Can’t draw so here’s the sculpture/figure of my creature, I included the non painted version too.

I made her mainly to fit into the Godzilla universe, if that helps at all… I have been mostly relating her to the mushussu of Mesopotamian myth, but I have been told that her concept is a bit like the aquatic ancestors of scorpions, Eurypterids.

I’m mainly curious about how her mouth would evolve, you are free to tweak her so she’ll work better if that’s necessary… I think I still have the scorpion legs

I named her Cheery

artist

Ok so from the photo you can probably tell it had 3 legs the front two are used for simple movement while the back leg is stiff and used for balance while it's mouth is on its underside something I haven't drawn is it's tongue like tentacles while it had 3 eyes. So it lives in the more deeper area less light 3 eyes work better for seeing in the dark they eat dead life forms that sink to the bottom they have an extremely slow matbolism only needing to eat at least once a week. But I need help trying to come up with idea for possible evolution and niches it could go into if anyone could help it would be lovely

It’s for an Titan AE AU of mine that’s been in my head for a while but now I’m FINALLY putting it to paper! I love the movie to death and Preed is my favorite character so I figured I’d put the most effort into his species: the Akrennians (shown w/ and w/o clothing). There’s more lore to them but I have to get it all organized, as well as designs for Mantrins and Grepoans. But I hope yall like this!

Description
-Discovery and natural history:

For hundreds of years, Europe and Western Asia were filled with myths of giant, two winged, fire breathing reptilian creatures. Dragons were always part of the collective imagination of many cultures, particularly those originating in the Mediterranean basin. Over time, these tales and legends eventually vanished or became nothing more than stories. It was not until 1861 that the carcass of a 3 meter long organism with a reptilian appearance and two large sails on the sides of its body was discovered in the Balkan Republic, in what is now modern day Croatia. For several years, it was believed that this unidentified species was the remains of some large mammal that had been scavenged by a predator or that it exhibited a malformation on the sides of its body, given that its advanced state of decomposition made precise identification extremely difficult. In 1873, an adult specimen of D. mediterraneus, known today as the Mediterranean dragon, was discovered in northern Italy, an event that quickly became global news for zoologists and biologists worldwide. This specimen was named Fiammeta, and its skeletal remains are still preserved in the Museo Civico di Zoologia in Rome. Following the discovery of this species, additional dragons were discovered in other parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and even in the Amazon, establishing that they belong to a subfamily containing 21 genera and 57 species with a nearly global distribution. Originally classified as a family closely related to chameleons, it was determined in 1933, seven years after the formal description of Coelurosauravus elivensis, that these reptiles were actually avicephalans belonging to the family Weigeltisauridae, forming their own subfamily, the Epipleotselinidae. This group of diapsids is characterized by the presence of pseudogastralia, bones relatively similar to the gastralia found in many other reptiles such as crocodilians, which provide enhanced muscle attachment for their wings and structural protection for their abdomen. Fossil studies have demonstrated that this group survived through the Mesozoic, adapting to tropical environments, primarily islands. By the Cretaceous period, the group was already widely distributed across present day Europe, Asia, and North America. Following the Cretaceous Paleogene extinction event, only the Asian species survived, taking refuge mainly in coastal areas or islands. This is how they spread throughout the entire Indian Ocean, where the majority of species are concentrated, later expanding into the Pacific around 44 million years ago, interior Asia 23 million years ago, and finally reaching Europe approximately 17 million years ago, where the tribe Megalodraconi eventually emerged, to which all giant dragons belong.

-Ecology of D. mediterraneus:

