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.
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Torosaurus probably gave rise to Triceratops horridus, and then Tr. horridus going directly to Tr. porosus.
Hell Creek was very streamlined in terms of its ecology, not really having much overlap in it's megafauna. Tatankaceratops seems to be an odd one because it might be just a weird Triceratops, but the jury is still out on that.
I doubt it. They were found in different areas, presumably indicating different habitats, were contemporary and we have more basal creatures close to Triceratops such as Eotriceratops and the like, while Torosaurus was quite distinct from these morphologically. That and Toraceratops is dead in the water as a theory.
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Area of expertise:
Future Evolution
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Favorite Quote:
In the absence of proper data, speculate wildly.
Also known as:
Jacob, JurassicJacob, Beetle
YixianBirdBeast
May 17 2017, 06:24 AM
Beetleboy
May 17 2017, 03:39 AM
Does it matter?
Yes it does
Parasaurolophus is My absolute favorite Hadrosaur because of it's unique and cool hollow crest
No it doesn't. Just because you like Parasaurolophus doesn't make Edmontosaurus stupid. It's a matter of opinion, not fact, so stop acting like it isn't. Please stop spamming topics with pointless stuff. You are coming across as very immature and dislikeable. I don't think anybody online has ever made made me lose my temper quite so soon after meeting them. Also, I'm not being funny, but are you actually interested in speculative evolution? So far you've only talked about dinosaurs, complain, and moan about being bored.
if Yixian feels attracted to the more ornate and elaborate head crests, then that just proves Dr. Bakker wrong: they were not purely for intra-specific courtship aids.
.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP)
My Deviantart A work in progress. Other Liked Quote: "The "habitable zone" will expand along with the Sun. This will warm once-frozen planets and their moons, bringing a brief springtime after a 10-billion-year winter."
Sorry, but why do you want to know aboot my nationality, eh? Uh... sorry, that was rude of me. Sorry.
Favorite Quote:
"you know you're a nerd when you search Wookieepedia for porn"
Also known as:
You can call me Little; full list of old names found through profile.
Gender:
Trans Questioning (see link in sig; feminine pronouns)
Based on this, it doesn't seem like Torosaurus was an ancestor of Triceratops horridus. Speaking of that, apparently Nedoceratops probably is a distinct taxon, and CMN 8862 (which is weird, those horns stick right up) is probably a part of that species.
Forum user Uncanny Gemstar drew what is supposed to be a me. Thanks!
Spoiler: click to toggle
As they walk in, they're greeted by a small, poorly kept pathway leading to a poorly constructed Japanese-style gate. Behind this, a small field made up of corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, among other plants is contrasted by large piles of books, as well as a few rather out of place looking laptops. Off in the corner, a small woman, with long, striped, and strikingly colorful socks, no shoes, unremarkable denim shorts, a large, fancy black coat, arm warmers, glasses, a tuque, and somewhat unkempt, mid-length blue-and-pink-streaked red hair, is rummaging through a trash bin, located behind a sign saying "employees only". She continues this for a while (walking behind a wall to change her outfit now and then), until one of her visitors coughs. Startled, she looks up, apologizes, and grabs a handful of textbooks and novels before daintily running off to join them.
What, you want me to tell you what these mean?
Predenterra The (Lost) Lost World The Standing World
Read First
Clarifications on my sex and gender Sorry if I come off as rude, I don't put much thought into word choice sometimes. I'm also super prone to editing my posts, sometimes multiple times, in the minutes following posting. For the love of god, take my posts from my earlier days on the forum with a grain of salt. I was not particularly knowledgeable or mature back then. Some of them are so cringe-worthy I can't even bring myself to look at them.
Words Maybe
Great Words
Words To Spec By
It would have to be something extremely alien, pushing the limits of our imagination. But those are always my favorite kinds of life. ~~The Words of The Xenologist
Words To Live By
Ignorance is never insulting if you're willing to learn, we're all ignorant about most things. ~~The Words of Lamna
Words I Live By
Yeah, and even if you don't agree with creationists on that concept, that doesn't mean they can't be decent people. I have friends who are creationist (possibly even young earth) that I get along with fine in general life. I don't think they're right of course, but that doesn't make them intellectual degenerates. ~~The Words of forbidden3
Member Quotes
jman123
Ass-breathing fish-lizards? Sounds like a punk rock band
Sheather
"Holy fucking shit a toilet paper roll! Our favorite thing!"
