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| Obscure Taxa; For interesting or obscure organisms you'd like to share. | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 14 2016, 09:46 PM (48,909 Views) | |
| Tartarus | Mar 16 2018, 06:54 PM Post #811 |
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Prime Specimen
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I featured Dendrogramma back in the early parts of this thread: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/single/?p=3033131&t=8047381 |
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| Flisch | Mar 16 2018, 07:58 PM Post #812 |
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Superhuman
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Well, I didn't remember. |
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| lamna | Mar 22 2018, 07:48 AM Post #813 |
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This topic is for obscure species, I've already stretched it too far talking about whole groups of animals, and extinct island biota. But this time I'm gonna go too far and talk about faunal succession. The Mesozoic at first glance, might seem like something of a stagnant time in evolution. Dinosaurs came and dinosaurs went, but in the end, it was dinosaurs all the way down, right? But look closer, and you can see the strange, archaic world of the Paleozoic being replaced be the familiar world of the Cenozoic, all the in the shadow of the great reptiles. The more famous of these changes happened on land, when flower plants exploded onto the scene during the Cretaceous totally transforming the landscapes of the world. But there was an equally big change happening in the oceans, the Mesozoic marine revolution. You see, during the Paleozoic, the shallow oceans floors were dominated by armoured animals. Crinoids covered the sea floor like the skeletons of sunflowers, whole reefs of brachiopods and and bivalves carpeted the sea floor. Against invertebrates, sharks and fish, their armour was defense enough to protect them. But then, with the Triassic, came the marine reptiles. Placodonts ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, all evolved to be able to exploit this bounty. Mountains of meat, and all you needed were jaws and teeth strong enough to crack their shell. This forced the armoured animals of the Paleozoic to adapt or perish. Bivalves managed to adapt well, many burrowing under the seafloor, exposing only their siphons to the dangerous world above, others developed the ability to swim like scallops. Those that remained on the surface anchored themselves tightly to rock like mussels. Crinoids were not so lucky, and only those that could swim, crawl, or hide during the day survived, with many of them being pushed into deep waters. Brachiopods were unluckier still. Sessile brachiopods that were disturbed had no way to right themselves, and would be carried away in the currents and die as surely as if they have been eaten. Today Brachiopods are a very marginal group, only a hundred or so species surviving on the margins, gaps where bivalves do not dominate. Other changes may have had a part to play, murex snails evolved, able to bore though hard shells to kill prey within their shells, and did crabs with crushing pincers. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Scrublord | Mar 22 2018, 01:04 PM Post #814 |
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Father Pellegrini
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It's for obscure TAXA, not obscure SPECIES. A taxon can be anything from a subspecies to a kingdom. |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Chuditch | Mar 22 2018, 07:27 PM Post #815 |
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Dasyurid
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![]() This is the Boodie or Burrowing Bettong (Bettongia lesueur). As its name suggests, it lives in burrows, and is the world's only burrowing macropod. This was once Australia's most common macropod, but their current state just goes to show the absolute devastation that the small native mammals have gone through. It's distribution once covered much of the continent, and it lived in a great variety of habitats, but now no longer occurs on the mainland outside feral-free fenced areas, and only survived on a few offshore islands. There used to be three subspecies, B. l. graii, which lived on the mainland, B. l. nova, an undescribed subspecies from Barrow Island, and B. l. lesueur from some other islands. The mainland subspecies is entirely extinct, having been persecuted by humans, devoured by cats and foxes and had its habitat destroyed by introduced herbivores and wildfires. It's sad that what was once Australia's most common macropod now only occurs naturally on a few islands. And sadly this is true for more than just the Boodie, with many of Australia's small mammals having had similar reductions in range and abundance. Luckily, its future for now seems secure, as long as no introduced species make it to the island sanctuaries that have saved so many native mammals. Current distribution (you can barely see it. Those dots on the mainland are reintroduced populations in feral-free areas) |
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My wildlife YouTube channel Projects
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| Terraraptor411 | Mar 29 2018, 04:53 PM Post #816 |
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Troodontid
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oilbird Meets the Oilbirds, a unique subgroup of Caprimulgiformes. Their odd in birds because they are desperately trying to become bats. They hibernate, TRUE hibernation at that, when times are tough. They eat primarily fruit and live in caves, and are even capable of echolocation. |
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Current Projects: Alien Earth Ultimate Pangea Potential Future Projects Future of the North Star: TBD My DA Page: https://terraraptor.deviantart.com/ | |
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| Sayornis | Mar 29 2018, 05:35 PM Post #817 |
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Neotenous
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And they're called oilbirds because juveniles were formerly harvested for their body fat, which was used as lamp oil. Similarly, the storm petrel is a seabird whose stomach contains a great deal of oil. British sailors used to hunt the birds, insert wicks in their stomachs, and light them as candles. ![]() Ew. Petrels, like related tubenosed seabirds (Procellariformes) use stomach oil for self-defense, particularly when nesting. Birds that get coated with petrel puke may die, for the same reason as birds caught in oil spills-- the oil renders their feathers non-waterproof. The oil also functions as an energy store. ![]() I couldn't find a picture of a storm petrel throwing up stomach oil, so here's a fulmar doing the same. According to the above-linked TetZoo post "the oil-squirting abilities of [fulmar] chicks show that they contain a seemingly large amount of oil at any one time." (Previously on the subject of birds throwing up..) Edited by Sayornis, Mar 29 2018, 05:36 PM.
