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| Atlantis: The Next Union; The weird things of a distant Earth | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 24 2016, 06:47 AM (3,917 Views) | |
| El Dorito | Feb 24 2016, 06:47 AM Post #1 |
chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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For the last 400 million years or so the land has been the domain of the tetrapods, those four legged beasts that range from frogs to dinosaurs, snakes to humans, birds to lizards; you name it, and there's a pretty high chance that it's a tetrapod. But suppose that in the future tetrapods suffered a major event, one that knocks out most of their diversity, something so apocalyptic that even these true survivors are unable to recover completely. Some 104 million years in the future, an enormous outpouring of lava, a flood basalt event, occures in South America, on the eastern edge of what is today the Amazon Basin. This event lasted only about 6 million years, but over that time it created the most extensive large igneous province on earth, even larger than the Siberian traps eruptions 350 million years earlier. This caused the great die off of all life forms, including insects and a bunch of really hardy animals. When it ended there were perhaps only 100 species of tetrapods in existence at all, most of them reptiles and amphibians that were better able to deal with the general lack of food. Fast forward 100 million years or so, and the world looks almost unrecognisable. The continents have all merged to some extent, and the Pacific Ocean is almost completely gone. Life is rich and varied again, but unlike in previous mass extinctions, the tetrapods did not fully recover, and now share the earth with a huge variety of other things. Large marine tetrapods akin to whales are a thing of the past, the only tetrapods that go in water now are things that are akin to otters and small crocodiles, and none are more than 5 metres long. In place of marine tetrapods, other things have taken over. Sharks and bony fish both survived, and have taken up part of the role, but in addition there are a bunch of more exotic organisms. Cephalopods also rose to the challenge, and became the Onychoctopodidae and Carcharoteuthidans, which are probably as close to the mythological kraken as is physically possible. Some crabs also became large benthic predators. But these things all exist today, or are similar to things today. They aren't exactly 'neo-vertebrates' either. But these predators aren't the only denizens of the Global Ocean, and some of their contemporaries are unexpected from a modern point of view. One such thing is the Gamaren. From a distance it looks very similar to a shark, but get closer and it turns out to be another thing entirely. In fact the Gamaren, and any of its 150 relatives, are not actually vertebrates at all, they are echinoderms, sea cucumbers to be exact. Like familiar sea cucumbers, gamarens have a relatively simple body, basically a living tube. They also lack a proper internal skeleton, with most of their muscles being anchored to their tough skin. But that's where the similarities end. Unlike any other echinoderms, gamaren have both a complex brain and eyes, and in fact they actually have more eyes than true vertebrates do, with up to 3 on each side of their head, although their visual receptors actually extend along their flank, meaning they can detect light from almost anywhere on their body, though only their real eyes can detect images and motion. In order to be effective hunters, gamaren have evolved a fluked caudal fin, but in contrast to every other marine creature, they actually have paired caudal fins. This might be expected to be a hinderance, but it actually appears to increase the manoeuvrability. One other important difference to other echinoderms is the preface of 'jaws'. While different to the jaws if vertebrates, the jaws of gamaren function in a similar way. The structure is connected to the front of a block of cartilage surrounding the brain, and open up and down. While perhaps not exactly a true jaw, as it's main function is to make the mouth and head more rigid to increase streamlining, the shape is very similar. Within the jaw structure are very sharp toothlike projections made of silica, essentially glass teeth. Despite having the power to dismember prey, more often the prey is simply swallowed whole.
MAP OF THE WORLD:
Edited by El Dorito, Mar 25 2016, 08:24 AM.
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| Dapper Man | Apr 26 2016, 04:21 AM Post #61 |
* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Interesting. I wonder, are there any relatives of the Plesioseal and kin living in the Proximus Ocean or is that it? |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| El Dorito | Apr 28 2016, 08:12 AM Post #62 |
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chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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There are some, but there isnt really anything special about them. Ive been thinking about the plausibility of big arthropods in the deserts, but as there is less oxygen in the atmosphere at this time than there is now I dont know if that is possible. Things like big centipedes and scorpions, basically heavily built arthropods. I don't want to have it only populated by reptiles as that would be boring and kind of against the project description of 'tetrapods don't fully recover and share the earth with an array of other creatures'. |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | Apr 29 2016, 09:54 AM Post #63 |
An Awesome Reptile
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I take it Squamungulata are lizards or reptiles at least that have convergently evolved a similarity to ungulates today? |
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Come check out and subscribe to my projects on the following subforums; Future Planet (V.2): the Future Evolution of Life on Earth (Evolutionary Continuum) The Meuse Legacy: An Alternative Outcome of the Mosasaur (Alternative Evolution) Terra Cascus: The Last Refuge of the Dinosaurs (Alternative Evolution) - Official Project - Foundation The Beryoni Galaxy: The Biologically Rich and Politically Complex State of our Galaxy (Habitational Zone) - Beryoni Critique Thread (formerly: Aliens of Beryoni) The Ecology of Skull Island: An Open Project for the Home of King Kong (Alternative Universe) The Ecology of Wakanda: An Open Project for the Home of Marvel's Black Panther (Alternative Universe) (Click bold titles to go to page. To subscribe click on a project, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "track topic" on the bottom right corner) And now, for something completely different
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| Rodlox | Apr 29 2016, 12:04 PM Post #64 |
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Superhuman
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perhaps one group of arthropods found a way to "cheat" and get by - even producing big forms - with less O2? edit: a very cool (pun unintented) part 1 of the aridness. Edited by Rodlox, Apr 29 2016, 12:06 PM.
