Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous.

Join our community today!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Suffusca; 11 billion years of Alien life
Topic Started: Aug 23 2009, 03:13 PM (1,413 Views)
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
I´ve seen many concepts of alien planets, but they all had one thing in common: they featured only creatures from one time (and sometimes even from just one location).
So I´m going to make a planet with a whole time line (although some parts will be more detailed than others).

Suffusca is a planet a little bit smaller than earth with a little bit weaker gravity. It´s "sun" is smaller than our sun so it burns (and will burn) for a longer period of time than our sun. This planet developed 11 billion years ago (I don´t know exactly how Earth has formed but it was similar in Suffusca).

The first (and most uninteresting) eon is the Primordizoic (11 billion years ago – 9, 7 billion years ago). The planet Suffusca is covered with desers and volcanoes which pollute the atmosphere with dust that turns the planet´s surface brown. But unlike Earth in her first billion years there actually IS life on Suffusca. Bacterian-like Extremophiles live on the volcanoes, similar to some deep-sea bacterians of Earth. In the few not poisoned waterholes first trades of other lifeforms evolve. At the end of the Primordizoic the volcanoes went "extinct" and the atmosphere became clean. But it has less oxygen than earth´s atmosphere.

In the next 9, 7 billion years we´ll see how multicellular life takes over the planet so now we´ll have a (very) quick look at the Suffuscan tree of life:
There are 6 kingdoms: Creaturia (creatures, the "animals" of Suffusca), Fungireges (the "fungi" of Suffusca), Herbae (herbs, the "plants" of Suffusca), Bazillae (bazilles, the "bacteria" of Suffusca), Extremophili (yes, here extremophile singlecellulars have their own kingdom), Viri (unlike the vires of Earth, these "vires" are considered life forms because they have metabolism and can also reproduce without hosts).

Now we go to the second eon and this is where I´ll stop for the moment. In the Debellatozoic (9, 7 billion years ago – 8, 8 billion years ago) there are only two large continents on the planet but since they are still covered in dry deserts and have not much oxygen, no creatures live here. It´s the large ocean where life takes giant steps. 9, 2 billion years ago...

The top predators of the sea are the Dinopsida, the "Anomalocarids of Suffusca". They have a large proboscis covered with sharp, teeth-like structures (shape and number varies between the different genera) to grab and tear their prey apart. Like terran insects they have compound eyes, although their compound eye goes ring-like around their head so they have a 360 ° view. So they can see prey in front or under them and enemies behind or above them. However, seeing everything at once isn´t always useful. Their kinda primitive brains sometimes get too much information by all the eyes and the creatures become confused. Some prey even developed colourful bodies to confuse the compound eyes (to avoid this, future dinopsids will become colorblind). Dinopsids have a thick shell behind their head with which they can cover their compound eyes to protect them (and to stop their confusion). They aren´t very social animals, but they communicate with each other by waving around their proboscis or moving their shell forwards and backwards.

Here´s a compilation of Dinopsids (I will talk about the species next time):
Posted Image
Edited by Rick Raptor, Aug 23 2009, 04:20 PM.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
colddigger
Member Avatar
Joke's over! Love, Parasky
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
i like the idea behind this project, having the various stuff of various times...
Edited by colddigger, Aug 23 2009, 04:27 PM.
Oh Fine.

Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP??

v Don't click v
Spoiler: click to toggle

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Ignoring the star's life span and how that would affect the world around it, I'll focus on timing here.

For a star to form eleven billion years ago, this would be back when the universe was dominated by hydrogen, helium, and low levels of lithium. This won't work for terrestial planet to form, let alone life. I'm not saying it's impossible, a small short lived star is possible before hand, but the 'long-living' stars probably wouldn't form immediatly after one existed, which if it had, it would have lasted a lot longer then two billion years.

You could solve that problem by moving the star period closer and going into the 'future' of that world, after all, it's a speculative project.

Finally, the long-livers of immediatly after the Big Bang couldn't do it, and no one predicts the high metallicity stars of the second and third generation will, so the star won't stay the same size, it will expand. How will the organisms adapt? Come to think of it, would the star envelope the planet in eleven billion years?

btw: Earth and the sun formed four billion years ago (approx)
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ATEK Azul
Member Avatar
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I like the project and would love more info since you only gave some climate and one group.

I like the multiple time scales, but as pointed out you need to be in the future most likely for 11 billion years worth of planet and star time.

Also I am sure that this would be a small star that would grow, but still remain at most some thing like our sun when it dies.

Also maybe as the star grew other orbiting objects are slowly changing the orbit of this planet which is keeping the planet from being absorbed into the growing star.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Temporary
Aug 23 2009, 05:32 PM
You could solve that problem by moving the star period closer and going into the 'future' of that world, after all, it's a speculative project.
Okay, I think I´ll do that. I just wanted to have a lot of time, but as you said, I can also change some to "future" periods.