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The Library is open. (Now under new management!)
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| lamna | Apr 8 2018, 01:27 PM Post #818 |
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Today I want to talk about perhaps the least obscure taxa possible, Panthera leo. But I also want to talk about something that doesn't get covered all that much, and that is earth's fauna being depleted. We're all familiar with extinction, the idea of animals being utterly wiped out. But quite often humanity does not totally exterminate species, but diminishes them. American bison once lived across the entire continent of North America, from Virginia to Oregon, from Mexico to Alaska. And there used to be sixty million of them. Today, there are less than half a million bison, and for the most part they live semi-captive lives and are scattered throughout the great plains. And that's a conservation success story. 0.6% of what ought to exist. We live in a world of ghosts, so many species hang on in reduced states. And that is true of lions. We usually think of lions as animals of sub-Saharan Africa, but that is not the case. Today only on tiny population of 650 wild lions live outside Africa, in the Gir forest in India. But this is not how it used to be. The lion once lived across North Africa, and a huge swath of Eurasia from Bulgaria to Bengal. But lions are big, obvious, dangerous predators. From Romans capturing them for their circuses, to their wholesale massacre by British officer and Indian princes in the Raj, lions have dwindled. Lions ought to live across the Balkans, but we wiped them out. Throughout my childhood, lions were the "safe" big cat. Huge numbers lived across Africa, they weren't endangered, not like Tigers. But even then, lions were but a shadow of their former glory. Now the population of lions in Africa has almost halved since the 90's. They are are a shadow of a shadow. Wow this fun post about Greek lions went good.
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Flisch | Apr 8 2018, 04:38 PM Post #819 |
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Superhuman
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Today I learned lions used to live inside Lake Baikal. |
| We have a discord. If you want to join, simply message me, Icthyander or Sphenodon. | |
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| Scrublord | Apr 8 2018, 04:56 PM Post #820 |
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Father Pellegrini
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Is Panthera atrox actually considered the same species a Panthera leo spelea and living lions? |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| lamna | Apr 8 2018, 05:11 PM Post #821 |
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Figuring out where American lions go has been a bit of a nightmare, but studies of DNA suggest that the American lion is closely related/descended from the Eurasian cave lion. Both of which are most closely related to modern lions. Whether you want to consider them different species or not is up to you, but I believe most workers go with subspecies. Modern lions have a recent African origin, and seem to have colonised Eurasia about 20,000 years ago. The very oldest lions we know about are Panthera leo fossilis from Eurasia. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Scrublord | Apr 8 2018, 09:43 PM Post #822 |
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Father Pellegrini
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I always thought of leopards as the most secure big cats, not lions. They're the smallest member of the genus Panthera, they have the widest range, they often live in areas where humans have developed considerably, and they have the greatest population. |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Rebirth | Apr 8 2018, 09:48 PM Post #823 |
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Adolescent
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Leopards and jaguars both seem to be doing OK. I wonder what endangered species like tigers and lions could evolve into if they don't go extinct. |
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My Projects Spoiler: click to toggle
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| Archeoraptor | Apr 9 2018, 01:56 PM Post #824 |
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"A living paradox"
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maybe going further on the big carnivore thing or maybe even without humans they would have went extinct |
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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 | |
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| Fazaner | Apr 9 2018, 02:22 PM Post #825 |
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Шашава птичурина
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Now for some obscure prehistoric sharks, because they are awesome. ![]() Belantsea (named after a legendary ancestor of the Crow Nation) is a genus of extinct petalodontid cartilaginous fish that lived during the Lower Carboniferous, about 350 million years ago. Its fossils are found in the Bear Gulch Limestone lagerstätte. Its body was leaf-shaped, with muscular fins and a small tail. Such a body plan would allow for great maneuverability, but at the cost of speedy cruising. Its few, large, triangular teeth formed a beak-like arrangement that allowed it to graze bryozoans, sponges, crinoids, and other encrusting animals. The genus contains two species, B. montana and B. occidentalis. Belantsea is the best known member of the order Petalodontiformes. |
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Projects (they are not dead, just updated realy slowly, feel free to comment): -World after plague After a horrible plague unleashed by man nature slowly recovers. Now 36 million years later we take a look at this weird and wonderful world. -Galaxy on fire. They have left their home to get out of war. They had no idea what awaits them. My Deviant art profile, if you're curious. Before you get offended or butthurt read this | |
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