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The drawing is beautiful. I like the color, depth, and details.

Waddling Wortplyent

Creator: colddigger
Ancestor: River Plyent
Habitat: Wallace Tropical Rainforest
Size: 1 Meters Tall
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritivore
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Thermoregulation: Mesotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, Airborne Spores, Two Genders

The Waddling Wortplyent split from its ancestor and became more terrestrial. Its limbs have become thicker, and quicker, for better mobility across terrain. Along its limbs, body, and wings are visible nubs and growths that house nitrogen fixing microbes.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Oct 11 2022, 08:26 PM

Plyentree Venterpotatorus acervi

Creator: colddigger
Ancestor: River Plyent
Habitat: Wallace Tropical Rainforest
Size: 2 Meters Tall
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritivore
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Thermoregulation: Mesotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, Mucus Bound Spores, Two Genders

The Plyentree split from its ancestor to take on a more terrestrial lifestyle. They've redeveloped their singular eye for the sake of navigation. Despite having become more terrestrial, it's limbs still require a consistently moist environment in order to absorb nutrients. This leads to the larval form seeking out mud and bogs and seeps and other areas where standing water or consistent moisture exists to rest on or sink their limbs into and mature.

The reality of areas being better or worse for this use resulted in larvae accumulating in certain spots far more densely than others, resulting in piles of the small organisms attempting to reach the mud where it's weddest and push the others out. Quickly what resulted was the discovery of another source of moisture, The remnant cavities inside their neighbors.

The body of the plyents were not suited for the expulsion of their sudden intruders, but if they became too weak due to the extraction of moisture and nutrients then it became problematic for those that were feeding off of them. This rapidly selected for a two-way street where nutrients taken up by those directly in the mud was able to pass through the thin membranes of their internal cavity and the membrane of the limb stuck in them, and the passage of photosynthesis products back down to them for absorption.

This development of cooperation between individuals meant that they could just continually pile on top of one another to create larger and larger colonies. The limbs and body of a mature Plyentree are long and twist and wrap around their neighbors in order to secure the structure. The majority of photosynthesis occurs across the surface of the long body.

Reproduction is still performed with sexual spores, but rather than being released into the air The masses are oozed out in a thin mucus that dribbles down from the orifice of the Plyentree, down its sides and limbs, eventually into the orifices of those beneath it. As the spores join to form a zygote, which develops into a free embryo, the mucus it sits in is shifted from thin and runny to thick and nutrient rich. It grows to about the size of a marble then leaves the safety of the orifice and slides and tumbles down the side of the colony to the ground. Scampering off it will continue to grow, seeking light and water, and eventually settle into a new permanent home. Finding a young colony to clamber to the top of is preferable, being middle of the colony grants reproductive mucus the most mates to trickle down to before becoming too dilute by other members, while also allowing the Plyentree to grow larvae off its own directly. If no other colonies can be found it may settle into mud on its own, until another larva stumbles upon it to join and gradually form a fresh colony.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Oct 1 2022, 08:40 PM

Skirted Dumpy-Lump (Parvamassus fimbria)

Creator: colddigger
Ancestor: Needlewing
Habitat: Darwin Veldt
Size: 30 cm Long
Diet: Photosynthesis, Carnivore
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation:
Reproduction:

This post has been edited by colddigger: Sep 16 2022, 01:45 PM

Amerburgerican (Bos delicii)

Ancestor: Needlewing
Creator: colddigger
Habitat: Wallace Tropical Rainforest
Size: 80 cm Tall
Diet: Photosynthesis, Carnivore
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Reproduction:

The Amerburgerican split from its ancestor to take on a faster life cycle in a rainforest environment. Sexual dimorphism has arisen in this species, with sedentary females and active males. The species is nocturnal, with males housing large sensitive eyes in their heads. Females are consciously active during night as well, responding to and interacting with males in their proximity, while during the day they will sleep and photosynthesize. mature males lack any significant photosynthetic tissue, a mere strip along the ventral edge of their wings is all that remains. The photosynthetic tissues of females have become large, thick, and distinctive organs comparable to succulent leaves concentrated toward the middle portion of their long wings.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Oct 11 2022, 08:35 PM

Hangnail Infectoids (Breakofficus spp.)

creator: colddigger
ancestor: Buhmungus Infectoids
habitat: Oceans
diet: Microbes, sanguinivore
size: 0.05cm - 1cm long (mature), 1nanometer long (dormant spore)
support: Cell Membrane
respiration: Passive Diffusion
thermoregulation: Ectotherm
reproduction: Asexual, Virus-like Infection, Spores, Fragmentation, Sexual, Budding

Hangnail Infectoids split from their ancestor Buhmungus Infectoids to take on a more specialized lifecycle. There are many different kinds of Hangnail Infectoids, and all are found in saltwater environments. Free living stages, and dormant spores, remain fairly similar in appearance and function as its ancestor. However a new stage in its lifecycle emerged from selection resulting in multicellular hosts becoming more adequate, and eventually the obligate form of host.