Dispinosuchus mediterraneus, also known as the Mediterranean dragon or Common European dragon, is the most widely recognized and distributed species among the giant dragons. They range from the Iberian Peninsula through France, Switzerland, Italy, and most of the Balkans, where they inhabit temperate forests or mountainous regions with abundant vegetation. The primary characteristic of this species is that, like other giant dragons, females lose the ability to fly upon reaching adulthood. During their youth, offspring remain with their mother, typically in a cave or an abandoned burrow stolen from another animal. Here, the juveniles depend entirely on their mother, who brings them food remains, usually hunted prey, as the young are not yet adapted to feed on carrion. Once they grow large enough, males begin living in trees, becoming major raptorial predators of rodents, small birds, and occasionally insects, while females transition to a terrestrial lifestyle, as their bodies become too heavy to climb. Females hunt medium sized prey, such as rabbits, wild boar piglets, fawns, large birds, or scavenge carrion, which they carry back to their lair to feed, leaving remains like bones to mark their territory and signal to other females that the area is occupied. Nevertheless, territorial disputes occasionally occur between them, during which both females raise their wing membranes to intimidate each other. If neither backs down, a physical fight ensues, which can last for hours and often ends fatally for one of the individuals. In females, the wings serve not only for mutual intimidation, but also to make them appear larger to competitors such as bears or wolves, and to increase surface area to absorb heat during the coldest winter days. Social interaction between males and females is virtually non existent outside of courtship, and interactions among females are rare and highly aggressive due to their intense territoriality. However, males not only exhibit an extensive social life, but entire communities of them have been observed living together. These male groups are more common in areas with abundant resources that result in low competition. They gather primarily to protect each other from predators and engage in mutual grooming, though several studies have shown that they can form homosexual pair bonds. Cases have been documented of male pairs caring for lost or rejected offspring as if they were their own. The origin of these behaviors in male Mediterranean dragons remains an unsolved mystery. Nevertheless, the prevailing theory suggests that, like other dragons, these animals are monogamous and highly social by nature, maintaining lifelong pair bonds, leading researchers to believe that the lack of interaction between males and females has redirected these social behaviors exclusively among males.

Here is the life cycle for my hypothetical Selaginella (a lycophyte relative) descendant plants here. It is almost the exact same as real world Selaginella plants. Spores, which will give rise to the gametophyte generation develop in pea-like pods at the ends of leaves that are derived from the fusion of leaves of the ancestral strobulus. But unlike ferns and lycophytes, which produces spores that give rise to gametophyte plants that are able to produce both eggs and sperm, Selagionella exhibits something called heterospory. This means it produces two different kinds of spores: megaspores, which give rise to a Megagametophyte, a gametophyte that only produces egg cells, and microspores which give rise to a Microgametophyte, a gametophyte which only produce sperm cells. The gametophyte generation of Lycophytes and their relatives such as Selaginella remains understudied; they are cryptic and non-photosynthetic, and grow in close association with mycorrhizal fungus (it is unknown whenever this is mutualistic or parasitic), meaning it is difficult to cultivate them. For the Microgametophyte, the sperm will develop inside the microspore casing, and then are released when conditions are moist, such as when there is dew or after rain, and the sperm will then swim to receptive Megagametophyte. The larger Megagametophyte also develops mostly inside the megaspore casing, and when it is mature, the casing will split open at the top and the Megagametophyte produces rhizoids to absorb nutrients from the soil and the Archegonium will be receptive to fertillization. After ferzillization, an embryo will sprout from the gametophte to produce a new Sporophyte generation.

the second picture is just an alternative leaf shape

1. Any suggestions on an evolution path? It could be images or a description of how they could have evolved. Maybe some problems with existing steps?

2. Any suggestions on names? They're clades, not proper names. And I'm bad with names.

While I'm drawing, hope someone will suggest something interesting

I’ve seen this concept a few times in anime/manga (this example in particular is reiwa no Dara-san, I haven’t read/watched this series and am just using this character as an example since she was the first I found with a similar concept to what I’d been tossing designs around for), likely inspired in part by the kuchisake-onna, and I always thought it would be interesting to make a demon species that has a similar trait for some original fiction I’ve been working on. Looking mostly to make a design where the bulk of the mouth stays closed unless necessary for eating/biting/etc while only the front section opens for general things like normal talking. Obviously anime takes a lot of stylistic liberties so I can’t use examples like this one to figure out how the structure of the skull and jaw would work for this sort of species design. I like the element of a species that looks human-adjacent from afar but can reveal more xeno anatomical features in different situations. Hoping this is the right sub for this, but I understand if this is the wrong place since I genuinely don’t know if this is even feasible for realistic character design at all. Since it’s a fantasy setting I could just say they use magic to transform but that isn’t as interesting to me personally.

Across the abyssal plains and in deep trenches Quilna have reported lights in the endless darkness. These lights usually coincided with the death of a large creature. Called Yichu-nuk'ixa or "the lights that lead the dead" they were seen as a type of Psychopomp or guardian of the afterlife.

