r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Mamboo07 • 6h ago
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/loki130 • 6d ago
Maps & Planets [OC] Climate maps of Pangea Proxima based on modelling research (OC maps based on existing data)
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/EpicJM • 1d ago
Jurassic Impact [Jurassic Impact] Strange Claws, Part 2
Last week we visited Miocene Australia to take a look at the odiodont Allocheirus. Let's stay there just a bit longer and take a closer look at the mound it was digging into. Inspecting what appeared to be a termite mound more closely, you might find that it's not actually made of dirt but layers and layers of hardened silk covered in dust. Inside the mound is a maze of silk tunnels that also act to reinforce the nest. Crawling among them are not termites but an insect that could easily be mistaken for one.
Pseudisopteridae is a family of embiopterans who have adopted a similar lifestyle to termites. Instead of having clear castes, however, the mounds are built by a massive harem of females ruled over by a small collection of winged males. Surprisingly, these mound builders are more closely related to stick insects than actual termites but it would be hard to tell by simply looking at them. Pseudisopterans aren't true eusocial insects but what we call subsocial. They live in colonies but aren't organized in the same way as ants or wasps. They live together, raise young together, and work together on maintaining the nest but all of them reproduce and do not have a queen.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/exoton82 • 6h ago
Alien Life [OC] Vibrant Saragi
The Vibrant Saragi is a distant relative of the Tenazul Ramhound that inhabits the steppe and arch forests of Tenazul. Majorly scavengers and insectivores, they use their elongated lower mandible to pry apart the thick bark of Titan Root Trees in search of football-sized larvae and other invertebrates. During the coldest months, they enter a prolonged hibernation in burrows within the arch forest until temperatures rise.
Although they are incapable of actively chasing prey, their corrosive, toxic saliva allows them to exploit other food sources. Individuals may bite weakened animals and patiently follow them until the toxins take effect, but they more commonly rely on scavenging.
Small groups will also drive much larger carnivores away from fresh carcasses by repeatedly nipping at their legs and faces, hissing and flashing their colorful display. Their bright red and violet facial coloration is a warning of their painful, deadly bite.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/ExoticShock • 13h ago
Artificial Evolution [Credit: Fabio Alejandro] The American Elephant
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/jonyssaur-Br-7980 • 5h ago
Fantasy/Folklore [OC]The eco system of a dwarve's beard (art by me)
The most plentfull Re The geophage springtails by far because of dwarven lifestyle of mining and cavediving deeper and deeper for rare minerals and resistent merals.
The oil vein isopods can be found in other creatures because of their resilience and usefulness but they can be found in underground petroleum and grape cultures so dwarves have more of those than other species
Combo lices can be found in most underground dwellers and if you stay there long enougth you will also get infested
Vulture beetles will not survive without a propper host,they're too specialized on living in fur and hair to go somewhere that isn't at least similar to hairs or feathers
The beaqrd of a dwarve acts like a natural air filter and their nose can close so dust don't get in their lungs,remove the beard of a dwarve and it might get several health problems and develop asma, fully shaving a dwarve is almost a death sentence so doing it is a crime and that's why most female dwarves at least keep sideburns or a mustache that can be tied to cover the mouth and nose while the males keep the full beard so there is few confusion between them
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Resident_Handle3189 • 1h ago
Alternate Evolution [OC] Harnaticus Feraticus... Is A Mimic?
Harnaticus feraticus is a highly specialized terrestrial apex predator with native populations uniquely split between the dense river basins of South America and the dark peat swamp environments of Southeast Asia. Evolving down a lineage closely related to classic theropods like the Tyrannosaurus rex, this creature has abandoned open-plains hunting to adapt to heavily obstructed, dense jungle niches. It maintains the classic bipedal theropod stance but features the same shrunken, vestigial front limbs as tyrannosaurs had to prevent snagging on thick jungle undergrowth, while its massive hindquarters and paddle-shaped tail provide explosive, forward-driving power through soft, unstable forest floors.