Formation of asexually and sexually resultant spores remains the same as the Buhmungus Infectoid, however they remain dormant without a multicellular host and and do not infect microbes. This results in the majority being consumed by microbes and killed, however the layer of lysosomes results in the death of the predator. This lowers the number of hungry microbes in an area with spores and increases the survival rate of the next batch created for a longer period of time. If the free living mature organism is killed, of course this stops the production of spores, and if all its spores are devoured by microbes after that then individual fails entirely to reproduce. The shroud membrane remains an existing part of the infectoid and spore, continuing to play its role as bait for scavengers.

Infection of a multicellular host can be via the mouth or the gills, as either method brings it in contact with live epithelial cells. Once in contact with a live epithelial cell the spore will activate, shedding its shroud membrane and infiltrating the host cell. once inside it rapidly goes through the standard infectoid process of capturing the nucleus, shrouding itself, and replicating host glycolipids, extracellular compounds, and other cellular recognition tags of the host. There are two subgenus groups, uniasci and biasci, members of the uniasci specialize in parasitizing eukaryotic fauna while biasci may parasitize both eukaryotic as well as dikaryotic fauna. This distinction is based on the biasci spore containing the capacity to capture two prisoner nuclei given the abscence of a recessive allele, while in the presence of such an allele it may only capture one. No Hangnail Infectoids infect flora.

Once established in its host cell the infectoid will feed passively off the nutrients and oxygen supplied by the blood of its host, or whatever means the host organism feeds its cells. If the host cell actively participates in the digestive process then the infectoid will not participate beyond the creation and release of substances, following blueprints provided by prisoner nuclei and the same pathways of transport inside vacuoles used for glycolipids to the surface of the shroud membrane. If the host cell participates in more complex behaviors in order to obtain nutrients then the infectoid will perish.

As the Hangnail Infectoid cell continues to obtain material it will undergo mitosis, replicating its nucleus without replicating the prisoner nucleus. One daughter cell inherits the prisoner nucleus, while one does not. The two resultant daughter cells cause the space inside the shroud membrane to become cramped. The daughter cell without a prisoner nucleus pushes the shroud membrane outward, in search of neighboring host cells. Contacting the neighboring cell results in the merging of the shroud membrane with the cell membrane of the neighboring host cell and immediate capture of the native nucleus and submission of its cytoplasm via lysosomes and enzymes. The infectoid moving in establishes itself as the new source of glycolipids and pinches down its entryway to a minor septum or pore. This allows the cavity created to continue cytoplasmic exchange between the intermembrane spaces of the sister infectoids while replicating the native structure of the host.

This growth process repeats until reaching the rough size of a mature member of its given species, at which point the septums or pores of the following generation are cut off entirely, the newly cut off daughter cells repeating the process while the mature sized biomass ceases outward growth and switches to a different a behavior, a process similar to the spore production performed by free-bodied members in open waters. These spores enter the blood stream or cavities of the host and spreads through the body to cause metastatic infections of epithelial tissues. Muscles, nerves, bones and other support tissues are spared from infection. The infection generally leads to infertility as gonad cells become infected and nonfunctional. Spores may reinfest through shroud membranes, as there is no chemical distinction between it and the cell membranes of the host body, however there will be no available nucleus to capture and they will act as a dud infectoid cell inside the shroud membrane.

Eventually a significant majority of the soft tissue of the larger host is converted to Hangnail Infectoids. The blood will be rich in spores, and the mature infectoids will accumulatea high number of dud cells, reaching a tipping point that triggers them to enter their final phase of life. Once a threshold of dud cells is met, mature Hangnail Infectoids will separate from one another, pulling themselves into shape to begin life in the open waters. This process is rather sudden and results in the host body crumbling apart as hundreds or thousands of individuals attempt to leave at once. This cloud of mature free-bodied infectoids lives life similar to their ancestors, filtering out food from their environment and releasing spores behind them as they swim. Sexual reproduction remains the same.