Urufumarukai
Tyrannosaurus aquastronka
Kamineigh
Myo, if you don't stop reading the YouTube comments...
Lamna
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Sheather bathes in cum?
Cephylus
And last night I dreamed I was blowing up a Kindergarten with a grenade launcher for no particular reason...
revin
Oh, and of course more people get killed by selfies than by sharks. Of course.
The smell of rotting flesh really kills my appetite, surprising, but the visual appearance of corpses makes me hungry. Is that weird?
Ebervalius
I mean, let us say I'm a genderfluid blurflux demi-romantic woman who is sexually attracted to men, but only if they are Melanesian and have a voice like that of Nicholas Cage. Okay, so what?
trex841
When I first saw that picture, I thought you were dissecting a condom.
Mr Mysterio
All hail Robo-Stalin.
Peashyjah
Seems like everything in this project is now dead.
Stealth Rock
Seagulls are pretty much trees, right?
Watcher
We all must finish chapters of our lives to go on to the next. Sometime this means leaving behind versions of ourselves that don't want to die.
Yiqi15
For April fool's, we had to make an orgasm that resembled a human foot.
Flisch
im the black market
CaledonianWarrior96
He was a skater birb, she said tweet you later birb
Most People at Some Point
Quotes
Some dude called plucas1 from Youtube comments
Funny, isn't it, that our world needs Clark Kent a lot more than Superman.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Even though he is our creator, that does not afford him the right to take our lives on a whim. But that is the thinking of a homs. He is a god. Such morals cannot apply to gods. So you think we should just shut up and die?! If that is the fate decided by a god. You are mistaken if you think we will simply accept such a fate and wait to die. We'll never stop fighting. Not till the end. To Zanza, the outcome is the same. Thus your logic is flawed.
Hades - Kid Icarus Uprising
When freaky aliens give you lemons, make freaky alien lemonade.
Kid Icarus Uprising
But Souls are delicious. They're like bacon - they taste good on anything. But if you eat them, you completely remove them from existence! They can't move on or... or be reincarnated! Huh. I never really gave it much thought. Besides, what do you mean by reincarnation anyway? You know, being reborn as someone or something else. Which means different body, different memories, different experiences, yes? So isn't being reborn as "something else" the same as being "removed from existence"? I... I... eating souls isn't right! That depends on your definition of "right". All living things survive by eating other living things. So what? You're a god. You should be above all that! Gods are above living things, which doesn't necessarily mean we care about them.
"You're already trying to impress the rest of the world, give yourself a break." - a friend
Also known as:
Adi
Gender:
Definitely male.
Quote:
Yes it does
Parasaurolophus is My absolute favorite Hadrosaur because of it's unique and cool hollow crest
Okay, I'm gonna preface this by saying I know jack shit about paleontology - I don't really know why, but it seems important to make clear. I'd also like to make sure you, YixianBirdBeast, know that I'm not trying to attack you or offend you or anything - this is just a few words from one speccer to another.
Yixian, you understand that what you're basing a dinosaur's worth on is completely up to your personal opinion? Just because you love Parasaurolophus doesn't mean everybody has to, and especially not for the same reason. I might love opabinia and someone else hallucigenea, but that doesn't mean I have to go to them and complain about how their metrics of fossil worth are wrong. It's not adding to this conversation, it's annoying, and you're making a fool of yourself in the process:
Quote:
You are coming across as very immature and dislikeable.
And I'm going to have to agree with Beetleboy on this point as well: Are you actually interested in spec? Because usually people interested in spec don't waste their time complaining about small issues or putting other people's opinion down because you just don't agree with them. We come to this forum to discuss and collaborate in a thoughtful manner - The entire basis of this forum was to bring like-minded people together to work together on designing new worlds and animals - it's a truly beautiful thing, really. But what you're doing is going against the nature of this forum, and it's getting on people's nerves.
These arguments are clearly not getting this topic anywhere - and I'm sure that the guys and gals who frequent it would really appreciate it if they could continue the conversation without these petty squabbles.