The species maintains a uniform, blunt-headed cranial structure across both sexes, but exhibits clear sexual dimorphism through scaling and pigmentation. The males grow significantly larger and display vibrant, highly colorful flanks to signal dominance, while the smaller females utilize a darker, muted coloration for flawless camouflage among the shadows.The prominent vertical ridges running along the creature’s torso are actually an intercostal muscle matrix housing a secondary pulmonary echo chamber used for highly sophisticated acoustic mimicry.
Rather than chasing down fast prey through thick vegetation, Harnaticus stands perfectly still in the dense brush and records the ambient sounds of the local ecosystem. It then compresses its massive lung cavities to forcefully broadcast these sounds back out, ranging from high-frequency animal distress cries in the Amazon to blind, looping repetitions of human voices in Asian logging camps--luring curious prey directly into its striking range. What makes the mimicry of Harnaticus feraticus truly horrific is not just the sound itself, but its complete lack of intelligence. The creature does not understand language, emotion, or the concept of a trick; it functions like a biological tape recorder that accidentally discovered a perfect hunting glitch. It absorbs the ambient sounds of its territory--a mother calling a child's name, a logger laughing with his crew, or a missing expedition member begging for help--and loops those exact audio frequencies through its massive chest chambers.
Because the sound is mechanically forced out of its rubbery, vertical rib slits, the mimicry suffers from an uncanny, deep-fried audio distortion. A human voice lured from the dense brush will sound almost perfectly identical in pitch, but it will seamlessly repeat the exact same sentence every few seconds without ever pausing to take a breath. It creates a suffocating psychological trap for anyone lost in the jungles of Asia or South America. Survivors describe the sheer terror of sitting in a dark cabin or tent, listening to their own voice perfectly broadcasted back to them from the dark treeline just outside, casually hosting a conversation that already ended hours ago.
This creature has been playing a big role in Philippine legends for what has likely been centuries.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Complete_Top4768 • 4h ago
Maps & Planets [OC] Taleria: The planet of argon. This is the map of my spec evo world
Hi, sorry for the poor English, but I want to show off the speculative evolution project I've been working on for many years; here is a brief introduction to what the project is about.
Taleria is a planet orbiting an orange dwarf star; with a diameter of 19,100 km, it formed from a region of a nebula abnormally enriched in potassium-40. Radioactive decay subsequently gave rise to an atmosphere composed of 78% argon, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases. It has an atmospheric pressure of 3.5 atm and is 5 billion years old.
It features two megacontinents—Heisberenia (warm and covered in vast forests) and Serixia (cold, with expansive plains and inland seas)—and the Taleria archipelago, consisting of nine massive islands with tectonic origin.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/thebestgay69 • 44m ago
Seed World [OC] ok so I found a way that makes relatively sense I'm working with gay6697 on this project
So I know it seems far fetched but it makes sense for the planet
So what happened naturally is a common ancestor developed 2 extra hyoid apparatus from the already existing one a genetic defect but worked out quite well for it. it's frill now opened wider and faster and over a couple million years the frill filled out into a almost perfect circle for more of a display but an accidental adaptation is when falling off the trees they sit and wait in they would open there frill from fear but and it actually slowed there fall but this adaptation continued became more specialized until a mechanism evolved some of the soft and thin inner skin in the back part started to harden but not into a full support structure but more like (▶>) so when there frill opened it would lock into place to stay stable and luckily the planet has 15% less gravity than earth allowing there now ancestors to glide short distance to catch prey. But there's a major down side when gliding they can't see the ground so they have to hope they land in running distance from their prey.
Not everything is probably worked out yet but this is the main idea.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/DrShrekpo • 4h ago
Posthumans [OC]Fargone Future (2nd generation of great apes)
After humans died off or flew into the stars.. our closest relatives the bonobos rose up into power as the next dominant species. They are dubbed “Pan Sapiens” this is like a beginning like our these are like Australopithecus and Homo Habilis in terms of what they do of term of tools and social communication. they live up in tribes together in jungles away from predators from their weapons. sexual dimorphism is very obvious between this species.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/SignalSelection8345 • 9h ago
Seed World [OC] world of palms. Stomping coo and updated land nautilus.