In reality the spike squids are massive bioluminescent scavengers that live in the deep water regions of Yuchic. They have relatively small mouths for an animal their size so they use the scissor like claws on the tip of their 6 main tentacles to disassemble large corpses. The bioluminescent spots on their bodies are used for communication and asserting dominance.

While similar in appearance to Earth Cephalopods they are actually closer to crustaceans than mollusks. Spike squids are heavily armored with boney plates on their tentacles, large boney spikes connected to the muscle tissue and an internal shell covering their vital organs.

Spike squids are found below 540 meters to 2000 meters in depth they rarely approach the bottom and prefer to feed while a carcass is still drifting down. The theory is that they have trouble navigating around solid surfaces at their size. Others believe they are simply afraid of something on the bottom.

In Tlaloc’s primitive oceans, being weird isn’t just a way of life. It’s the way to succeed. Shells, spikes and all sorts of sharp edges are abundant in these waters.

Being soft and squishy sounds like a death sentence then.

In the distance, a blot of ocean gets darker. Most creatures can hardly tell between yellow and blue though, and this blob is nothing more than a feature their eyesight is too poor to notice.

Its tendrils spread out, tiny light sensitive clusters know when to pull up and close in on moving shadows. These tubes slither across the sea floor, stretching upwards of 20x their original length, being little more than elastic sleeves over basic sea water.

One minute, you’re sucking on sea snow. The next, a 9 inch blade is adding your blood cells to the adrift debris.

Thundershivs are neither ferocious nor intimidating. In fact, you’ll probably never see one.

One reason is that they are almost entirely translucent, but the more prevalent reason is that they hunt from as far away as they possibly can.

This are heavy, slow predators that have the agility of a hot air balloon. It’s no secret why they hunt as they do.

This pentaradial medusiod-squids grow rather large compared to most things of their era. Maybe it’s because they need the excess range, or maybe it’s because one bad storm and smaller life gets shredded against the towering zoids that form biological metroplexes.

Thundershivs don’t have to deal with most of that though. That’s the benefit of turning predation into a remote career.

Most competitors know enough to leave them alone. Bright dazzling displays scare off brutish interceptors but if that doesn’t work, these same spears they use as weapons can just as easily become tools of defence. A paralytic toxin allows them to introduce any of their casualties to the screeching demise of a 5 pronged hydraulic beak.

On this low-gravity garden world, amid the flourishing native flora and fauna, lie the remnants of a civilization that once carved its own genetic code into the life around it. Overgrown cities and strange beasts now stretch across the landscape, hinting at the dominant species that once sowed themselves into the land.

This planet was once host to a species of parasites with the ability to alter their hosts into whatever form they saw fit. Everything from their number of limbs, to the way they saw, heard, and moved, to the host they chose to inhabit in the first place was variable.

With complete control over the genetic makeup of their hosts, each individual could shape themselves around whatever needs, interests, or experiences they wanted to pursue. One could develop senses another would never experiences, another might percieve parts of the world that others were biologically incapable of sensing at all. They didn't just see the world differently. They experienced different worlds.

Far from creating a system of social isolation, the species flourished through cooperation, each at peace within themselves while providing what help they could to the unified whole.

I've had a ton of fun with the lore for this planet and working on the designs for some of the members of the parasite species. Each of the designs is speculative since the species is long extinct but I wanted them to serve as examples to show how variable each member of the species could be. There are a few in the bouquet that Ash holds in the abstract page. These are all from the comic series I've been working on: 100 Planets. I finally just finished this chapter and put it up.

Order: | Drasilortia |

Family: | Axirodominidae | Genus/Species: Axirodominus Chichoromus

Standing an imposing 11 to 15 feet tall and weighing a massive 6,000 pounds, Axirodominus Chichoromus reigns as the undisputed monarch of high-energy coastal zones and rugged river canyons. While sharing the overarching order Drasilortia with the low-slung, inland swamp-dwelling Drasilortidae family, Axirodominus represents a completely separate evolutionary branch. It has entirely transcended any prehistoric ancestry to become a highly specialized, multi-ton powerhouse engineered for the crashing surf of South America and isolated island sanctuaries like the Galápagos.