Okay, now Suffusca has formed 5 billion years ago. The Primordizoic (the pretty uninteresting time where there is not much and not very complex life) is from 5 - 3,2 billion years ago.


Now back to the Debellatozoic (now from 3,2 - 2,1 billion years ago).


A few species of the order Dinopsida:

Terrificops giganteum
Posted Image
The largest of all Dinopsids. A nearly 5 meter long apex predator which preys on everything it finds, even smaller Dinopsids. He shows the basic Dinopsid morphology, although as you will see there are some interesting variations...

Caeruleoclavus viridans
Posted Image
Another pretty ordinary Dinopsid. This 2 - 3 meter long creature has a thick proboscis with only a few large spikes.

Camurspica ianthina
Posted Image
This oddly-coloured Dinopsid belongs to the family Camurspicidae which are characterised by two very large spikes on their proboscis. They are not designed for hunting, but instead for display or battles between males. There are many different shapes, the Typus Camurspica ianthina has 25 centimeter long spikes similar to mammoth tusks.

Horribilops adlabtus
Posted Image
Normally Dinopsids have eight separate flippers, including the members of the family Adlabentidae. But as this 1,8 meter long species demonstrates their flippers are beginning to fuse together. Later Dinopsids will have only four large flippers, or to better describe it - wings. The weaker gravity of Suffusca makes it easier for creatures to jump out of the water and glide for a short time. Adlabentidae only use this to flee from predators, they still live mainly in the water.

Dinoanguis velox
Posted Image
One of the most specialised Dinopsids are the Natricimorphs. Their flippers shrinked and are now pretty much useless. Instead they move around with their long, narrow tail. These creatures often burrow holes in the sea floor where they ambush small prey.
Edited by Rick Raptor, Jan 26 2010, 03:55 PM.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
T.Neo
Member Avatar
Translunar injection: TLI
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
The dinopsids are amazing and quite alien- keep up the good work. :)

As for speculative exobiology projects dealing with multiple time periods, mention is made of extinct Snaiadi animals but I doubt we'll see any soon.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Empyreon
Member Avatar
Are you plausible?

Are the protective coverings that go over dinopsid eyes translucent? I would imagine if you completely cover your eyes with something so large, you would want to be able to quickly assess nearby danger without having to completely "unsheath" your eyes.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

COM Contributions


food for thought
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
I actually thought about Dinopsids with transparent eye covers (and since their eyes would be protected and they would still be able to see very well future Dinopsids would probably lose the ability to move the shell back from their eyes), but I wasn´t sure because as I said they can easily get confused if their brain can´t handle all the information from the compound eyes. So the non-transparent cover also works like an eyelid to stop the compound eyes sending more information to the brain so the brain can recover.


Here is another much smaller, but much more important creature in the Debellatozoic seas.
Posted Image
This small detritus eater is comparable to the ancestor of earth´s vertebrates. On Suffusca, their scientific name is Viscicaveata (I think I have to imagine a common name for them).

They are soft like earth´s molluscs and also use a muscular "foot" to move around. Their eyes and ears are on the side of the body (many terran herbivores have eyes at the sides of their head, but these aliens have no real head at all!). The hole in front of the eye is a nostril through which water comes in and oxygen is filtered out with inner gills. The water comes out of the opening behind the ear. The opening at the front is a nostril exclusively for smelling. The shell at the other end of this creature protects it´s reproduction organs (comparable to the genitals of Snaiad animals, except that because of their position these genitals will probably never become jawlike).

What gave these creatures their scientific name and is also the reason their descendants will take over the planet in the next billion years is their Viscus cavea or "Heart cage".
Posted Image
This bony "cage" gives the creature a little bit more stability and protection of the heart (future descendants will expand the "Heart cage" to an "Most inner Organs cage"). There also is a supporting bone in the middle of its foot, linked with the heart cage by a joint. With a stronger foot and a more stabile body these creatures are now able to move onto land - by jumping out of the water. Since they still have gills, they only go out of the water for short time to flee from predators.

I´m not sure about the plausibility of this one. I´m not so good with biomechanics and the sketch of the heart cage is a little bit to simple, I think.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
T.Neo
Member Avatar
Translunar injection: TLI
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Quote:
 
but I wasn´t sure because as I said they can easily get confused if their brain can´t handle all the information from the compound eyes. So the non-transparent cover also works like an eyelid to stop the compound eyes sending more information to the brain so the brain can recover.


I don't see how a brain would be overloaded by sensory input. If you want to limit the number of eyes, you can make the ring of eyes narrower or reduce it to two large patches on the side of the animal.

