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| Mu: The Lost Continent; New name for this project! | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 11 2010, 09:59 PM (3,477 Views) | |
| TheCoon | Jun 11 2010, 09:59 PM Post #1 |
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I'm gonna remake my project about a small island in which dinosaurs survived. But instead I'm gonna make it more weird and interesting than the tipical cliche lost island. It has come to my attention that maybe the permo-triassic extinction only occured in mainland, because China and Siberia, which were isolated during the time of the extinction, had "living fossils" all the way up to the Triassic. So, if my large island managed to stay isolated for the rest of the Earth History, then I can make it a paradise were Permian living fossils live alongside pterosaurs. So, this is the Late Permian of our timeline: ![]() And this is the map with my island, in an alternate timeline: ![]() The island separated from the rest of the world during the middle permian, so the creatures from said island weren't affected by the P-T extinction event. Furthermore, the separation produces a strange magmatic fluctuation in the surrounding area of the island (In fact, you can see said fluctuation on the map, in the water current near the island), which prevents it from re-joining other landmassess until the fluctuation looses it's strength. Long story made short, there's a tidal wave underneath the tectonic plates, and causes the island to bounce in the pacific ocean instead of coliding with the landmassess. In further posts, I'm gonna describe the wildlife of the island across time, until we reach present. Also, I would really like Parasky/Pandorasaurus too make me a subforum for this project. Thanks ![]() Edited by TheCoon, Jun 14 2010, 10:36 AM.
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Greetings young life form! Procyon Lotor at your service.
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| Ook | Jun 12 2010, 02:00 PM Post #16 |
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not a Transhuman
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there could be long river with big delta and alongside river could be some swamps and forests
Edited by Ook, Jun 12 2010, 02:00 PM.
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 02:02 PM Post #17 |
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Maybe later, during the flooded cretaceous world. Maybe the island gets separated in two, like in North America, and the animals evolve isolated from the previous isolation, so when the world gets back to normal, the result is an even greater diversity. |
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| Ook | Jun 12 2010, 02:40 PM Post #18 |
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not a Transhuman
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but where that amphibians survive triassic?
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 02:53 PM Post #19 |
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They suffer alot during the triassic. Only small pocket swamps and forests exist in the island, and they're at the edge of extiction. Then, the jurassic comes and with the new, warm and wet biomes in the island, anphibians regain control, taking some interesting crocodile-like niches, arboral niches and snake-like niches. |
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| dialforthedevil | Jun 12 2010, 02:55 PM Post #20 |
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Frumentarii Administrator
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will crocodiles make it to the island or not?? one thing can be sure the pacific theatre in ww2 would of gone very differently Edited by dialforthedevil, Jun 12 2010, 02:56 PM.
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Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/ ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/ Join the Campaign to save minotaurs from extinction!!! (include this in your signature to show your support!) | |
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 02:57 PM Post #21 |
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No. I was also thinking of crocodile-like pelycosaurs, but they fit more in the komodo dragon/monitor-like niche. |
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| dialforthedevil | Jun 12 2010, 03:04 PM Post #22 |
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Frumentarii Administrator
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yeah thats quite a cool idea
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Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/ ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/ Join the Campaign to save minotaurs from extinction!!! (include this in your signature to show your support!) | |
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 07:20 PM Post #23 |