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.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
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| El Dorito | Apr 29 2016, 09:46 PM Post #65 |
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chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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Oh its not finished yet, the page is probably less than half finished as it is now. Yes the squamungulata are convergent on long legged running things that we know today, but the group itself is actually several different and largely unrelated groups of squamates that all ended up at the same basic design. Il also post a few pictures later. |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| El Dorito | May 1 2016, 07:12 AM Post #66 |
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chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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(re-uploaded so it would count as an update on the Evolutionary Continuum page) Most peoples idea of a desert is a hot sandy patch of land that has almost no water and almost no obvious life. but a desert doesn't have to be hot, there are many cold deserts in central Asia, and both Antarctica and Greenland are deserts when based on the annual rate of precipitation, or lack thereof. The northwest coastline of Atlantis, comprising what is today parts of Arabia, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, is the northernmost extension of the Great Western Desert, but because of its latitude, it is not a hot sandy wasteland, but a cold, snowy, and extremely dry flat steppe. It is in fact so cold and dry that there is no proper water cycle, snow just crystallizes out of water vapor in the air directly, and similarly just sublimates directly, with only a very brief liquid phase that might as well be called nonexistent from a general viewpoint. Due to the formation of a mobile zone where Africa is rotating anticlockwise in its act of closing the Proximus ocean, there is significant seismic and volcanic activity in the western segment of this desert. The arid climate preserves the features so effectively that volcanoes over 1 million years old are still recognizable, and the dark basalt ash and lava flows stand out prominently from the yellowish sand underneath them. As desolate as this might seem, there is abundant life here. Insects swarm the desert, and feeding on them are scores of small lizards and mammals, most of which live primarily underground. The few larger animals are migratory, and include the large herbivorous Mozor, which make annual migrations across the northern coast to the productive western coastal rainforests, the volant carnivorous Acidactus, the largest flying animal of its time, and several specialised species of the Squamunglata. Plant Life Understandably, there is not exactly abundant vegetation in this cold desert, but there are some. One of the most successful is a species of tall grass, which grows during the warmer summer months into a towering 15 meter 'tree' over the course of just a few weeks, before decaying and falling over when the winter comes again. The very northernmost point on Atlantis is within the arctic circle, and is dark for half the year. Other common plants found here are cacti, which spread around the world as the continents merged over time. Like the Saguaro cactus today, some reach impressive sizes. Animal Life Being mobile, animals are much more abundant and diverse in the desert than plants are. Most are small mammals and reptiles, many of which spend most of their time in burrows to avoid the cold. A few are larger, and it is these that will be primarily focused on. Acidactus clorinus is the only carnivorous animal that weighs over 20 kg to inhabit this bleak area. 'Acidactus' is a merger of 'acid' and the Latin 'adactus' which means 'bite'. Rather appropriately, this is because of the animals ability to secrete hydrochloric acid from its mouth lining, which is composed of the same cells that line its stomach. The downside to this is that their teeth are worn down quickly, but as a reptile this is of relatively little consequence. The species name 'clorinus' both refers to its greenish colored wings, and to the acid. This species is actually only the biggest of a family of flying squamates that developed powered flight. Because of the continued existence of birds, most of these are rather large, but A. clorinus is the largest, with a wingspan of 10 meters and over 100 kg in weight. On the ground it could look a small giraffe in the eye, standing at 5 meters tall. The wings are similar to that of pterosaurs and bats, with the ring and pinky finger being incorporated into the wing and the other three being either free or absent. In the species and genera that inhabit the snowy desert are often covered with dense furry pelage that often makes them seem much more robust than they really are. (still being continued...) |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| El Dorito | May 6 2016, 05:45 AM Post #67 |
