#extra limbs

[ssnapdragonss]

by hogara

[shoogachi]

[alphynix]

Spectember/Spectober 2025 #05: Strangels

We're continuing into Spectober with another anonymous request, this one asking for: "Hominids that evolved with 6 limbs, 2 of which are wings. Limb placement is up to you."

Living several million years in a possible future, Anomalangelus anthropogenis is a bizarre case of a six-limbed primate.

Its additional pair of upper limbs originate from a heritable form of notomelic polymelia, similar to the Developmental Duplications condition seen in our time's domestic cattle. It has a rather chimeric genome that appears to contain ancestry from several different hominid lineages, suggesting that this strange little creature actually descends from something that was originally genetically engineered.

It's a tiny dwarfed species, only about 25cm long (~10"), with a highly arboreal omnivorous loris-like lifestyle, spending most of its life clambering around in trees. Although its extra limbs can't move independently, lacking a lot of functional musculature and nerve connections, they've been exapted into brightly-patterned display structures and also serve as attachment for a large gliding membrane – Anomalangelus uses its forelimbs to grab hold of these "wings" while airborne, spreading them out and stabilizing them to form a composite wing.

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[jemmie-heartz]

Barbatos 🥹

I head canon he has multiple arms, yk since he’s a butler

I think he’s very handy

I think he would find it very beneficial

His demon form has an extra set of arms, which is why in my mind while he’s under more of a work load he’ll shift into it to multitask even easier

Basically he can bake, sweep, and make tea all at once

[meloboye]

Duwal

(drawn in October 2025)

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

How would you more believably portray six-legged creatures? I was watching Avatar yesterday and one design choice that really bugged me was how the hexapodal alien animals all just looked like earth mammals, with the front legs copy-pasted twice. Wouldn't a limb arrangement like that cause them to trip over their own legs when running at higher speeds, especially predators like the thatator?

I think if the front legs are synchronized, there won't be any trouble with tripping, as shown in this post over here about horses in Fallout with extra legs:

Post by @owligator · 7 images

💬 55  🔁 18167  ❤️ 31597 · If theres one thing I crave whenever I play New vegas it’s.. horses.. So i MADE MY OWN They’re called sleipnir fo

But it is incredibly boring for all the six legged creatures to have such mammalian body plans, so here are some options:

(image description: sketches of six legged creatures. the first has a quadrupedal body plan with the extra front limbs being smaller and built like arms for grabbing. the second has the same body plan mentioned above, with the two front legs being close together and basically the same. the third one has a more insectoid body plan, with all three sets of legs close together near the bottom of the torso, and then spreading outwards from the body. and the final one is like an elongated lizard with an extra set of limbs in the middle of the body. end description)

Having one set of limbs be more grabby while the remaining two pairs are for running is probably one of my favorite options, especially if you want to create a believable sapient people species. Another option for bipedal movement is having two sets of grabby limbs and one set of walking limbs. which limbs get to do the walking and which ones get to do the grabbing is entirely up to personal preference, of course. I also went a bit more digitigrade/ungulate with some of these, but they could be plantigrade too! quadrupedal-type movement does not necessarily require tippy toes.

tail size/shape/existence optional.

as with real life animals, the body shape and limb functions are very dependent on what each creature relies on for survival. do they prioritize fast running? climbing? do they swim? etc.

[mekanikaltrifle]

little spaceman enjoys some earth cuisine...

[maxpawb]

the horrors