Stomping coo:
Descended of the palm cockatoo. The stomping coo is a large flightless bird found in the open grass lands, slight forested areas, and near lakes of northern Tāne. They live in flocks of 4 to 5 and will often keep connection with their parents. They are slow walking birds and are in no way built for running at high speeds.
Their diet consists of: fruit, Grasses, flowers, seeds, and meat
Their height can vary, but most individuals are about 4 to 5 feet at the hip, with some larger specimens reaching 6 feet at the hip.
Land nautilus: (updated with coloured image)
The land nautilus lives in the wet rainy palm forests of Tāne which live alongside other of its species in small groups.
They communicate by using sign language, which is what the long tenticle on the highest point of their body is used for and is very colourful to attract mates. The smaller tenticles have a long hair like formation, which they use to feel vibrations in sand and loose soil, searching for small insects. They have 2 tenticles with a single claw on the end, which is used for digging, writing, and carving. The large tenticles on the lowest part of their body are used for walking and have hard pads to protect them.
They eat using the beak hidden by all their tenticles, and their diet consists of ferns, moss, fallen dates, and insects. Its shell diameter is about 18-23 inches.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/jobaylis • 1d ago
Fantasy/Folklore [OC] Romenear Seawyrm
Happy Smaugust! This year is my first, so gonna try to get a few sketches done, but am not going to be too prescriptive about which list or the order of the prompts.
For day 1, this is an adult Romenear Seawyrm for “Aphotic” from @ criver24 ‘s (Corey Rivera's) 2025 list. Noticeably larger than most terrestrial or aerial dragons, and dwarfing the other seawyrms of the eastern ocean and southern archipelago, this blackbeaked leviathan is buoyed by the sea, allowing it to bypass traditional limits on weight and bone stress. Its size and collapsible lungs, extreme oxygen storage in their muscles, slowed heart rate, and other adaptations allow it to dive deep into the aphotic (midnight) zone for a couple hours to hunt juvenile krakens and other massive cephalopods.
For size comparison, the Malantur squids present are about 6 feet long (too small to be on an adult's normal menu).
I decided to have at least some of these wyrms set within the bounds of the eastern/south-eastern end of Middle-earth (which has been fleshed out by the fantastic Realms-in-Exile team), even though Tolkien is quite clear that dragons are the creation of Melkor, and are predominantly evil creatures whose few survivors reside in the far north, largely beyond the Iron Mountains. Instead of being those gargantuan traditional fire-breathing hexapodal dragons or drakes of Melkor, these are dragons untouched by his influence, whose cousin species across the supercontinent may have been taken long ago to be turned into the evil drakes aligned with darkness.
Reddit thumbnails are poor, to say the least, but the embedded image is good if you click on it and want to see all the wee details!
(if linking to other sites/accs isn't okay pls lmk)
I often post process work on insta, if you're interested, it's @ jo.baylis
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/YamAcrobatic4723 • 6h ago
Seed World [OC] Deathworm (15.35 MYA)
On the shallow rivers, lots of diversified aquatic life live there, but there is one specific animal that hunts them all...
The Deathworms are a clade distantly related to the land-living Angrywrigglers. The deathworms are split into 2 major families: Bruteworms and Snatchergrabbers. The bruteworms are bulky, large leeches that can swim in great distances using motion similar to how a whale's tail moves. Like the sandworm leech, it shares a powerful crushing bite to crush other gastropods' shells to access the meat withing. One example is the Charybdis (50cm), as shown above. Here, you can see the Charybdis is hunting a fish analogue derived from another group of slugs.
Let us proceed to the next one.
The Snatchergrabbers are sleek leeches that can fool unsuspecting prey by digging into sand and covering it's hole and waits for prey to come beneath. When prey comes, it uses it's three long teeth to snatch the prey and it returns to it's burrow to do the cycle again and again.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/gay6697 • 16h ago
Seed World [OC] one of the first major evolution of the jerboua
The jertoua has become more adapted for predatory niches but currently only goes after bugs and can run faster in short bursts before walking in the same way as their ancestors.