If you like the colors yellow and orange, check out my xenobiology project, Ishtar! Try not to get stung by the frogs.
And Make sure to check out my deviantart, if you're so inclined.
Do not open!
You just got JELLY'D ya dingus! Tag your friends to totally JELLY them!
"Lumping is just a cheap tactic to make weak taxa stronger" ~DK1000
Also known as:
Dilophoraptor
Gender:
Will get back to you on this
It's because Yixian (better known as Dilong to people who have been to ZTV during the time) is a kind of troll spammer who generally does this kind of thing. They also inhabited The ZT2 Round Table once so anyone from there might recognize the posting style of Yixian and know then a YixianIsLoveYixianIsLife.
They probably joined just to flood the forums with this kind of stuff that at first seems kind of normal then devolves into, well, that.
Not as informative as I would like, as the authors cannot properly choose between two interpretations of rangeomrph anatomy. Some of the basic features of Rangeomorphs are represented in Maotianoascus, a scleroctenophoran ctenophore which was "accessible to sediment" and had a basal bulb "which contains possible fecal pellets or ingested foreign objects" exactly as in Rangeomorphs. Ctenophores today are not hexaradal and M. possessed octoradial symmetry but that said the Cambrian scleroctenophorans do have a rigid internal skeleton like the authors inerpret for the rangeomorphs. Hexaradal symmetry is seen in ie. hexacorals, nematodes so is not especially diagnostic in itself.
Not exactly news but can oxygen isotopes in vertebrata apatite reliably predict metabolism? Lydekkerina, Xenotosuchus and Microposaurus are all nonamniotes that would be endothermic like the Epicynodonts and the Kannemeyerid + Lystrosaurid clade of dicynodonts (and possibly anteosaurids). A lot of large tetrapods like dinocephalians and large thericephalians would be ectotherms according to this data. Not saying this is right or wrong but how problematic is this, really?
"Six-foot feather duster with suicidal tendencies!" - Ross Noble's perfect description of emus
Also known as:
The Gondwanian, Western Quoll
So you all probably know about the Western Long-beaked Echidna, a critically endangered monotreme from the west of New Guinea. However, a look at an old specimen has expanded it's range... It lived/lives in Australia too.
Australia's third extant monotreme?
This news is a couple years old but I only just found out (and was amazed) and decided to tell anyone else who didn't know. Researchers discovered a specimen of a Western Long-beaked Echidna from 1901 that was collected in the Kimberley region of north-west Australia. We already knew that the Western Long-beaked Echidna lived here in the Pleistocene. Cave painting indicate it was here 5000 years ago. However, that specimen indicates it was here in the 20th century, and may still be there today. If it still does survive, it's unsurprising no one has seen one; the north-west is remote and uninhabited, and a last haven for many endangered mammals. Hopefully they are still there, alive and well, as the species is critically endangered and still hunted traditionally in New Guinea.
Some stuff on this topic in the Australian Geographic:
Spoiler: click to toggle
“I wasn’t surprised that it was a western long-beaked echidna, that was clear to me straight away,” says Kristofer, who then recognised the specimen’s tags as those of Australian naturalist John Tunney. Tunney’s handwritten notes on the tag indicated the specimen was collected at Mount Anderson, about 90km southeast of Derby, in WA.
“I was stopped in my tracks upon seeing the tag, realising it was John Tunney’s, and then realising that the data on the tag was telling me that this thing was collected in the western Kimberley,” he says.
More than a century ago, when the specimen was collected, it was misidentified as a short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus). When researchers later identified it as a long-beaked echidna, its place of origin was not remarked upon.
After carefully studying the specimen’s historical records, Kristofer and his team confirmed the authenticity of Tunney’s tags and conclusively matched them to the specimen.
“This is an extremely significant discovery,” says Professor Tim Flannery, one of Australia’s leading mammologists. “I was extremely surprised, and was at first sceptical, but Kris Helgen has made such a compelling case that I'm convinced the specimen is genuinely from Australia.”
The discovery provides new hope for the species’ survival. “To now have a notion that it was recently in the Kimberley and could possibly be there still, that changes a lot of our thinking,” says Kristofer.
