ovaries of sea spiders stretch into their legs, or that it holds onto its eggs using some of its tails.
Blowtongue (Cestrolingua phractiglosus)
Creator: Papainmanis
Ancestor: Bashercoat
Habitat: Bumpy Polar Coast, Drake Polar Beach, Drake Polar Scrub
Size: 80cm long (Adult)
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Diet: Carnivore (Vermees, Frabukis, Krugg, Leafcutter Krugg, Egg Krugg, Drake Uktank (young), Pudgy Ketter, Rolling Flune, Drakescooter)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Cotton)
Reproduction: Sexual (Live Birth, Two Genders)
Replacing their ancestors in their respective territory starting to expand inland, the blowtongue has evolved to capture small prey by expanding and contracting the end of its cuticle-covered tongue into a caved-in inversion at its end over a hollowed up hydrostatic muscle at the edge of the tongue, quickly bashing hooking and smashing into a pulp whatever got captured in their tongue-trap.
The evolution of it's tongue trap has affected reproductive behavior, rather than transferring gametes mouth to mouth, males will catch a tasty treat in their tongue-traps, roll in their tongues to cover it with gametes and offer it to the female as a nuptial gift. Females might have many male pursuers offering such nuptial gifts and trying to increase the chance that her brood will be theirs, while successful males will pursue many females to increase their chances. Males will mostly compete by trying to get better nuptial gifts, but when that doesn't work they will also try to compete directly. Rather than head bashing, conflicts between competing males will be resolved by bashing each other tongue to tongue, trying to inflict a strong enough hit to get the competition to release the nuptial gift from their rivals grip.
As skullcaps are no longer a significant part of the competition for mates, they have flattened and decreased in size. In spring time, as the coats are shed and the brooding period starts, no one is particularly certain who's the father, with successful females sharing the bounty of many males and males splitting their support between the females that accepted their mating gifts. Males during this time will have a peaceful and cooperative demeanor, as it's safe to assume that at least some of the other potential fathers around are helping to feed their own brood.
The fangs, no longer taking part of the killing or biting, have specialized in cleaning their tongue, shortening and facing towards each other over the tongue to help pull chunks stuck in their tongue cuticles, collecting leftovers and helping prevent infections in their nuptial gifts from rotten food.
Their hearing has evolved to accomedate their specialized diet, splitting their tempanic membrane into a medium frequency lower-section used to hear each other and nevigate the environment in the larger scale, and a low pitch high frequency upper section used to hear the sounds and movements of animals much smaller then itself. The area around the ears has curved inwards to focus that sound, not unlike the owl of another time and place.
I notice a little blurring near the ankles, and there's a little bit of white marking on the edge of some of the outline, such as around the crest on the head and the feet, but overall the drawing is very nice.
As for the description, a space between each paragraph would make it look better, as well as make it easier to read. Besides that, would you mind if I offered some suggestions on the wording of the description? Also, I did notice that its ancestor's coat seemed to be reduced in thickness. Since this lives in polar regions and the coastal waters adjacent to them, do you mind elaborating upon what adaptations this has to deal with the cold?
This post has been edited by Nergali: Nov 1 2021, 05:19 PM
As for the description, a space between each paragraph would make it look better, as well as make it easier to read. Besides that, would you mind if I offered some suggestions on the wording of the description? Also, I did notice that its ancestor's coat seemed to be reduced in thickness. Since this lives in polar regions and the coastal waters adjacent to them, do you mind elaborating upon what adaptations this has to deal with the cold?
This post has been edited by Nergali: Nov 1 2021, 05:19 PM
| QUOTE (Nergali @ Nov 2 2021, 01:10 AM) |
| I notice a little blurring near the ankles, and there's a little bit of white marking on the edge of some of the outline, such as around the crest on the head and the feet, but overall the drawing is very nice. As for the description, a space between each paragraph would make it look better, as well as make it easier to read. Besides that, would you mind if I offered some suggestions on the wording of the description? Also, I did notice that its ancestor's coat seemed to be reduced in thickness. Since this lives in polar regions and the coastal waters adjacent to them, do you mind elaborating upon what adaptations this has to deal with the cold? |
Updated the image for the outlines to match better and increased the blur on the edges for fuzz, added spaces and a mention of seasonal shedding to account for variable coat sizes.
(In actuality I just copied drawing techniques I've seen on wool, but seasonal shedding makes sense doesn't it?)
Click to expand
(And yes ofcourse you can suggest better wordings it would be much appreciated)
The thickness of the lines for the body outline varies substantially. Line thicknesses visibly varying isn't a problem, but it is distracting that the back's outline seems at least four times thicker than the head's outline.
"Drake Polar Scrubs" should be "Drake Polar Scrub".
The second part of the scientific name should be in lowercase.
"it's cuticle": Its cuticle.