As for the heart cage, it could work if the cage formed a complete, connected skeleton and was surrounded by a membrane. Such a vulnerable, exposed organ as seen in the picture won't last long.

A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
T.Neo
Aug 24 2009, 04:34 PM
As for the heart cage, it could work if the cage formed a complete, connected skeleton and was surrounded by a membrane. Such a vulnerable, exposed organ as seen in the picture won't last long.

Well, I wanted to make it as primitive as possible but I think you do have a point. I´ll probably have to change that later.

Oh, and for the name of that first Viscicaveate I´ve thought of "Nanotitan exorator". "Pygmy titan", as the first name is translated, may sound paradox, but I was inspired by a quote from Walking with Monsters:
Quote:
 
Haikouichthys is not much bigger than your thumbnail, but he is an evolutionary giant.



Here is Pumiliopiscis versicolor, a relative of this Viscicaveate, which was supposed to be one of these creatures which confuse Dinopsids with their colourful bodies. But since you´re probably right that a brain can´t be overloaded by sensory input I change that.
Now it´s simply poisonous and his striking colours warn predators of its toxic meat.
Posted Image


Lacertosipus natator
Posted Image
This is another relative of the Viscicaveates, although it belongs to a more primitive group which has evolved neither the heart cage nor the foot bone (I probably have to change that from a single bone to a complex leg). However, having no bones or shells makes these creatures extremely flexible and so they can form new weird lifeforms. Lacertosipus natator for example has sacrificed it´s sense of smell to connect it´s nostril with it´s esophagus. The actual mouth has disappeared, now the creature feeds on plankton with its enlarged nostril. It swims by moving it´s foot like a jellyfish moves it´s umbrella.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Temporary
Transhuman
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
So far pretty good.

But I have to admit, what I'm the most curious about is how the organisms are going to evolve into while handling it's sun's aging process. I smell mass extinctions.

Keep in mind, a sun like ours goes from birth to Red Giant in ten billion. From what I can tell, yours will live slightly longer then ours, but that's still a load of expansion to deal with.
Edited by Temporary, Aug 27 2009, 04:47 PM.
Quote:
 
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear


I'm here.

Posted Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Should we bring back Recon? Click here to share your opinion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Don´t worry, I´ll include mass extinctons. For example, at the end of the Debellatozoic all Dinopsids will die out, except for those which develop flight.

Anyway, here are some more creatures I´ve think of (details later...)

Dekapoda, an (in my eyes failed) attempt at making insect analogues. With ten legs these armoured creatures can easily diversify into many different forms. Some use all ten legs to run fast, others fuse some of their legs to even stronger legs together, others use their different legs for different tasks.
Posted Image

Viscata (comparable to Earth´s Cordata): a diverse group of primitive creatures, some with heart cage, some without. Those with heart cage will give rise to the advanced "vertebrates of Suffusca" (Viscicaveata). This picture contains many of the first land-living creatures, that´s why it´s marked as spoiler.
Spoiler: click to toggle


Some of these first advanced "vertebrates of Suffusca" (all these creatures are from the eon that follows the Debellatozoic, that´s why I marked this picture as spoiler).
Spoiler: click to toggle
Edited by Rick Raptor, Aug 31 2009, 02:09 PM.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
As life on Suffusca at first stayed in the water, dead bodies which were washed up on the shore couldn´t be devoured by any scavengers. So all coasts of the two continents were covered with carrion, even from space you could see the thin dark ring around them.

These massive amounts of carcasses became the fertilizer for first land life - Fungireges, Suffusca´s fungi analogues. They grew on the carrion like mold on food, and after millions of years they have covered all carcasses, forming a fungus mountain range. However, this living mountain range is limited to the coasts, because the deserts further inland have no organic compound.

When the Viscicaveata developed their heart cage and their foot bone they were now strong and stabile enough to leave the water. After they developed a respiration system to breathe air and stay on land the fungus mountains became their new habitat.

To the end of the Debellatozoic the descendants of Nanotitan exorator have diversified into many different creatures. They still look very similar to their ancestor, but first specialisations can already be seen.

Malacocochlea rosea
Posted Image
Except for it´s color and air respiration system this primitive detritus eater looks almost identical to it´s ancestor. It moves it´s foot like the foot of a snail, the inner bone is a little weight supporter, nothing more.

Prolapsiopiscis gigantos
Posted Image
One of the first creatures with a larger and stronger foot bone. Like most fungivores of it´s time it feeds mainly on spores and microscopic floating fungi.

Occaecatorsurculus predator
Posted Image
The first predatory Viscicaveate. This creature has lost all tissue between mouth and nose, leaving a large hole as the mouth. Since no Viscicaveate has evolved jaws yet, this predator first has to spit chemicals on its prey and then devour the decomposing victim.

