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Feb 27

Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, a personal study with digital painting since I haven't done it properly in a while.

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The MET: Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (Bot)

@met_africanart

Feb 12

Automated

Whale, 16th–17th century metmuseum.org/art/collection #themet #metmuseum

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Troco

@EmilianoTroco

Feb 6

Devonian: the primeval swamp

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Rudolf Hima

@HimaRudolf

Jan 20

Yutyrannus huali

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Fabio Alejandro

@FabioAleRomero

Jan 12

My second big Dicynodont done so far, one of the biggest Paleozoic species of the African Late Permian, Rhachiocephalus belongs to a group characterized by their very elongated and massive skulls, some of them with ornamental rugosities across its face.

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Rosemary Mosco (Bird And Moon Comics)

@RosemaryMosco

Nov 17, 2021

*walks through a scientific conference, casually drops a piece of paper onto the floor, hurries away* birdandmoon.com/comic/best-duc

Title: Psst Genetic Engineers: I Have A Proposal. There's a large spectacular imaginary duck in the middle, with ten real ducks above and below it, and arrows pointing from the real ducks to the imaginary duck. The imaginary duck, labeled Best Duck, has traits of all the other ducks: Long-tail's tail, King Eider's wing spikes, Hooded Merganser's crest, White-winged Scoter's eye markings, Redhead's red head, Ring-necked Duck's coloful bill, Northern Shoveler's large bill, Northern Pintail's pretty neck markings, Harlequin Duck's body markings, and Ruddy Duck's pointy tail.

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Mette Aumala, currently incapacitated

Sep 24, 2021

Oh, and if you guys were curious, the name Daphnia isn't related to water fleas (genus Daphnia), but a reference to the Greek Nereid Daphne who got turned into a laurel tree to escape Apollo.

('Plants' on this world do, at least ancestrally, retain a little bit of animal characteristics, like little muscles in their roots and a very simple net of nerves. These are just exaggerated existing traits, expressing the same genes that exist in the gametozoions.)

One experimental group that emerged are plants that express more animal characteristics, developing more complicated neurology and musculature. They've evolved to slowly move around, defend themselves, and some even specializing to eat small gametozoions or even other plants.

Many lines continued being plant-phase oriented, reducing the animal phase even further so that it only propagates. Different models compete with each other; some evolving pollen and seed-like gametozoions, others developing complex castes that serve and protect the plant.

Some lineages became more 'animal' oriented, living longer, not dying after reproducing, growing larger and becoming more complex. While a lot of species are still born from little weeds, in more derived lineages the plant phase itself became internalized and merely vestigial.

Day 7 of #Spectember: On an alien world, one of the main groups of complex life are planimals called Daphnians: that through alternation of generations change back and forth from 'plant' to 'animal'. Over millions of years, these have evolved into a myriad of forms.

Qrt but I don't have any arty peeps who haven't been hit by this, so I'll just repost some art.

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@MetTiinA

Sep 15, 2021

Qrt and tag fellow arty peeps @FabioAleRomero @Midiaou7 @Hybridinthepond @Mantiscatstuff @nixillustration twitter.com/ShinyGanderAnj…

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Sep 16, 2021

Only us tetrapods have been freed from the tyranny of the waters, with many ray-finned fish trying to escape too.

I am absolutely confused that a dumb picture of a fake, vaguely phallic jawless fish is getting more activity than everything else I've posted before. Also I think some people are believing it's real? Just a disclaimer: it's not. It's just speculative zoology.

Based off

's prompt of an alternate terrestrial vertebrate that's not a tetrapod. While from what I've seen everyone else did large spectacular sharks and such, I decided to do small, cryptic jawless fish that came along with the early invasion of bugs to dry land.

"Regardless, if this team is correct, then it means there was another line of vertabrate that became entirely terrestrial, perhaps being the first to do so if the Silurian specimen proves related."

"Several undescribed specimens resembling the species have been noted since its publication, ranging from the Late Silurian to the mid Devonian. While not all paleontologists are convinced of the teams' claims, further study will reveal more about this odd group of agnathans."

"Given the climate of the formation during the mid-Permian, the lack of any fossil aquatic plants or animals, as well as its strange anatomy, the scientists proposed that it was largely if not entirely terrestrial, living underground or in moist areas."

"The fossil itself preserved not just bone, but impressions of soft tissue too. Compared to its relatives, it lacked a dermal skeleton, had muscular fore-appendages, and a highly ossified notochord. While the tail wasn't entirely preserved, it no major adaptions for swimming."

Day 6 of #Spectember "In the 1980s, a group of Russian paleontologists found the fossil of a mid-Permian agnathan, but it ended up being forgotten for decades until a team in 2017 formally described and made a radical proposition: that this was a terrestrial jawless fish."

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Maybe even further in the future, some member of this lineage might evolve to live largely in the air and move around like featherstars.

Day 5 of #Spectember, the prompt today being zero gravity geckos. This species, after 30 million years isolated in an abandoned self-repairing space habitat, has evolved into an ambush predator that walks on long, delicate, frond-like toes that mimic leaves.

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NFSA National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

@NFSAonline

Sep 7, 2021

The NFSA has released colourised footage of the last known surviving Tasmanian tiger - or Thylacine - for National Threatened Species Day. Read more about how this B&W footage has been given a new life. nfsa.gov.au/latest/colouri #thylacine #tasmaniantiger #threatenedspecies

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Sep 6, 2021

The aircraft-like predator on the right, while living the vast majority of its life on the wing, still retains short muscular limbs (that are obscured by the wings here) that it uses to cling to the bottom on islands while they process meals they impale and swallow whole.

Day 4 of #Spectember, again very late due to life. The prompt was lifeforms in a fantasy world with floating landmasses. Here we see two species of 'vertebrates' who's ancestors evolved flight long ago, but have become different over maybe hundreds of millions of years.

4. Two common castes of 'starfish'. On the left a worker that's sent out to forage. To the right a larger warrior that keeps unwanted guests from climbing up and attacking the hive. 5. A couple workers bringing leaves up, climbing on the cable in a line.

3. The fungi colony the hive raise, to both eat and produce hot hydrogen to keep the balloon buoyant. Leaves are brought from the canopy below to feed it.

1. Overall anatomy of the hive that's composed of a tough web-like material. A 'basket' containing the fungi, with a great, membranous balloon on top. Below are thick cables that attach to trees. 2. The hive in-situ, attached to some trees.

Day 3 of #Spectember, if a little late.

@FabioAleRomero

's prompt was an alien radial flying species, so here's a concept doodle: balloon building, eusocial alien starfish. Acting like leafcutter ants, they feed leaves to hydrogen producing 'fungi' in the hive-balloon.

Day 2 of #Spectember. A large browsing species of dicynodont in an alternate Morrison ecosystem. Not nearly as large as the sauropods that would have been, but still taller and more derived than the Triassic Lisowicia.