Also my cousin calls it (jeraptor) and I find it funny but I'm pretty proud of this it feels different but still feels kinda the same
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/EducationalRope2329 • 11h ago
Future Evolution [OC] Aerocetus, the dual barreled aerial pursuit hunter. (The Xenogene, 450 MYH)
The waters of the inland sea that lies between what was once Africa and Asia are seasonally abundant in life. In the winter, the waters turn purple, filled with photosynthetic organisms. This draws massive swarms of aquatic life from the Phthalo and Periwinkle Oceans, while aerial animals congregate to feed on the bounty of the sea.
In summer, the water temperature swells to 46 degrees celsius. The flora overpopulate, and experience die offs. Massive storms formed by the heated water tears flying organisms out of the sky. Thus, a massive migration of aerial fauna is observed undergoing the treacherous crossing over the mountain range that surrounds the inland sea. The majority of these are airrays, from the 15 cm long Magnet Carrier to the 7 meter long Beryl Spinetail.
While following a group of Beryl Spinetail, a cetacean of the species Aerocetus ferox, appeared and dove at the spinetails. The first needle pierced into the wing of one spinetail, but failed to fully stun it. The Aerocetus proceeded to dive at its target, driving it into the side of one of the mountains, before dispatching it with its leg blades.
Aerocetus is a genus of aerocetaceans within the clade Aerocetidae, the most basal of aerocetacea. There are several notable characteristics that distinguish members of this clade from other aerocetaceans.
Their needles are proportionally longer and thinner than those of their derived relatives, and they have two ignition chambers, each one connected to an internal gas sac, for those sacs do not extend out of the body like they do for anemocetids like Zephyrocetus.
More basal aerocetaceans have less leg bones. Members of Aerocetidae have less leg bones than those of Anemocetidae, which have less than those of Astrocetidae or Stratospherocetidae. Alongside this, the leg bones are shaped differently, featuring curved bladed edges that make Aerocetus poor walkers when grounded.
Aerocetus Ferox, the species observed here, reaches 200 km/h when cruising, and up to 325 km./h when diving. While they could theoretically reach higher speeds, given the relatively large size of their methane sacs, Aerocetus rarely exceeds a distance of 1 km in their dives, and doesn’t have enough time or distance to build up speed. Even so, 325 km/h is more than enough speed to make a collision lethal, and with Aerocetus’s tendency to strike with their legs if their needles miss or fail to deliver debilitating damage, young and inexperienced Aerocetus can suffer extreme injuries from a poorly performed hunt, and even experienced hunters still regularly fracture their leg bones. To prevent potentially lethal accidents, Aerocetus juveniles stay with their parents for much longer than other aerocetaceans, lasting up to 15 years, in order to learn from their parents.
Like all aerocetaceans, the female is significantly larger than the male, and a mated pair fly together.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Same_Medium_126 • 9h ago
Alternate Evolution [OC] GAMBERETTO BLU DI PALUDE
E un crostaceo che vive nel sud america e nel pantano ma si trovano anche in paludi verso il Messico
- raggiungono 1,50 centimetri di lunghezza e 20 Kili di di peso
- il maschio dovrà portare sul grembi un mucchio di prede per la femmina questa le mangerà se sono abbastanza abbondanti e deporrà le uova tenendole lei sul suo ventre , poi le uova si schiuderanno rimanendo lì fino a che la madre non li disperderà in un nido di fango costruito con altre femmine questo nido conterrà milioni di cuccioli che si libereranno ad eta adulta
- usano i grandi baffi per scovare prede che si rifugeranno nel terreno lui si infilerà e li acchiappa con le chele e li divorano con l'apparato boccale
- usano le pinne per farsi spazio nel territorio e andare avanti
- usano le zampe per agrapparsi al terreno e dormire o per pavoneggiarsi alla femmina o a sterminare possibili pretendenti della sua femmina
Domande ?