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chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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The Mozor The mozor is a large herbivore found across a large area of Atlantis. A member of the diverse order Kaijusauria, the mozor is technically a squamate, but the kaijusaurs are essentially their own group of tetrapods, as worthy of a group title as birds and mammals are compared to the reptiles they too evolved from. Kaijusaurs are an ancient group that by this time are already almost 180 million years old. The things they evolved from were the things we today call monitor lizards or Varanids, indeed Kaijusaurus itself, the groups namesake, was a genus of gigantic varanid that lived roughly 15 million years after the Holocene, however only very primitive members bare any resemblance to their distant ancestors. The ruling group of animals of their time, kaijusaurs are found all over the world, as both predators and prey, both on land and in the ocean - the seal-like plesioseals are marine kaijusaurs -, as well as in the air, the Acidactus and its relatives are also kaijusaurs, albeit highly derived ones. The Mozor belongs to a group of mostly herbivorous kaijusaurs that range from the small Cryptis only 1 metre long at adulthood, to the largest land animal of the time, Magnifisaurus, of which the Mozor is the largest of several species. Adult Mozors are larger than any land animal alive today, and are larger than the majority of dinosaurs, with an adult length of 20 meters if the long whip-like tapering tail is counted, and a weight of 18 tons or more. Like dinosaurs, most kaijusaurs have legs positioned in an erect position to support their often vary large bodies. Although some of its relatives lack this, Mozors possess what can only be called fur, superficially to that which is found on woolly mammoths, which is mostly shed in the summer and is regrown in the winter. Despite their size, Mozors are not immune to predation, even as adults. In the lush tropical to temperate rainforests along the west coast where they spend the summer, there are terrifying carnivores almost as big as the Mozor itself. Both in the tundra along the northern coast and the desert between the two main feeding grounds, the trailing members of the heard are picked off by persistent and hardy Acidactus packs. picture coming soon |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| Dr Nitwhite | May 11 2016, 08:06 PM Post #68 |
Luddite
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This all sounds great! I especially enjoy those sea cucumber-esque creatures, and your acidic fliers. Bravo! Though I am curious, as you mention in your description of acidactus that birds continue to exist. How would this new group have developed? I also see that you mention that because of the birds, these animals are mostly of great size. I would assume all of the larger birds where wiped out in the devastating tetrapod extinction, but I really wouldn't know then, would I? Edited by Dr Nitwhite, May 11 2016, 08:19 PM.
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Speculative Evolution Projects- Other Relevant Work- Final SE Lifelist standings BREAKING NEWS We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this cutting edge report. ATTENDANCE DROPS DRASTICALLY ON SE SERVER This past Monday on Discord, famous server Speculative Evolution took a hit in the attendance office when it's offline member list suddenly reappeared. Mods scrambled to rectify the situation, but unfortunately there was little anyone could do. Server member Ivan was asked what he thought of the situation. "So long as Flisch, lord of machines and scion of Urborg lives, all will be well". SE, (in)famous for it's eccentric userbase, has recently been spiraling downward, and now we have hard conformation of the decline. Moderator "High Lord" Icthyander states "There is nothing to be concerned about, Discord is merely changing its UI again", but members are beginning to suspect the honesty of their staff. Stay tuned, we'll be back with more at 11. | |
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| El Dorito | May 12 2016, 02:36 AM Post #69 |
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chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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well these things arent huge, but on average they are bigger than birds. Birds have declined a lot from their 9000+ species alive today, but they are still common. Also the presence of one group doesn't mean another group couldn't evolve to a similar design and niche alongside it. Thats how birds evolved in the first place, by becoming things that were smaller than average pterosaurs in order to avoid competition. |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| Dr Nitwhite | May 12 2016, 02:26 PM Post #70 |
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Luddite
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You are entirely correct, the more I think about it. Suggesting that flight can not be developed because something else is already flying is a lot like saying there can only be a few groups of walking or swimming animals. Here is a sam for putting up with my previous silliness. 
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Speculative Evolution Projects- Other Relevant Work- Final SE Lifelist standings BREAKING NEWS We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this cutting edge report. ATTENDANCE DROPS DRASTICALLY ON SE SERVER This past Monday on Discord, famous server Speculative Evolution took a hit in the attendance office when it's offline member list suddenly reappeared. Mods scrambled to rectify the situation, but unfortunately there was little anyone could do. Server member Ivan was asked what he thought of the situation. "So long as Flisch, lord of machines and scion of Urborg lives, all will be well". SE, (in)famous for it's eccentric userbase, has recently been spiraling downward, and now we have hard conformation of the decline. Moderator "High Lord" Icthyander states "There is nothing to be concerned about, Discord is merely changing its UI again", but members are beginning to suspect the honesty of their staff. Stay tuned, we'll be back with more at 11. | |
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