u/ciplip_art

This Is massive!!! I found it this afternoon, it's called cossus cossus and it's typical on Europe!🐛✨🔥

In the far future, a new clade of caterpillars that occupies the ambush predator niche appears:

They transformed their anal limbs on a kind of hooks that latch on a branch and their jaws adapted to retain and crush their prey.

They also developed bony rings that developed from minerals obtained from prey, serving to support that monumental mass.

For breathing, they developed a breathing system using many small lungs spread inside each ring of its body.

- The accordion movement: The caterpillar has no nose. It squeezes and stretches like an accordion, using its bony rings to pump air in and out of the lungs.

- Red blood: The air goes into a special blood (red like ours) that quickly carries oxygen to the muscles.

The largest species (on the illustration) can reach 3 meters of lenght and and impressive 450 or 650 damn kilograms of mass!!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?😉🐛

I imagine it like a predator of the forest, that occupies the same ecological niche of a tiger!😁

The fossil of one species of this clade of acquatic mammals was found in USA 1 month ago

Original YouTube video

I think this animal, dating back 30 million years based on the fossil found one month ago, looked like this. I imagined it as an arboreal predator that pounces on its prey, overwhelming them, and I also think there is a clade of it that has a skin 'tent' like a flying squirrel!

I had very much fun for making this reconstruction of a rabbit!😁✌️

YouTube video of the timelapse: https://youtube.com/shorts/7dBARlpF3i0?si=oIahhWU2ofzBSK0S

This is my new avatar!! I will especially use it on my YouTube Channel for explain things.

what do you think about it?

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This is my first paleoart/speculative dinosaur ever! I really like how it came out, Enjoy It!!! :D

EVOLUTIONARY LINEAGE AND TAXONOMY

Not a True Theropod: Arctovenator morrisonensis is classified not as a true member of the Theropoda clade, but as a highly derived sister taxon (extending from basal Averostra or early Ornithoscelida).

Skeletal Plasticity: This evolutionary divergence granted the lineage the anatomical flexibility needed to bypass the strict bipedal constraints that locked true theropods into two-legged locomotion. This allowed Arctovenator to successfully re-evolve an obligate quadrupedal stance to support its monumental mass.

ANATOMY AND BIOMECHANICS

Colossal Proportions & Posture: Reaching an extraordinary 25 meters in length, 10 meters in back height, and weighing a monumental 40 tons. Its dense 2.5:1 length-to-height ratio creates an exceptionally compact, robust, and low-slung build optimized for transferring immense physical forces.

Locomotor Asymmetry: Unlike mammalian megafauna, the limbs are not vertical or columnar. Instead, they maintain a flexed, muscular, reptilian angle, keeping the heavy body crouched close to the ground during stalking.

The Spring and the Anchor: The hindlimbs are strictly digitigrade, functioning as a hydraulic "engine" that stores massive elastic energy in the toe tendons. Conversely, the forelimbs are plantigrade, placing the entire sole on the ground to anchor the center of gravity and provide an unshakeable platform. The forelimbs feature colossal, curved claws with deep longitudinal grooves (housing keratin ridges and blood vessels) that act as emergency brakes in the dirt and weapons to tear through thick hides.

Craniofacial Architecture & Weaponry: The 3.5-meter skull is built like a massive battering ram. It is topped by a heavily thickened, rugged supraorbital crest (brow ridge) covered in hard keratin, which acts as a shock deflector to protect the relatively small, deep-set eyes during frontal collisions. The nostrils are colossal (exceeding the size of the eye socketsand) are positioned high and backward on the snout, functioning both as a breathing snorkel to intake massive volumes of air before charging and as a long-range olfactory apparatus.

ECOLOGY, JAW MECHANICS AND HUNTING STRATEGY

Metabolic Niche: Occupying an ecological niche highly analogous to a modern grizzly bear but on a titanic scale, Arctovenator is a pure ambush predator relying on a super-slow metabolism (bradymetabolism). To conserve energy, the animal spends days or weeks lying completely motionless on the ground.

The Gape & Kinetic Ambush: When a target sauropod (such as Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus) steps into range, the predator utilizes the explosive spring of its digitigrade hindlimbs to launch a 25 km/h charge. It rushes the prey with its massive jaws wide open at an angle exceeding 100 degrees. This extreme gape is a crucial biomechanical adaptation: it clears the animal's field of view and prevents its own teeth from snapping during the initial millisecond of contact, positioning the skull for maximum mechanical leverage.