He explains that if the species does still exist in Australia, it would likely comprise a different gene pool to the New Guinea populations, and may have adapted to survive in different habitats. “With different ecology and different genetics, if it is found to occur in Australia, I imagine it would give much greater hope for the survival of the species,” he says.
Tim agrees and hopes the discovery will prompt a re-examination of all existing archaeological and zoological echidna material from across northern Australia.
“This is potentially great news for the species, which is under threat from hunting in New Guinea,” he says. “This discovery highlights just how critically important museum collections are as repositories of biological knowledge. They are irreplaceable.”
Kristofer hopes a live western long-beaked echidna will be discovered in the Kimberley. “I want to let wildlife experts, state officials and even people on holiday in the Kimberley know this is a possibility and to keep their eyes open for it,” he says.
Active projects: Van Diemen's Land- Where Gondwanan life found sanctuary in the cool Southern Ocean Wollunqua- Australia during the Recurocene. Final reboot of The Late Simpson and Land Down Under
Dead projects (may be rebooted one day): The Last of the Dinosaurs- Dinosaurs really did survive the extinction The Late Simpson- The last piece of the Outback in a changing world. Land Down Under was an attempted reboot Cascus- A world familiar yet different Land Down Under- The weird and wonderful world of post-Holocene Sahul. Rebooted as Wollunqua
"Six-foot feather duster with suicidal tendencies!" - Ross Noble's perfect description of emus
Also known as:
The Gondwanian, Western Quoll
Australian Wildlife Conservancy has reintroduced Banded Hare-wallabies to mainland Australia after over 100 years of absence. They posted this video this morning.
Active projects: Van Diemen's Land- Where Gondwanan life found sanctuary in the cool Southern Ocean Wollunqua- Australia during the Recurocene. Final reboot of The Late Simpson and Land Down Under
Dead projects (may be rebooted one day): The Last of the Dinosaurs- Dinosaurs really did survive the extinction The Late Simpson- The last piece of the Outback in a changing world. Land Down Under was an attempted reboot Cascus- A world familiar yet different Land Down Under- The weird and wonderful world of post-Holocene Sahul. Rebooted as Wollunqua
Haemoglobin-derived compounds, eumelanic pigments and proteinaceous materials retaining the immunological characteristics of sauropsid-specific β-keratin and tropomyosin were detected in tissues containing remnant melanosomes and decayed keratin plates. The preserved organics represent condensed remains of the cornified epidermis and, likely also, deeper anatomical features, and provide direct chemical evidence that adaptive melanism – a biological means used by extant sea turtle hatchlings to elevate metabolic and growth rates – had evolved 54 million years ago.
Forum user Uncanny Gemstar drew what is supposed to be a me. Thanks!
Spoiler: click to toggle
As they walk in, they're greeted by a small, poorly kept pathway leading to a poorly constructed Japanese-style gate. Behind this, a small field made up of corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, among other plants is contrasted by large piles of books, as well as a few rather out of place looking laptops. Off in the corner, a small woman, with long, striped, and strikingly colorful socks, no shoes, unremarkable denim shorts, a large, fancy black coat, arm warmers, glasses, a tuque, and somewhat unkempt, mid-length blue-and-pink-streaked red hair, is rummaging through a trash bin, located behind a sign saying "employees only". She continues this for a while (walking behind a wall to change her outfit now and then), until one of her visitors coughs. Startled, she looks up, apologizes, and grabs a handful of textbooks and novels before daintily running off to join them.
What, you want me to tell you what these mean?
Predenterra The (Lost) Lost World The Standing World
Read First
Clarifications on my sex and gender Sorry if I come off as rude, I don't put much thought into word choice sometimes. I'm also super prone to editing my posts, sometimes multiple times, in the minutes following posting. For the love of god, take my posts from my earlier days on the forum with a grain of salt. I was not particularly knowledgeable or mature back then. Some of them are so cringe-worthy I can't even bring myself to look at them.