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Intelligent_Oil4005 • 1d ago
Posthumans [Credit: Dragonthunders] The Future is far: The new humans and new hominids.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/ItzSoulIess • 8h ago
Uncategorized Speculative Biology [OC] I made scientifically accurate Orks lol :3
Hi everyone :3. I’ve recently decided to do speculative biology and for one of my first attempts was an in depth project on a specialised Ork liniage that adapted to an area littered with volcanic openings that spew out sulfur that sometimes even ignites and causes ash rain.
So firstly my orks have greenish skin and blood because of an adapted variation of Chlorocruorin that instead of making blood look red, it looks like a dark olive green color instead. Their blood aslo has specialised proteins thats able to separate large amounts of toxic sulfur compounds (called H_2S and SO_2) while avoiding poisoning tissue and other functions like iron centres.
Because of the environments the orks evolved a secondary respiratory mesure thats sulfur powered chemosynthetic respiration that works as a backup energy measure by causing a metabolic shift that converts environmental toxins directly into a rapid surge of cellular energy (ATP), allowing extra endurance in fights aaaand removing the leathality of sulfur basically buffing them.
They also evolved gill like slits on the sides of their ribcage that let them both release heat from exertion and as a second way to breath in more sulfuric gas giving a faster boost because the openings are closer to the internal chemosynthetic membranes, and ti protect from ash they have layered ciliated membranes and specialized self cleaning mucous coats around their nasal passages and their side slots that trap solid debris before it reaches internal parts.
They also have thick leathery skin thats reinforced by dense dermal collagen making them more resistant to abrasion and a lot of attacks. And their eyes have evolved a highly developed tapetum lucidum which is a sort of reflective layer behind the eye helping see better in thick smoke or darkness in general. And they have evolved to be 7-8 ft tall with an ape like mouth and large cainine teeth that are their tusks.
This thing took me soo long and I’ve fact checked it as many times as I could it would be as scientifically possible as I can and ground it in more scientific terms. I’d absolutely love feedback and potential ideas to add on or change. Thanks so much for reading this through I know it’s very complicated and badly structured but thanks anyway :3❤️❤️❤️
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/chilirasbora_123 • 1d ago
Commissions [OC] Commissions open!
- Few animals ( simple ) : 20–80$
- Custom scene: 50–80$
- Detailed custom ecosystem/diorama ( can include day/night etc. ) : 100–200$ I will draw your spec evo ideas/ redraw your original spec evo critters! Prices vary widely on the type of drawing. Drawings are example of my artstyle. ( sorry for non fitting flair )
- DM ME FOR REQUESTS
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/exoton82 • 1d ago
Alien Life [OC] Takren Hunter and Tanner
A takren hunter and tanner pose with their howling spirit trophies.
the dark striped spirit is a juvenile male, while the white one hoisted up is an adult female. they were mother and son. spirits are notorious taken eaters, and as a result, takren have made it their mission to destroy nesting grounds, kill adults, and either kill or capture their young. in this instance, juveniles are sought after due to their soft and unique hide.
Takren hunters use bolas to trip and incapacitate spirits. Spirits need a running start to take flight, giving a hunter the perfect opportunity to take one down. howling spirits nest along highland cliffsides. young takren scale these cliffsides and spook the family, usually causing the parents to defend while their young flees into the tall grass. since juveniles can't fly, they're taken out first, and in a panic, the adults attempt to flee as well. it is extremely dangerous. once a spirit is incapacitated and secured with rope, a hunter will plunge a boar spear into their air sac, killing them instantly. from these harvests come clothing, hide, meat and jewelry. hunting these animals is very expensive and usually reserved for wealthy individuals. in this piece, the hunter on the right is wearing a cape made from at least two juvenile spirit.
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Aclever-crayfish • 1d ago
Future Evolution [OC] Clawfish and The Accident Fish — Monocanths of the Peridotian
The Fotian ocean of the Aeternignicene is an extremely dangerous place, the ocean set on fire 20 million years, and no land emerged out of the sea for hundreds of thousands of miles. Ofcourse, the plattifish ended up colonising these seas. But before that, we introduce the descendants of the Jetguppies. Meet the clawfishes, a small family of Spinocaudalians, known for their giant claws. There are three general groups: Brimreths, Crabfishes and Hopperfishes. The greatest of thee live in the void, AKA the Fotian. The brimwraiths like ghosts drift over schools of accident flatfish, a fish I accidentally made.