Insiliopiscis phasma
Posted Image
This fungivore is the first Viscicaveate with a real leg. It has more than just one bone and joints, making this creature capable of jumping. As it moves faster and more efficient around this Viscicaveate will be the only one of these first land creatures that will survive the following extinction event...
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Raptor
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Time for a major update...

After a meteor impact ends the eon of the Debellatozoic and kills roughly 80 % of Suffuscan life a greener, more spectacular eon begins - the Fungiregizoic (2, 7 billion years ago – 1, 697 billion years ago). The continents are covered in large "fungus forests". Moldlike Fungireges cover the ground and giant mushroomlike Fungireges grow taller than Earth´s sequoias.

The land splits into smaller continents - creatures become isolated and evolve in different ways.

Pteromiscomimus galbinus
Posted Image
One of the few boneless land Viscates. This small creature climbs up the giant mushrooms and glides with it´s broad foot. It kinda looks like a flying carpet.

Protoindagatrix cardens
Posted Image
Another "flight inventor". This boneless creature spends it´s entire life gliding upside down with it´s parachutelike foot.

Here are some new marine phyla wich lived in the Debellatozoic and also survived the mass extinction.

1. Saccotineata:
Posted Image
Tiny wormlike creatures wich mostly feed on singlecelled organisms like "algae". They have no eyes and rely on their melon and sonar to find their way through the oceans. Some of these creatures have become sessile like sea anemones, other bigger species have fused their many tiny tentacles into larger and stronger tentacles. These species are predators.

2. Alviaculatorata:
Posted Image
Characterised by eyestalks, a keratinous "eyelid" and a special stomach these creatures are mostly small predators or detritus eaters. Like a terran Starfish they can evert their stomach, but it´s still linked to the body. Depending on the species the stomach can simply digest prey outside of the body, work as a grasping organ, a filter or even for display. Some Alviaculatorata have six legs/flippers, others have four and others are sessile.

3. Callocephalata:
Posted Image
Eel-like creatures with a keratinous shell around their head and a broad mouth ending in a long tentacle. Since these creatures mainly feed on the blind Saccotineata they have bioluminiscent spots on their heads and flippers. The mass extinction at the end of the Debellatozoic wiped out most Callocephalates, but some survived in the deep sea.

Pontoconcha faustus
Posted Image
One of the few Callocephalates which survived the mass extinction. They lived in the deep sea or even at the abyss, where life´s base is not the sunlight, but hydrothermal vents. In the Fungizoic these Callocephalates reclaimed the seas and eventually even the land and gave rise to the following creatures:

Posted Image
These are descendants of the surviving deepsea Callocephalates. They slowly adapted to life in lower depths, and after millions of years they could exist in shallow waters. From there it was no big step to the land. These Callocephalates move like snakes, so their flippers have become vestigial structures only useful for display.

Here are the flying Dinopsids, the only Dinopsids wich survived the mass extinction:
Posted Image
Unlike Horribilops adlabtus these airbreathing creatures have fully fused their 8 flippers into 4 wings. Their transparent eyeshell is now permanently covering their eye and makes them look like if they wear a cosmonaut helmet. Since they are colourblind the different species are distinguished by their patterns. They range in size from sparrow- to pterosaursize. On some isolated locations Dinopsids have become flightless and marine again, but still retain the 4 flippers and the "cosmonaut helmet".

Dinopsids belong to a phylum called Oculitestata and here is another group of Oculitestates - the Gyroformes.
Posted Image
These creatures are radial symmetric, with their eight tentacles around their body and the head with the eye ring in the center. Under their compound eyes they have the typical shell which can be moved up to cover the eyes. Many Gyroformes are covered with algae from which they get all nutrients they need. But some Gyroforms are dangerous pedators, and only use the algae covering for camouflage.

It´s hard to believe that these weird creatures are related to the Dinopsids, but by looking at their descendants similarities become a little bit clearer.
Posted Image
These squid-like marine Gyroformes lived in the Debellatozoic. They had a trunk like Dinopsids and also possessed eight flippers. While Dinopsids always retained their trunks, Fungizoic Gyroforms developed larger mouths which made them capable of devouring larger creatures.

And now the last update for today - more advanced terrestrial "Vertebrates":
Posted Image
There are basically two ways of locomotion in Viscicaveates. Since they have only one bony leg most Viscicaveates move around by jumping. Others have developed a boneless second leg, which is basically just a very muscular tentacle. A third efficient, but in the Fungizoic still rare locomotion is tripedalism. Suffuscan Tripods galopp using their bony leg and two strong "front limbs".

Next time I´ll describe the species in detail.
[My DeviantArt account]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · The Habitable Zone · Next Topic »
Add Reply