Words Maybe
Great Words
Words To Spec By
It would have to be something extremely alien, pushing the limits of our imagination. But those are always my favorite kinds of life. ~~The Words of The Xenologist
Words To Live By
Ignorance is never insulting if you're willing to learn, we're all ignorant about most things. ~~The Words of Lamna
Words I Live By
Yeah, and even if you don't agree with creationists on that concept, that doesn't mean they can't be decent people. I have friends who are creationist (possibly even young earth) that I get along with fine in general life. I don't think they're right of course, but that doesn't make them intellectual degenerates. ~~The Words of forbidden3
Member Quotes
jman123
Ass-breathing fish-lizards? Sounds like a punk rock band
Sheather
"Holy fucking shit a toilet paper roll! Our favorite thing!"
Urufumarukai
Tyrannosaurus aquastronka
Kamineigh
Myo, if you don't stop reading the YouTube comments...
Lamna
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Sheather bathes in cum?
Cephylus
And last night I dreamed I was blowing up a Kindergarten with a grenade launcher for no particular reason...
revin
Oh, and of course more people get killed by selfies than by sharks. Of course.
The smell of rotting flesh really kills my appetite, surprising, but the visual appearance of corpses makes me hungry. Is that weird?
Ebervalius
I mean, let us say I'm a genderfluid blurflux demi-romantic woman who is sexually attracted to men, but only if they are Melanesian and have a voice like that of Nicholas Cage. Okay, so what?
trex841
When I first saw that picture, I thought you were dissecting a condom.
Mr Mysterio
All hail Robo-Stalin.
Peashyjah
Seems like everything in this project is now dead.
Stealth Rock
Seagulls are pretty much trees, right?
Watcher
We all must finish chapters of our lives to go on to the next. Sometime this means leaving behind versions of ourselves that don't want to die.
Yiqi15
For April fool's, we had to make an orgasm that resembled a human foot.
Flisch
im the black market
CaledonianWarrior96
He was a skater birb, she said tweet you later birb
Most People at Some Point
Quotes
Some dude called plucas1 from Youtube comments
Funny, isn't it, that our world needs Clark Kent a lot more than Superman.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Even though he is our creator, that does not afford him the right to take our lives on a whim. But that is the thinking of a homs. He is a god. Such morals cannot apply to gods. So you think we should just shut up and die?! If that is the fate decided by a god. You are mistaken if you think we will simply accept such a fate and wait to die. We'll never stop fighting. Not till the end. To Zanza, the outcome is the same. Thus your logic is flawed.
Hades - Kid Icarus Uprising
When freaky aliens give you lemons, make freaky alien lemonade.
Kid Icarus Uprising
But Souls are delicious. They're like bacon - they taste good on anything. But if you eat them, you completely remove them from existence! They can't move on or... or be reincarnated! Huh. I never really gave it much thought. Besides, what do you mean by reincarnation anyway? You know, being reborn as someone or something else. Which means different body, different memories, different experiences, yes? So isn't being reborn as "something else" the same as being "removed from existence"? I... I... eating souls isn't right! That depends on your definition of "right". All living things survive by eating other living things. So what? You're a god. You should be above all that! Gods are above living things, which doesn't necessarily mean we care about them.
"god knows you will finally see,scars will heal but were meant to bleed
Also known as:
Archeo or that guy who misspells
oh that is why baby sea turltes are black
Astarte an alt eocene world,now on long hiatus but you never know Fanauraa; The rebirth of Aotearoa future evo set in new zealand after a mass extinction coming soon......a world that was seeded with earth´s weridest and who knows what is coming next...........
" I have to know what the world will be looking throw a future beyond us I have to know what could have been if fate acted in another way I have to know what lies on the unknown universe I have to know that the laws of thee universe can be broken throw The Spec I gain strength to the inner peace the is not good of evil only nature and change,the evolution of all livings beings" "
Spoiler: click to toggle
coming soon......a world seeded by outcast clades and some important easily forgotten ones.the world of the caecilians and company and who knows what is coming next...........[comming soon/spoiler]
Spoiler: click to toggle
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Lyvatan The Wise? I thought not. It’s not a story the newbies would tell you. It’s a forum legend. Lyvatan was an admin of the forum, so powerful and so wise he could use science to influence the human imagination to create life… He had such a knowledge of the forum that he could even keep the ones he cared about from leaving.Speculative Evolution is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his admin power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice banned him while he was offline. Ironic. He could save others from leaving the community, but not himself.
Speccer´s Quotes "The moral of the story: never trust a catfish"-Bettleboy
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