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Did you mess up a species and want to fix it? Post the revisions here for review! If it's reasonable, it may be approved immediately, or there can be a discussion regarding it first.

(Psst, TSSL, Coolsteph, track this topic)

So this is embarrassing. I did a big oopsie with ghost mycostrum reproduction and figure it should be fixed before Week 4 starts. Basically, I didn't know what sexual conjugation actually was and thought it was ineffective for some reason so I evolved unnecessary traits, which I would like to replace with a more plausible development.

Edited version:

QUOTE

Ghost Mycostrums are an evolution of the Pale Mycostrum which have completely lost their photosynthesis. Their asexual buds have been modified to produce unicellular airborne spores, which grow into new mycelium, and they now primarily form fruiting bodies after sexual conjugation has occurred, making sexual reproduction their primary method. They form a vital part of the nitrogen cycle on land, converting organic nitrogen in the remains of dead organisms and in the waste of fauna back into ammonium in a process called ammonification. Individual species of Ghost Mycostrum are difficult to distinguish, with the only obvious varying feature other than size being the shape of the fruiting body. Many different species can exist in the same area, and hybridization is common; this causes there to be a great variety of different fruiting body shapes present nearly anywhere they can be found. Generally, they don’t fare as well in deserts and icy biomes as in less extreme climates, so there are few distinct regional variants. Polar species do exist, however; they must go dormant over the frigid winters, with all their feeding, fruiting, and reproduction occurring over the summer instead. Thanks to their airborne reproduction, they have managed to cross flyways and become a global lineage. The spores of Ghost Mycostrums are formed inside modified, stunted buds. Most of their spores are released into the air. They land on the ground and germinate into mycelium. Fauna which happen to get caught in the midst of Ghost Mycostrum breeding can also carry their spores far away to new locations. When unrelated mycelium meet, they will exchange genes through sexual conjugation. Like other mycostrums, Ghost Mycostrums spend most of their life simply as a mycelial network within the soil or coating a dead organism, and they send out fruiting bodies when space, energy, and moisture allow.

It looks like Redcap Mycostrums will not need to be edited with this change in mind because Salty neglected the reproduction in its description.

(This is why you don't assume people know what they're doing, folks!)

Ah, interesting. The system you described is close to how typical purple flora reproduction seems to work, so I probably just assumed it was a common ancestral feature. But it looks like that only started with forest purplestem, not at all shared with mycostrums.

Your revision makes sense to me.

NOTE: This isn't the actual submission yet, but rather this is where I am discussing and planning the actual retcon submission.

I'd like to once again tackle the locrint issue. This time I have come up with a general plan for the whole thing. Part retcon, part elaboration.

This is the original paragraph(s)

"In order to understand this species best, its whole life cycle must be known. Locrint larvae start out very small, at around 4 millimeters. These tiny swimmers live in freshwater environments such as lakes or ponds, eating any plant detritus they come across. They grow relatively quickly, getting many times bigger until they are almost as long as the full-grown adults. It is during this phase that they start to develop their characteristic bony exoskeleton.

Once they reach their adult size, the larva will start to bury itself under some shallow sand. It is here where it starts a new step in its life cycle: pupation. The juvenile locrint will go dormant and start to produce a thin keratin shell to protect its whole body. This allows the tail which was used for swimming in the larvae to transform into the leg-like appendage seen in adults. Their lung, legs, and armor also develop during this time. After about one month, the locrint emerges as a 12 cm long juvenile adult, eventually growing to 18 cm over the course of its life."

This seems to be a three-faceted issue. I will tackle the following, in order from easiest to hardest:

How long? - The "pupation" duration of the locrint (note: not technically a real pupa, but it's called that for convenience)

How? - The mechanism of the construction of the "pupa" shell

Why? - Why a pupa-like sessile stage evolved in the first place


The first one is easiest to tackle, as all it involves is a simple alteration. It was pointed out to me that one month is a long time to stay in this life stage, and that if they wanted to speed up their development during this time (see the "why" section) they could do a better job. I propose that their alleged one month of pupation be changed to a shorter amount of time. Is 1 week feasible?

The actual mechanism of pupation is, while kind of bullshit, seemingly easy to change. Developing a full-body sheet of keratin including over the eyes (?????) is probably not as easy to evolve at this point as, say, a caddisfly-like mucus that the larval locrint applies to its whole body. The brownish color in the art could be attributed to the sand particles stuck to this cocoon, although if an art change is necessary i'd be happy to draw a more accurate cocoon over the one in the original supplementary image.

The most difficult and crucial part, pointed out to me, is the why. Here's my explanation, which I kind of tried and failed to elaborate on in the actual original submission: As the ancestors of the modern locrint adapted more towards land as an adult and water as a juvenile, they were left with a predicament in which a short period of their life was spent as a relatively vulnerable creature with a somewhat useless back end, as the larva's tail is only adapted to go side to side and the adult's tail-leg is only adapted to move up and down. The "pupa" evolved to shorten this awkward and vulnerable time as much as possible, which could only occur if the organism was inactive and using all of its energy towards growing and transforming its bones and gristle.

Note that I am quite against the possible proposition that the pupa stage be cut out altogether, or that the organisms in question be “salvaged” and replaced (or, even worse, plagued) out of existence like the riversaycers are, all over a few words that frankly don’t change their overall functioning or niche that much at all. So please don't start saying things like that until worse comes to worst.