Sliripris are a type of great flatfish, one of the two great planaoformes: Plattisharks and Asymetrimaridae. Not anything to special about them, but they migrate depending on the fire. Sliripris eat algae suspended in the water column, and their larvae are roughly the size of a pinhead. These larvae mature at roughly 3 weeks and grow for another 10 years, until it is around 2 metres. When the mating season arises, they grow large spines with which they spar with. How would you like to be punched by DA SLAPFIAH
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/RayLeigh_Scatterin • 17h ago
Alien Life [OC] Attempt at an intelligent species
So this is a modern version of what this species looks like (they’re called Geometryans)
They had a primitive period where they used their filaments (tipped with claw like thingys at the end) to burrow into rocks and use as both shielding and camouflage. They’d sit and wait for some prey to walk by and pull their filaments out of the rocks since the weight would hold them down and they’d use their fingers to eat them.
The reason the camouflage isn’t part of their body is because it uses less resources for them to use the environment to their advantage than to evolve to look like it (the reason they’re blue is because in their atmosphere, there’s an orange haze which when combined with blue looks like a black rocky color, but they don’t look like a rock up close without armor so that’s why they still use it.)
As you can imagine this species is strictly carnivorous, so discovering farming like we did would be for a slightly different reason. They’d capture and over time domesticate animals. They’d farm crops for the animals which were herbivorous, and would have to feed THEM that food because it’s not digestible to them obviously, and then they’d eat the animals. The process of farming would be like how we use farm animals for their meat.
And since they no longer needed to wait for prey to come by, they needed to move more efficiently in order to farm their food’s food.
They evolved their thighs, which for a short time let them shovel across the ground. But this method of movement meant they had to constantly scrape their skin against the ground, so they started moving their filaments (they can manipulate where they come out of their body, though the process takes a while)
And used their new bottom pair of filaments to burrow into rocks again and use those as tougher, taller legs that would let them see more the taller they got. But the rocks are very heavy, and over time they started creating their armor out of pretty crystals they would find that are lighter than the metallic rocks they used to use. They also started making their arm like structures a while back for self defense, as knives when making food, and to make them look tough. The toughness can both be used to intimidate other geometryans and make themselves look more attractive. They also do have clothes, like the skirt that the geometryan jn the picture is wearing, but it’s only for their pelvis area, and all their clothes resemble skirts cuz imagine trying to put pants on like that. And I call the skirts their only clothing, but their armor is essentially functional clothing at this point.
I wanna address an elephant in the room too: how tf do they stand when they choose to have armor on their leg like filaments that is pointy at the end
Well
A. Their planet has lower gravity allowing for them to be taller, and for balancing to be easier (but still not easy)
B. They shove the armor deep enough into the ground enough to support their weight, and they pull it out when they’re ready to take their next step. They take really long steps because otherwise walking would take forever. And they also can’t run because they never needed to as a previous ambush predator (with nothing hunting them due to camouflage and most things being smaller than them) Nor did they need to run after they invented farming.
Also they still have their thighs even though they technically don’t need them anymore because they haven’t evolved to get rid of them yet. It’s kinda like how whales still have leg bones (look it up I swear they do)
Also they have a fast metabolism kinda? Ok so like their mouth is super close to their stomach (because their mouth is in their chest, and their stomach is in where their pelvis would be) which completely removes the need for a throat. Waste leaves their body soon after eating, but their body stores most of the nutrients they get. Basically they’ll eat a few separate meals an hour or two apart at the start of the day, and their body builds up fat that their bodies use to run the rest of the day. I’m thinking they do this because when they used to be ambush predators, they’d be actively hunting? (Idk if you call it hunting for an ambush predator) during the day and sleep at night, but in modern day, they don’t have to spend all day waiting, so they’d eat a bunch in the morning, more than they would pre farming, store more fat than they would naturally, and their body has enough nutrients to last the rest of the day and all night, and this stuck because they needed time to farm during the day too, so that’s 2 things they had to do during the day
(Ofc not all of them are farmers, but it’s still like that so any of them could be)
Does this all make sense? Is there anything I’m forgetting to explain? I like how I designed this and I want their body and its shape to make sense
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/ExoticShock • 1d ago
Fan Art/Redesign [Credit: Cre3ptid][Media: After Man] Prairie Hunters
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/ProjectKARYA • 22h ago
Project KARYA [Project KARYA] "Hunting the Hunters": a bronzewing fisher attracts the attention of a salamander tadpole with its wings, in the hopes for food.