Due to the dud cell trigger that causes the completion of the lifecycle, those infectoids that have found themselves in very large hosts may not successfully reach their tipping point for many years if at all.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Sep 19 2022, 09:20 PM

Lahnbush

• Descendant of one of the Lahnworms/Thermoworms
• instead of burying itself, it buries its head and stands vertically
• Segmented Body that grows as it gets older
• Only the last segment has the leaves, which fall off when a new segment grows
• these stumps allow the male to climb up to the cloaca

Crunchy Trufflegrass (Delicios ssp)

Creator: colddigger
Ancestor: Crystal Swordgrass
Habitat: Wallace, Koseman
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritivore
Size: 10-100 cm Tall Crystals, Variable Colony Width
Support: Cell Wall and Flexible Shell (Chitin)
Respiration: Lenticels
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Subterranean Spore Filled Fruit Bodies), Asexual (Budding, Fragmentation)

Crunchy Trufflegrass replaced its ancestor. Its ancestor was unable to compete with the development of the Crystal Entourage Swordgrass, the waterborne spores spread far more slowly than the new airborne spores. In order to be able to compete with these new grasses an alternative method of spreading had to arise. The subterranean fruiting bodies of the Crystal Swordgrass stopped relying on the waters in the soil for spreading its spores and instead began relying on fauna. This method of spread turned out the be highly successful and resulted in a rapid diversification in species and with them colonial form. Some colonies grow in long branching or unbranching lengths through the ground, while others form tight and squat clumps with little reach above surface. If these rhizomal colonies get broken apart by damage their redundancy allows easy recovery and survival of the majority of fragments.

Crumple and Reproduction

Fruiting bodies, or "crumples", exist entirely underground and typically just a little bit beneath the surface of the soil. They are available for any passing fauna to dig up and consume and give off a scent when mature. Some are hinted with citrus, others reek of "cut grass", but all have at least an underlying smell of propolis. The internal make-up of a crumple is mainly lightly crunchy, juicy, shell symbiont tissue and rich in simple sugars and starches. The outer layer of shell tissue, made of cells typically green, lacks green pigmentation due to being underground. Streaking the inside are veins of red tissue, rich in proteins and flavonoids.

The crumple begins the same as the fruiting body of its ancestor, as a strand of red cells from the mycelioid body, tipped with a single green, or shell, cell cap. Distances and depths vary during formation of a fruiting body, often it simply occurs where space is available. The shell cell begins multiplying, sucking up nutrients funneled through the one cell wide strand, and begins engulfing the red cells behind it into its growing mass. During this point the hyphae may continue to push the growing tip further ward, and even branch out. Both shell cells and red cells inside proliferate away from the strand arrangment into a complex amalgamation and form many pockets of spore filled chambers, resulting in the crumple becoming a compound fruiting body with spores of both symbionts in every bite. These pockets result in the object easily collapsing when bitten.

Once consumed the spores, coated in damage resistant layers, pass through the digestive system of the given herbivore without harm and are redistributed in its waste. Typically the herbivore will have consumed crumples from multiple genomically distinct colonies, and once rained upon the haploid spores will activate in the faunal waste and go through the typical complex process forming a spore modula, which had arisen all back in the ancestral Binucleus Crystal Shrub. Many of these spore modula will be washed out of the waste pile, able to grow in the peace of their newly founded solitude. However those remaining in the bountiful and nutrient rich spot they landed on will compete for dominionas they enter their juvenile state and begin maturing. Typically one individual will arise and snuff out its cousins and siblings.

When an herbivore seeks out a crumple it will dig without regard for the Trufflegrass its treat came from. Oftentimes the disregard results in the mutilation of the colony as parts are ripped from it and the rhizomal body is broken up. Luckily due to the redundancy of the organism many of these pieces, scattered about and fractured, will be able to survive and grow their way back underground. Assuming they do not dessicate in the heat of the day.



Mycelioid body and roots

The mycelioid body from which the crumples arise comprise, in most species, easily three quarters of the total biomass of a colony. This body part is a branching, spreading, net of living strands only one cell across and function quite similarly to the hyphae of a terran fungus. Pressure from liquid taken in by these strands is the dominant method of forcing nutrients and water upward through the body. This intake of water and digested compounds from outside occurs not at the growing tips of the hyphae, but rather at the mature portions just behind them. The pressure behind the growing tip provides the power necessary to punch through the many tough surfaces encountered in soil, despite normally lacking a tough capping cell like true roots. The digestive enzymes released into the environment are geared toward breaking down already dead or partially decomposed material near the surfaces of the mycelioid body, further making simple compounds available for uptake as opposed to passively relying on their release like many other flora. Living organisms are not typically targets or adversely affected by these enzymes to any significant degree.