The species displays extreme sexual dimorphism, the smaller, less hefty muscled females utilize a muted palette of earthy golds and emerald-blue sails for nesting camouflage, while the larger, stronger males boast a fiery red display crest, a vibrant yellow-green throat pouch for acoustic signaling, and an iridescent teal-to-ocean-blue sail to assert dominance over coastal territories.Despite its titanic bulk, Axirodominus possesses terrifying land agility, clocking explosive ambush speeds between 12 and 15 miles per hour.

Its sprawling, lizard-like skeletal posture acts as a high-performance kinetic suspension system, allowing its heavily padded joints and cartilage to absorb immense force. It hunts with reckless ferocity, this coastal predator relies on raw physical trauma rather than a sustained, suffocating crushing grip. Once its rugged, blade-like teeth bite into a target, its massive neck muscles violently wrench its head backward, tearing off massive chunks of skin, hide, and flesh with every single bite. This explosive pull-back bite mechanism leaves cavernous, catastrophic wounds, causing even large prey items to rapidly bleed out and collapse from systemic shock within moments. By conquering the treacherous, cliff-lined environments where land meets open water, Axirodominus chichoromus remains safely isolated from mainland resource competition, cementing its status as the galapagos's scariest natural apex predator.

The salamanderfish is famous for being one of very few fish with a bendable neck, and also for being the only member ever known in its entire order.
I thought that would be a great base for the weird fish-tetrapod mix that is the piranhadon from Peter Jackson’s 2005 King Kong.
As always you can view entries like these sooner if you visit the Radiocene website or my Twitter account @miocaenus.

Even in the Bleakest of Landscapes...

By the Miocene, Antarctica has almost completely frozen over. Glaciers cover nearly the entire continent, a rapid process that came too quickly for most species to adapt. There are no more caudavians (well, except for one completely aquatic species) here and the many crocodilian species that once inhabited this land are no longer anywhere to be found. Hardly anything can survive in the frozen wastelands, and the lack of daylight for long parts of the year only serves to make Antarctica even less habitable. But there is one species that has survived the great freeze...

Even in the bleakest of landscapes, life finds a way to survive. Spheniscimamus is a genus of dermorhynchid mammals descended from the small burrowing species that lived on the continent before it froze. Having a high tolerance for the cold and strong affinity for swimming helped them continue on when no other species could. They could be mistaken for a penguin at first glance and in many ways their habits are nearly identical. They huddle in large groups, carry their eggs under a brood pouch above their feet, and scramble about on their bellies to get around.

Spheniscimamus also finds a surprisingly wide variety of things to eat under the ice. Its diet consists of soft-bodied undersea invertebrates such as marine worms as well as small, easily digestible fish. Social huddling and hiding under the snow if necessary helps them stay warm along with their thick fur, and their eyes are well-adapted to vision under low light. Every hurdle that has come for these animals, they have jumped through and then some, feats of evolution that serve to show just how incredible the world can be.

So far there's (from top to bottom): the Amphiptere, related to glass lizards that kept the front arms that evolved into wings, the actual dragons (who have semi-hollow bones so that they can fly better, like birds, and can breathe fire), heraldic dragons (right behind the dragon) (who in this world are basically domesticated dragons that exist alongside dogs and cats and what have you) and the drakes (who are basically monitor lizards on steroids, with horns and fire-breath capability). I've been having the consideration to add more creatures like gryphons, lindwurms, taztelwurms, wyrms and basilisks to the list. I am not an expert biologist like how lost of you are, so please go easy on me. Constructive criticism is welcome, so that I can make it better.

Ancestor vs descendent. Anatomical differences to make note of:

- retracted nares to support prehensile trunk

- Enlaged orbit

- Smaller and fewer teeth due to processed, cooked foods making up majority of diet

- Weaker, smaller mandible for similar resons

- Enlarged, rounded brain case due to larger brain

Also, this is my first time really drawing skulls like this. If anyone viewing this is knowledgable about equine skulls and has feedback, please share it and I will try to apply it to future drawings of the hyne.

Programs used: MSPaint (lineart) and GIMP (colours).

Trying to learn digital art is always better with nonsense aliens.

These aliens are griffins from a previous post which went into a lot of detail about them but showed only the original sketches of the griffins. I tried my best to follow what I wrote as best I could in terms of colouration and integument patterns.

Any suggestions and construction would be appreciated!