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Rewriting Earth intro/overview; for those who want to jump in
Topic Started: Aug 18 2010, 12:45 AM (961 Views)
Vultur-10


Pandorasaurus suggested that I make an introductory topic for people who want to get into Rewriting Earth, because there's so much stuff now and relatively few people involved.

General idea: rerunning evolution from just before the Cambrian explosion, one period at a time. Mass extinctions still happen on their real-life schedule, as do continental movements.

Main groups:

Algae (cyanobacteria or 'blue-green algae', red/brown algae, and green algae), lichens, fungi all exist as in the real world.

Gelascaphia - A photosynthetic 'plant' with a relatively unorganized structure, similar to a sponge's. The upper membrane is photosynthetic (pigments vary), lower cells produce reproductive spores. Being eaten allows a gelascaphian to spread spores and thus reproduce, but some eventually adapt to other ways of reproducing.

Neocharophyta - The closest thing to our plants, with leaves and stems, neocharophytes are nevertheless a parallel branch. Early forms tended toward poison, but this trend did not survive the Ordovician extinction, though it may later recur.


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Cnidaria, trilobites, echinoderms are as the real-world groups.

Neospoggia -Sessile and treelike, with a central anchored stem and sidestems armed with brushlike food catchers.
They are sexually reproducing Adults are sessile, but larvae can swim.


Arthrochaeta - Arthrochaetes evolved around the late Cambrian. They have an exoskeleton of plates, made from hardened skin. They tend to have eight pairs of limbs, but it varies. They're eventually planned to become the dominant land group, but they're rather late in starting, only becoming really common on land in the late Carboniferous.

Cephalostia - Cephalates/cephalostians have bony skeletons, especially a boxy skull. They invade land early (Silurian), but they have a disadvantage in their inefficient lungs, except during the highest-oxygen ages.

Sigmatatora - A group of very small, elongated animals that swim in an S pattern and have five eyes. They have a chitin shell and reproduce asexually. hitin (they have not mineralized yet) at the top of their body for protection. For short bursts they can swim higher in the water, but stay mostly on the floor.


Lucivermia - Wormlike creatures with a hard, armored exoskeleton, which has formed defensive spikes and jointed legs. Early on they were important, but later become restricted to the deeper oceans. They are benthic fauna, and either detritivores, herbivores, or true omnivores depending on the species; all are too slow to pursue prey.


Lodihelminthes - Lodihelminthians, descended from disklike ediacarans, have hydraulic muscles.


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Pando
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Thanks, it was really helpful! :)

Also, I pinned the topic.
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Vultur-10


Carboniferous is starting now.

Notes: Lucivermia is totally extinct.

Land creatures should have their continents listed.

Early Carboniferous: Gondwana, Euramerica. Siberia, Kazakstania, North China as small continents/large islands. map

Late Carboniferous: Pangaea, Siberia-Kazakstania, North China. map
Edited by Vultur-10, Sep 1 2010, 03:21 AM.
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