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Late Triassic Island:![]() The standard view of a late triassic biome was that of a savannah or a semi-desert. Sure, there was some forests in in the south and hidden in the mountains, but the world was hot and dry in most places. The island was no exception. Huge dune deserts covered the south. In the middle of the desert, there was a dry rocky formation, the Island mountain chains. Northern in the island we find tropical savannahs, but also some pocket swamps and forests, survivors of this hot, infernal world. Leptospondyli and Temnospondyli were at the edge of extinction. At their best, descendants of Amphibamidae were able to adapt in the savannah, taking a much more shorter, bulkier and frog-like appearence, similar to a bull frog. The rest of temnospondylids were trapped in the rivers, in the niche of crocodiles, and leptospondylids were in danger of extinction, surviving in the few forests left. Anapsids, Pelycosaurs and Therapsids also reduced numbers in the desert, but were suceeding in the savannah side of the island. Pelycosaurs took mostly Monitor-like niches, preying upon small Anapsids, Savannah Amphibamids, eggs and the larger, Komodo-Dragon like ones preyed upon larger prey, hunting in pairs or trios. The Anapsids Procolophonidae and Captorhinidae took the niches of various arboreal, terrestrial, and some of them even acuatic lizards. They diversified in various species of different colors and sizes, preying also on eggs, arthropods and unfortunate baby creatures. Pareiasauridae existed both in savannah and desert, but had a remarkable suceed in the desert, making them one of the few creatures capable of surviving it. The therapsids Tapinocephalidae and Burnettidae took the hervivorous niches of the savannah. Most of them looked similar to pachydermic mammals like elephants and rhinoceros, though some populations of more primitive Burnettidae were still omnivores. Anteosaurids and Therocephalians took the main carnivore niches, similar to hyenas, canines and felines, while the basal gorgonopsids took Linx-like niches in the pocket forests. Some pterosaurs start to nest in the coasts of the island, but they're not well established yet. |
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 09:20 PM Post #24 |
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The T-J Extinction: Unlike the P-T extinction, this one did affected every corner of the planet. Large descendants of most creatures dissapear into the void, as they open the path for the new ones. Among the fauna lost are Eryopidae, Caseidae, Sphenacodontidae, Ophiacodontidae, Anteosauridae, Most of the Burnetiidae (though semi-arboreal species survive) and Large Tapinocephalidae (small species survive) and any descendants they left. |
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| Pando | Jun 12 2010, 09:32 PM Post #25 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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The joke extinction did so much damage? |
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 09:38 PM Post #26 |
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You'd think it did, but it only killed large species. I maybe exagerated on the damages. Only the larger member of the families got exinct. The rest survived. |
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| TheCoon | Jun 13 2010, 11:36 AM Post #27 |
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Late Jurassic Island:![]() By the Late Jurassic period, the world was starting to enter a greenhouse effect. Tropical forests were a common view among the landscapes of this period, and the increasing sea levels started to separate landmassess. As we can see, the island is also separating in two smaller islands due to this sudden rise of the sea level. The island is covered by tropical forests, except in the mountain chain, where highland savannahs existed. Temnospondylids were doing amazing in this new tropical world. They took mainly crocodile-like niches. Some of them are started to develop hard, reptile-like skin, indicating that maybe a new class of parallell reptiles is on their way to evolve. Leptospondyli was also doing great. They took a lot of colorfull and diverse forms, but mainly classified in two: Salamander-like, which were mainly bottom feeders from the rivers, and the Snake-like, which were occuping the eel and snake niches of the island. Anapsids continued to diversify. Procolophonidae and Captorhinidae no longer exist, but instead a great number of descendants, colorfull and varied. While some of them retained that lizardish niche, other became more specialized and bizarre. Examples include squirrel-niched forms and iguana-like forms. The great success of Pareiasauridae in the deserts gave them a head start when the T-J extinction ocurred. They were more common than any other hervivore, and that allowed them to take the biggest hervivore niches. Incredibly enought, convergent evoluition acted, and most of the decendants of pareiasauridae looked like Ankylosaurs and Ceratopsians, which were developing in the rest of the world by this time. Pelycosaurs continued with minor changes. Most of them were monitor like, preying upon the same thing. Carnivorous therapsids evolved to keep up with the bulky descendants of Pareiasauridae. Because of the tank-like shapes they had, most creatures developed a social, complex behavour similar to raptors or wolves. They attacked by jumping in soft body parts of the prey and bitting them untill they started to bleed, then they left the creature alone, waiting for it to bleed untill death. Hervivorous therapsids on the other hand were decreasing in number. Because it was much more easier for packs of carnivores to attack them, and the Pareiasaur descendant competence, they were less varied, acting in a deer and moose-like niches in the forests. Curiously enought, a pterosaur flock became stuck in the island, and had nothing else but to establish in it. They adapted pretty well, and after some millions of years a new class of island-exclusive pterosaurs existed in the island. Tropical and colorfull varieties were abundant in the forests and coasts of the island, feeding on insects, fish, and the larger ones on dead carcass. |