"cave-in" Cave-in?
"androgynous" that doesn't make sense. Did you mean to say that male and female skull-crests have converged in size and appearance?
"As the coats": has a capitalization error.
"Nobody": I recommend "no one", as "nobody" is to informal.
Judging by Squickerlings and Nectarlings, the reproductive organs of plents are close to their digestive tracts. It's not out of the question the tongues and reproductive organs could merge somehow. However...Squickerlings and Nectarlings existed many, many years ago, and those two are in a different class (not Barbellaphyta) from Blowtongues's ancestors. If there's information on the reproductive organ arrangement of Barbellaphyta, it must be well-hidden or nonexistent.
"Drake Polar Scrubs" should be "Drake Polar Scrub".
The second part of the scientific name should be in lowercase.
"it's cuticle": Its cuticle.
"cave-in" Cave-in?
"androgynous" that doesn't make sense. Did you mean to say that male and female skull-crests have converged in size and appearance?
"As the coats": has a capitalization error.
"Nobody": I recommend "no one", as "nobody" is to informal.
Judging by Squickerlings and Nectarlings, the reproductive organs of plents are close to their digestive tracts. It's not out of the question the tongues and reproductive organs could merge somehow. However...Squickerlings and Nectarlings existed many, many years ago, and those two are in a different class (not Barbellaphyta) from Blowtongues's ancestors. If there's information on the reproductive organ arrangement of Barbellaphyta, it must be well-hidden or nonexistent.
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Nov 2 2021, 02:49 AM) |
| The thickness of the lines for the body outline varies substantially. Line thicknesses visibly varying isn't a problem, but it is distracting that the back's outline seems at least four times thicker than the head's outline. "Drake Polar Scrubs" should be "Drake Polar Scrub". The second part of the scientific name should be in lowercase. "it's cuticle": Its cuticle. "cave-in" Cave-in? "androgynous" that doesn't make sense. Did you mean to say that male and female skull-crests have converged in size and appearance? "As the coats": has a capitalization error. "Nobody": I recommend "no one", as "nobody" is to informal. |
Fixed, tried a different outline following feedback on discord, hope that looks better.
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Nov 2 2021, 02:49 AM) |
| Judging by Squickerlings and Nectarlings, the reproductive organs of plents are close to their digestive tracts. It's not out of the question the tongues and reproductive organs could merge somehow. However...Squickerlings and Nectarlings existed many, many years ago, and those two are in a different class (not Barbellaphyta) from Blowtongues's ancestors. If there's information on the reproductive organ arrangement of Barbellaphyta, it must be well-hidden or nonexistent. |
The tongue hasn't merged with the reproductive organ in itself, rather it uses the tongue-trap as a vehicle to replace the traditional mouth to mouth transfer, that's the reason i noted that the males need to roll in their tongues to cover it with gametes.
You missed some of the things I pointed out, like the capitalization of Drake Polar Scrub and not elaborating on "cave-in". It's unclear what you mean by that term.
It looks better, although the feet are still blurry and the texturing of the woolly body has a conspicuous gap: it doesn't reach the outline.
Two methods to fix that (assuming you're using GIMP, which you might not be using) are using the smudge tool to stretch it out, or make a custom brush of the texturing, contain it within the lineart or base color, and then paste it in. The feet are also still blurry around the outline. One method to fix that is manually painting a white color over the blurry spots, being careful not to go over the lines.
It looks better, although the feet are still blurry and the texturing of the woolly body has a conspicuous gap: it doesn't reach the outline.
Two methods to fix that (assuming you're using GIMP, which you might not be using) are using the smudge tool to stretch it out, or make a custom brush of the texturing, contain it within the lineart or base color, and then paste it in. The feet are also still blurry around the outline. One method to fix that is manually painting a white color over the blurry spots, being careful not to go over the lines.
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Nov 2 2021, 04:00 AM) |
| You missed some of the things I pointed out, like the capitalization of Drake Polar Scrub and not elaborating on "cave-in". It's unclear what you mean by that term. |
Ok here's a cross section:
It expands by filling up with blood, bashing and hooking its prey on its cuticles, and then it contracts inwards forming a cave-in that traps the prey inside and mashes it between it's cuticles, similar to the mouth of an ottoia worm.
What word would you use to you describe it?
If there's an interior pit from the flesh folding inward, the best word is "infolding" or "introversion". it might help to describe the tongue as a hydraulic organ using blood, or perhaps likening it to a flamingo tongue. Showing the tongue mid-way through contraction could also help. As it is, it looks like a cut-away of multiple layers of the tongue, with the bigger tongue being on a separate layer. In any case, I'm not even sure this could evolve in one step from its ancestor, because tongue physiology is unclear in its lineage. If it can't, re-writing it so its tongue is spiky and hydrostatic like a flamingo tongue seems fairly plausible.
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