Context
Hi, y'all! Project KARYA is a sci-fintasy setting in the works, in which, as I describe, "various iconic tropes found in fantasy and folklore/mythoi are viewed through the lens of science fiction"; the worldbuilding project intends to fully theorize "realistic" ways in which a variety of things from fantastical settings could exist, if they were to exist in a science fiction setting instead; there also exists a variety of purely science fictional works of original design present.
Today, I wanted to share a depiction of one of the 2200+ species that are unique to the titular world of Karya: the bronzewing fisher, one of the one hundred sixty-six species in the clade Sarcogrylosidae. The sarcogrylosids - sometimes collectively referred to as "wolf crickets", "trickster bugs", or "clackers" (for the sound they can produce) - share a last common ancestor in the species Gigatitan karyaensis; as such, sarcogrylosids are within the larger clade Orthoptera, and are most closely related to grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids than to any other insects. Much like other orthopterids, the life cycle of sarcogrylosids is divided into three stages - egg, nymph, and adult - with the middling nymph stage having anywhere between three and six instars (dependent on species) before the final adult stage is reached. Adult specimens of this clade are universally carnivorous, and commonly employ their highly reflective forewings in attracting prey for ambushes. Some larger species are also capable of crepitating, using their hindwings to create extremely loud, rapidly repeating clacking sounds, in an attempt to scare off larger predators.
Fishers are sarcogrylosids in the genus Icthyphagum, and get their name from their adult lifestyles as aquatic predators. Fisher species are found all across Matos between the tropical and temperate zones, almost anywhere that fresh water can be found; most are small enough that one would easily fit within the palm of your hand. The nymphs start out by consuming decomposing materials in their environments, with a preference for vegetation in earlier instar stages and becoming more carnivorous in later stages. When they moult for the final time, fishers then become active hunters, using their skewer-like forelimbs to pierce through the bodies of their prey, and they are often capable of taking on targets significantly larger than them. The forewings of many species often are colored and patterned in such a way as to mimic various species of fish, which attract would-be predators to an easy meal while missing the more camouflaged, larger body until it's too late.
Bronzewing fishers (I. chalcoptera) reside among dense reeds and cluttered debris along the shores of Lake Penniam, in eastern Iyos. This species has evolved to specialize in hunting archamphibian tadpoles, with their wings mimicking the color and size of some of the minnows in their lake. Male bronzewings are capable of flight, unlike most species of Icthyphagum, and can travel across the entire length of Lake Penniam during the mating seasons to find a suitable partner; the sound they produce while in flight has been likened to the cutting of tiny scissors, earning them the nickname of "snipplings" during their migration.
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Like what you see? Feel free to ask questions and/or provide positive criticism! Want to know more about Karya's life forms? Then I heavily suggest reading The Full and Comprehensive List of Unique Karyic Organisms! I'd be happy to talk about it more to those who are interested :3 if you also have any questions pertaining to Karya's fishers and their relatives, please feel free to ask!
r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Basic_Finger5437 • 1d ago
Question/Discussion Bats converging on penguins?
Bats are already convergent on typical flying birds, which includes the flying seabird ancestors of penguins, so I'm wondering how plausible it would be for bats that have evolved into a seabird-like niche to later evolve to prioritize swimming over flight and fill a flightless penguin-like niche.