Skeletal Collapse via Impact-Bite: The hunting strategy relies on a devastating two-phase destructive force. First, the kinetic energy of the 40-ton mass slamming into the sauropod instantly destabilizes the prey's balance and causes initial compression shock. A split second after the impact, utilizing the massive forward momentum, the jaws snap shut like a hydraulic press. The 35-cm thick-rooted teeth act as massive wedges driven directly into the sauropod's rib cage or spine, causing immediate, catastrophic structural collapse of the prey's skeletal framework.

Immobilization & Feeding: Immediately following the crushing bite, the predator uses its massive, grooved foreclaws to surgically sever the prey's leg ligaments and tendons, permanently anchoring the giant herbivore to the ground. Due to its size, Arctovenator is a highly selective feeder. Its immense bite pressure is used to peel back the shattered ribs solely to consume fat-rich internal organs (heart, liver, viscera). It then abandons the carcass, leaving tons of untouched muscle meat for sympatric commensal scavengers like Allosaurus and Torvosaurus.

BEHAVIOR, CAMOUFLAGE AND RITUAL COMBAT

Solitary and highly territorial, each individual claims a vast hunting ground. Because their durophagous bites would cause mutual fatalities, rivals settle territorial disputes through calculated, non-lethal ritual combat. Utilizing the stability provided by their plantigrade forelimbs and the protection of their reinforced brow ridges, the two titans lock heads and engage in brutal head-butting matches. They push and strike each other until one yields from sheer exhaustion and retreats.

Thermoregulation: The body is completely devoid of plumage or fuzzy filaments to prevent thermal collapse caused by extreme gigantism. The skin is entirely scaly and leathery, characterized by deep, loose skin folds under the throat (the dewlap). This loose skin becomes taut when the mouth opens, functioning both as a radiator to dissipate body heat and as an elastic shield against defensive kicks. Additionally, a row of flexible cutaneous keratin cones and iguana-like crests runs along the spine, acting as thermal radiators to release high internal temperatures into the air.

Cryptic Camouflage: The animal's dull color pattern is perfectly integrated with the dry brushwood, savanna, and arid grasslands of the Morrison Formation. When crouching motionless on the ground, its compact morphology allows it to appear visually indistinguishable from a rocky hill or a fallen log, completely deceiving the vision of giant sauropods.

110 MY since LUCA

GENERAL OVERVIEW

During the Early Sulfurian Epoch, the oceans of Pontus are undergoing a monumental planetary transformation. As primitive platiforms consumes dissolved compounds and releases oxygen, the primordial green-yellow waters are gradually clearing into a pristine, crystalline blue. Floating within the mid-water column of this pelagic environment are the largest macroscopic structures of this era: the colonies of the sessile Cycloplatiformia clade.

ANATOMY

Individual adults of the species belonging to this clade develop as triangles, reaching lengths between 20 and 80 centimeters depending on the species. Evolutionarily, these organisms are still entirely composed of the ancestral, fragile gelatinous tissue. Lacking any mineralized shell or rigid internal skeleton, a solitary individual would easily collapse, bend, or be torn apart by underwater currents. To overcome this severe structural limitation, the species within this clade have evolved a profound survival mechanism: permanent geometric fusion.

TACTILE GEOMETRY AND THE TESSELLATION

These organisms rely strictly on primitive chemotaxis and tactile feedback. As they drift passively, their margins eventually collide. The sides of each triangle are covered in millions of microscopic, interlocking short cilia. When two compatible adults touch, these structures mesh together like an organic Velcro, forming an unbreakable molecular bond. The individuals cannot separate voluntarily. If their triangular angles align perfectly, they successfully lock into a rigid, segmented circular platform. This seamless interlocking allows the colony to share vital nutrients and gas through cytoplasmic bridges. If a wandering adult attempts to latch onto a different species or if the angles do not align, the circle fails to close. The resulting mechanical stress triggers localized chemical necrosis, forcing the faulty joint to wither and snap off, casting the incompatible partner back into the current.

HYDRODYNAMIC STABILIZATION

Living in the deep pelagic zone requires constant adaptation to the gravitational pull of Pontus' two moons. The dual-moon system creates highly chaotic underwater tidal forces and triggers violent, high-pressure thermal geysers from the seabed. To prevent the flexible gelatinous colonies from flipping or being blown upward into the low-pressure surface zones, where the decompression would cause their hydrostatic bodies to rupture, the organisms utilize an active stabilization system. The elongated, filamentous cilia located at the outer lower angles of each module beat in perfect metachronal synchronization. This synchronized motion acts as a biological gyroscope, generating continuous localized water thrust that keeps the massive yellow platforms perfectly leveled and anchored over the warm, sulfur-rich thermal vents.

I really hope you like it!!