Creatures / Features of Mopsus II @taiga-tetrapod - Tumblr Blog

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As the first ever ice age rolls around, the increased diversity of ocean-life creates the planet's first mega-predator: the Venatorodon. They grow to unprecedented sizes, using their huge toothed and reinforced jaws to catch prey. Some species even develop shorter, more robust teeth to tear apart creatures that up until now have enjoyed the safety of being too large to swallow.

#mopsus ii project #spec zoo #spec bio #spec evo #1.4

As life proliferates and new niches become available, many parvidema descendants start developing bilaterally symmetry. Two lineages in particular fuse their now front-facing appendages to for heads, moving their eyes and mouths frontward. Their soft limbs carry them across the seafloor at a steady speed, making up for their comparatively poor swimming ability.

Lacking the armor of the lutostella and the speed of eoxenoannelida, they are common prey for both. To make their living, parvidema rely on being the most flexible, gorging on all available detritus and producing many offspring.

#mopsus ii project #spec zoo #speculative zoology #spec bio #speculative biology #spec evo #speculative evolution

The early seas of Mopsus II

#age 1 #1.3 #mopsus ii project #spec zoo #speculative zoology #spec bio #speculative biology #spec evo #speculative evolution

Early radiation of the Eoxenoannelida's clade. They started out as generalists like Euxenoannelida (1.1), snatching up marine snow and plankton, later evolving into Fistularostrum (1.2), one of the earliest predators on Mopsus II.

The Venatorostrum (1.3) are (for their time) fast swimming top predators, using their mouth parts to catch smaller creatures, while Planarostrum (1.3) shift the sediments for slower prey.

#I'm calling them Boingus Nööt Weh and Blep #age 1 #1.1 #1.2 #1.3 #mopsus ii project #spec zoo #speculative zoology #spec bio #speculative biology #spec evo #speculative evolution

taiga-tetrapod

Early evolution of the Lutostella clade. Scientific names upcoming...

taiga-tetrapod

1. Lutocornis, evolved 1.2

Clade Ambulastella:

2. Pentoculus, 1.3

3. Paracanceripoda, 1.4

4. Delicastella, 1.4

#self reblog

Basic timeline of Mopsus II, no years mentioned because I suck at numbers. If someone notices some inconsistencies, please let me know

#worldbuilding #xenobiology #speculative zoology #speculative evolution #spec zoo #spec evo #mopsus ii project

Early evolution of the Lutostella clade. Scientific names upcoming...

#age 1 #1.1 #1.2 #1.3 #mopsus ii project #spec zoo #speculative zoology #speculative biology #spec bio

The clade Lutostella; type species Archaostella scylla (evolved from the stem-jellies).

To protect themselves from the new predators, they have evolved photosensitive nerve-clusters on the end of 6 of their arms and a thick shell to retract into when threatened. They are completely sessile in their adult forms, using their arms to filter the water for food, and spending their larval stage as part of the plankton.

#age 1 #1.1 #mopsus II project #spec bio #spec zoo #speculative biology #speculative zoology

Three of the earliest multicellular 'animals' on Mopsus II; Archaeopera (stem-jelly), Parvidema (sundisk) and Eoxenoannelida (early-worm).

Age 0.0 Nothing that interesting yet, but they'll form a nice foundation for biodiversity in the future.

Also a new tagging system for this blog, where I will tag certain periods of time with [age x] and [age number.part number] to keep the chronology clear.

#spec bio #speculative biology #speculative zoology #spec zoo #mopsus II project #age 0 #0.0

Age II: Adaptive Radiation on Land

Part I: Equatorial Marshes: The Beginnings of Terrestrial Heterotrophes

As the global temperatures rebound from the brief ice age, melting ice caps create plentiful aquatic environments along the coasts. Particularly around the equator, the plants take advantage of the rising water levels and evolve into hot, humid swampland: ideal for heterotrophes seeking refuge from the busy marine ecosystems.

Part II: Radiation on Land: The Reproduction Revolution

By evolving their reproductive strategy the heterotrophes become less dependent on water and venture inland. The extent of the humid forests still limit their range, but this breakthrough greatly increases the number of available niches and drives competition and speciation.

Part III: Cooling of the Climate: The First Flight

The cooling climate incentivises plants to adapt to the drying habitats, spreading inland thanks to these new innovations. To respond to the increased habitable zones, heterotrophes evolve the first ever instance of flight on the planet.

Part IV: The Supercontinent Forms: Adaption to Open Plains

As the continents collide, massive mountain ranges and ever increasing distances to the oceans create cold deserts in the continental interior.

Part V: The Tundra and the Desert: Adapting to the Cold and the Heat

As the global climate begins to warm, the acidification of the ocean causes a minor global ecocollapse, leading to many of the dominant aquatic species going extinct.

Part VI: The Marine Revolution: Re-adapting to Aquatic Lifestyles

The vacant aquatic niches entice the land heterotrophes to re-evolve aquatic lifestyles..

Age 1 - Age 2 - Age 3 (wip)

#worldbuilding #age 2

Basic Timeline

Age I: Early Evolution

Part I: Warm Shallow Seas: The Soil Revolution and the Evolution of Predation

The very early diversification of phyla in the warm equatorial seas. The diversity of life is starting to ramp up, increasing competition for niches and living-space.

Part II: Changing Currents: The Necton Revolution

Similar to Earth’s Cambrian Explosion, during this era predation became more common and drove an arms-race between hunter and prey. Many phyla became better defined and specialized even further.

Part III: Intertidal Zone: The Beginnings of Terrestrial Autotrophes

The first signs of the continental collisions began to be felt in the local biomes. Locally, the intertidal zones create extreme environments that cater perfectly to autotrophes seeking new niches.

Part IV: Superabundant Oxygen: The Climate Cools

The increase and unchecked proliferation of autotrophes on land caused the oxygen levels to raise suddenly. This caused a feedback loop at the poles which caused the first ice-age of the planet’s biotic history, lowering the sea-level and creating new habitats.

Age 1 - Age 2 - Age 3 (wip)

#worldbuilding #oh yeah i'm doing this ground up friends!#not gonna spend too much time on the prehistory #but it really helps me when worldbuilding #age 1

Conditions on Mopsus II

Orbit

- months last 27.34 days (29 earth days (2 more than on earth))

- years last 396.5 days (429 e. days (64 more than on earth))

- winter and summer last ‘bout 30 days (32 e. days) longer

Higher gravity

- vertical impacts can be more devastating

- animals will try to avoid them

- more difficult transition from water to land

- special adaptions must take place