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| TheCoon | Jun 14 2010, 10:31 AM Post #28 |
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Late Cretaceous Island:![]() By the late cretaceous, the sea levels rised incredibly, separating various continents into sub-continents. This events caused the isolated inhabitants of said sub-continents to evolve apart from the others of their species, thus creating an extraordinary display of exotic life. The island during this times was separated in two islands. The bigger one at the right was covered by thick jungles, so the creatures were smaller and most of them were adapted to arboreal life. The smaller island at the left was covered mainly by a flooded savannah, were the larger creatures existed. While anphibians were scarse in the left island, they were very common in the right one. Large Temnospondylids in this side of the island became extinct, because of the lack of big prey. Smaller creatures, however, adapted really well due to their alligator-like lifestyle, and because their size fitted with the rest of the faunal life. In the left island, Temnospondylids were larger but less common, having a crocodile-like lifestyle. Leptospondylids were very uncommon in the left island. Only a few species survive in the small jungles and in the savannah. This species were very similar to both frogs and salamanders, but were oviously none. In the right island, Leptospondylids continued their astonishing evolution. There was salamander, frog, and snake-like creatures, which reached enormous sizes (specially the snake-like ones) and filled more niches. A curious family of leptospondylid descendants took the trees, and started to rensamble squirrels and monkeys in their lifestyle and appearance. Lizard-like Anapsids continued as normal, and the pareiasaur descendants ruled the savannah. They developed various forms, but all of them were strangely similar to the hervivorous dinosaurs that existed in the outside due to convergent evolution. This species were huge, and most of them developed Endothermy long ago. However, more than 90% of the species of pareiasaurus were exclusive to the left island. Due to competence from crocodile-like temnospondylids in the left island, Pelycosaurs became rare, probably at the edge of extinction, and existing only in small species that fed on the anapsid lizards. On the right island, they quickly became top predators. Their anatomy changed alot. The legs that supported the heavy body became pillar-like, instead of being located at the sides. A common person would asociate this creatures as a combination of bears and crocodiles. Hervivorous therapsids had smaller niches in the left island, due to the competence provided by Pareiasaurs. They were mainly rabbit and antelope-like, being very common but only in the niche of small grazers. In the right island, however, they were even more common. The lack of gigantic pareiasaurs made them grow bigger in the island, taking larger niches similar to mooses and okapis. Carnivorous therapsids were still the apex predators of the left island, again with their feline-canine like bodyplan and their social behaviour. In the right island they were solitare, lynx-like creatures. Some of them were arboreal, preying on the monkey-like leptospondylids. In the highlands some larger species did developed in a snow leopard/cougar-like niche, but they were still smaller than the creatures from the left island. Some of them can also be concidered as pseudo-mammals, that evolved similar to mammals in an incredible act of convergent evolution. Finnally, pterosaurs continued their diversification. In the savannah, some semi-terresteal forms developed, but were really small. In the right island, they continued their evolution as normal, with colorfull species that took many bird-like and bat-like niches, not to mention their old pterosaur niche. Birds arrived to the coasts of the island, but were uncommon. Marine reptiles of the time used to live between islands. The K-T arrived, and most large species became extinct. The small ones would then take the island, just like it happened in mainland. |
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| Ammonite | Jun 14 2010, 05:56 PM Post #29 |
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Adolescent
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This is a very interesting project. I love the animal selection you chose. What becomes of the Zatrachid, Keraterperontid and Gorgonopsid groups? And how did invertebrates like insects evolve on the island? |
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| TheCoon | Jun 15 2010, 08:59 AM Post #30 |
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Zatrachid and Keraterpetonids died out during the triassic, becasue the climate was too hot for them. Basal gorgonopsids became more of scavengers and small predators. The larger ones such as Anteosaurs and Therocephalians became the apex predators, alongside some temnospondylids. As for the insects, I would really like to make some reference also, but I couldnt find any late permian arthropod from North America, which is the island's place of origin. |
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