Traveling up the organism from the mycelioid body the highly reduced, stout, remains of the root can be found. These growths are nothing more than nubs of red tissue to provide an anchor point for the strands of cells that infiltrate the surrounding soils. The influence of the cell arrangment to allow for the strands developing out from the roots is so great that once mycelioid bodies begin developing from a matured root the root cells adjust to reflect a similar arrangment. This becomes reminiscent of bundles of fibers and allows a more seamless transition from single cell strands to the spongier interior of the core tissues while preventing a sudden drop in transport pressure. The tip of the root nub is capped by a a small cluster of unpigmented shell cells inherited from predecessors that relied more heavily on these structures to explore the surrounding soils, the cells now act as a component source for the formation of fruiting bodies.

Core Tissue

The underground mass of red tissue the root nubs extend from acts as rhizomous core from which the other body parts and colonial budding occurs. Though the majority of the cells in this rhizome are of the red soft tissue there are unpigmented shell cells scattered throughout it. These cells allow for the formation of both subterranean roots and superterranean crystals.The origin of these scattered cells are the growth points of the rhizome, which are capped with a hard tip of shell tissue to allow freedom of growth through difficult soil. The tissue arrangement of the red cells is not particularly structured, though in some larger species the bundled fibrous growths originating from the mycelioid body and roots does echo through this area and may even extend toward the photosynthetic crystals. In most species, however, water and nutrients is freely circulated through this horizontal body core as needed. Turgor pressure and flow of water and nutrients inward is maintained by the lower body parts rather than by this core tissue.

Photosynthetic Crystals

The crystals, the only part of the body of these organisms encountered by aboveground passersby, is comparably soft like its ancestral form relative to other crystals. this lack of firm rigidity means to maintain an erect stance it must rely on turgor pressure rather than solely on structural strength so commonly seen in crystals. This increases their water demand, while also allowing faster growth rates to compete with purple and black flora that may attempt to shade them out. The growth of these crystals is unique from many others in the fact that they now extend in growth from the bottom upward. They still expand in size with age, as is normal when looking at a crystal in sections (thinner sections being younger compared to wider sections), this placement of growth results in their widest section being the tip or tallest point on the crystal. It is common to see these old ends split and damaged from environmental stresses, age related deterioration, or grazing from herbivores. The growing base of the crystal of a Trufflegrass is found at least a few centimeters under the surface, near the core tissue. This initial growth remains a constant width until being exposed to light, at which point widening occurs. This allows for a narrower focus of pushing force to break through the soil surface and any other barriers before performing its role in energy production.

The number of facets found on the crystal has shrunk to only two, two plates of green shell tissue continually pushed up from the ground and twisting to find and follow the sunlight as they widen. The layering found in these plates, from the outside in, is as such; photosynthetic layer, structural layer, metabolic layer. The photosynthetic layer, the outermost layer of the plate, is a dense palisade of heavily pigmented cells acting as the workhorses of the entire organism fixing carbon into simple compounds for every other part to utilize in construction and energy use. Behind them lies the structural layer, this layer in most crystals is strong and dense and provides the weight bearing structural support that holds up the entire organism, however in Trufflegrass this is no longer its role. It still provides a structure for the crystal to maintain shape but no longer is truly weight bearing, and so has become less pronounce in the mass of the plate. Finally the metabolic layer, closest to the center of the crystal, is where the plates interact with the red tissue symbiont directly for nutrient and water exchange. It is here at the junction surface of the two symbionts that gas exchange with the atmosphere occurs for both as well, with air traveling from this layer outward toward the structural and photosynthetic layers, dissolving into extracellular fluids and cytoplasm, and similarly inward to the spongy red tissue to dissolve. The seam along the ridge where the two plates press together is the entrypoint for gases into this section of the crystal, which protects these delicate and vulnerable parts of the crystal and prevents water loss.

Inside the crystal, between these two faces, exists mostly simple spongy red tissue. This red tissue fills with water provided from below to maintain turgor pressure and allows the crystal to remain upright, wilting during drought or heat stress. This tissue often has semi-impermeable layering which allows further control of water levels if pressure from the rest of the body disappears. In some larger species the cells of the spongy tissue is further elaborated on, echoing the bundled fibrous arrangment found in the lower body parts. This allows further prevention, and compartmentalization, of pressure loss when it occurs.

Tidbits

Those species found in more arid areas, such as deserts or scrublands, often to spend drier periods dormant underground. They may remain there for years, rapidly putting up soft crystals when water or rain hits them. Some of these may quickly produce many small crumples for the season, or feed the water into a singular large crumple that grows every time it wakes up until eaten.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Sep 27 2022, 10:22 PM

Mandela's Tasseled Volleypom

Ancestor:
Creator: colddigger
Habitat: South Darwin Plains, South Darwin Highvelt
Size: 10 meters tall
Diet: photosynthesis

Mandela's Tasseled Volleypom split from its ancestor to live more inland, primarily found in dense thickets near waterways with the undergrowth dominated by immature and stunted root suckers. Their thinner trunks often fork multiple times resulting in several leading points of growth. The bark is relatively smooth, old layers quickly being dropped away to shed possible parasites and prevent any krugg, vermee, or floraverm, infestations from occurring. The roots sucker readily along their length, giving rise to clone trees. Suckers appear at the base of the trunk as well, quickly replacing the main body if it is broken or dies suddenly. They may potentially give rise to a second, third, or fourth trunk with the original entirely intact as well. The growing tips are colored a deep maroon due to pigmented defensive compounds that deter voracious herbivores such as floraverms from destroying the new growth.

The leaves form a fluffy canopy varying in color leaf to leaf as light and wind exposure changes, just as in its ancestor volleypoms. The summer and winter leaves have similar growth habit to the Contorted Volleypom, pinnate and needle-like in shape respectively. The edges of the summer leaf tend to be choppier and toothier than their ancestor, this choppiness is due to multiple dominate and subordinant tracheal veins occuring, creating a mild redundancy that buffers against leaf damage from herbivory as the bottlenecking in tissue makes sealing the damage off easier. The tip of the winter leaf happens to be thicker than their ancestors winter leaf.

The microsporangia clusters have taken on a different growth habit. They no longer form loose clusters of units, rather they now growth in single file chains hanging down from branches. New units are added at the growing end of the chain, with the chains being able to reach lengths of up to 2 meters. The units in these chains all open within a short time of one another, and their arrangement allows for the creation of spore clouds that cover large vertical areas early on while dispersing. Microsporangia begin appearing on trees 1 meter tall, albeit very short lengths.

Megasporangia grow as solitary units on twigs and are typically 10-15 cm in length. They over time lose the hollow pocket behind the reproductive portion of the sporangium, the reproductive portion actually sinking into the voided area. Toward the trilobed tip of the sporangium a three pointed beak occurs with an inner surface for catching and funneling in microspores. This structure increases area for capture, while providing greater obstacle to potential predation of the megaspores. Inside the sporangium are only three very large, hard, megaspores. With their hardened spore walls, or shells, they are very nut-like and hold quite a bit of energy dense meat to allow for a quick growing sprout. Megasporangia will begin appearing on trees 3-4 meters tall, but can occur on root suckers of mature trees when only 1 meter tall, though in low number. Once the megaspores are mature the sporangium will dry and may release them directly from the tree, the beak pointing away from the tree and shaped like a short slide to direct the fall of the nut. More often though the entire sporangium falls from the tree and fauna may carry it off to feast, dropping one or two lucky megaspores along the way.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Oct 13 2022, 06:14 PM

y'all mind if I do an adaptive radiation off of atholat next gen?





also, the topic title probably needs to be changed. Or the topic needs to be split.

I'm back from my (roughly) two-week absence.

What are you proposing? Would you suggest the things that are largely done should go on a different topic, and submissions questions and sketches should remain, or that the submissions questions should go on a different topic?

I meant more in terms of this topic being named for Week 26

Finishing some wips for the coming gen









Edit: Another one

Those are some very fluffy and finely-textured designs. I like the kiwi plent.
The otter looks so much like a real mustelid or lanky rodent of some sort that it could be used for a fake-out gag describing Sagan 4's fauna, or a list of increasingly strange fauna such as "Pine tree, but purple", "Otter, but with six eyes and axe tail", leading up to a Sansheh or other un-earthlike fauna. You could make it un-Earthlike by giving it obscure internal traits or hidden traits, such as fluorescent patterns under ultraviolet, pink bones (like fox squirrels), or an unexpectedly flexible snout.

I mean, it has incisor fangs and velociraptor claws