#i guess this is spec bio?

[jayahult]

Articles Under Revision

Dragons are egg-laying warm-blooded vertebrates of the order Dracones. Dragons are the largest order of the class Basilisceus, with at least 1,600 species falling under the label. Dragons are divided into several families, including Caeloregidae (wyverns, true dragons), Sinealidae (drakes, qilin and leviathans), and Sineartidae (wurms, sea serpents) among others. Dragons are exceedingly diverse in terms of diet, lifestyle and size. The largest dragons are the emperor leviathans, with the largest recorded specimen weighing around 112 tonnes and having a length of approximately 17 meters. Some sea serpents can reach greater lengths, but weigh significantly less. Dragons are thought to be descended from a basilisk-like common ancestor, diverging from phoenixes and basilisks 1.3 million years ago...

Arzhur's dragonnette, also known as the hummingbird dragon (Flexilinguis arzhuri), is an endangered species of dragon belonging to the genus Flexililinguis. Exclusively found on the Isle of Duley, Arzhur's dragonette is the smallest known. Like most other members of the genus Flexililinguis, Arzhur's dragonette's primary diet consists of the nectar found in flowers...

Qilin, also known as deer drakes or unicorns are large, oviparous members of the genus Unicornis. There are six known species of qilin, all of which are native to Ocalia. Qilin are most distinctively known for their large, singular antler that caused them to be confused with rhinoceroses. All qilin are obligate herbivores primarily feeding through browsing on leaves, shoots and other soft plant tissue. Qilin can also eat and digest tree bark with the aid of their reactive saliva...

Greater coalfish, also known as river devils (Calidoris monstrum) are aquatic coalfish (genus Calidoris). A member of the subfamily Dracoserpentinae, greater coalfish are found in the mangroves and reefs the Bay of Lanila, and are the largest known species of coalfish. They are vermiform, with an average length of 3 meters. Greater coalfish are considered by many to be an example of convergent evolution due to their resemblance to crocodiles and alligators in terms of hunting and feeding. Greater coalfish are primarily ambush predators, latching on to their prey and initiating a "death roll" that tears chunks off of their prey. As with most members of the order Dracones, greater coalfish have abnormally reactive saliva, which the greater coalfish have specialized to break down and "pre-digest" cartilage and bone. This reaction is exothermic, making the water around it warmer. This lead to a variety of myths that greater coalfish cook their food, or that they can breathe fire...

[styllwaters]

Raptor borzois (and a whippet)

[palossssssand]

Assorted Critters that I’ve been meaning to post!

[filurig]

i decided to change a little bit about the bäckahäst humanoid form, and realised that they have some superficial similarities to skogsrå, so heres a thing ironing out their differences a little

[civetfish]

Nerd-to-nerd communication

Something super pointless and self-indulgent I've had on the backburner for a while. I love trying to make the pieces they gave us fit together!

Al-AN and Robin would absolutely bond over learning about each other's biology. I could talk about this forever but I'll get into all of the headcanons I have for these two in another post eventually

Below the cut is another version with some extra bits and pieces and the transcription

Transcript :

Architect Anatomy A. Architect "Brain" - Doesn't "store" information so much as allow for easy communication with the network B. Brainstem - connects the information received to the central nervous/circulatory system C. "Heart" - Circulatory system pumps the bioluminescent fluid to other organ systems and surface veins. Each node connects to a vast vasculature network D. "Kidneys" - Organs that filter the bioluminescent "blood" and other bodily fluids, absorbing and distributing collected material E. Nerve Center - Receives raw sensory data and filters it. Filtering can be unconscious or intentional

F. "Respiratory" Tract - Intakes gases or liquids and filters out material for use. Disposes of waste on exhale. Provides cooling to internal systems

The respiratory tract functions less like a set of lungs and more akin to a computer's cooling system, with the ability to absorb material from the environment to use in other parts of the body. It also would likely help the architect's body analyze the environment it is currently exposed to on a molecular level. It is also truly unidirectional, with the intake vents near the "collarbone" and the exhaust vents on both sides of the abdomen

The architect organ cache in-game felt like it was definitely not a complete model of the internal organs, so I wanted to come up with something to fill some more space. I also just really liked the idea of Al-An being capable of something similar to breathing, without having a respiratory system in the traditional sense. Feel free to use any of this in your own headcanons if you would like :)

BONUS - a gif of all the layers!

[sistervirtue]

hello everyone. sometimes i make this mistake called "thinking too hard about bnha" and then setsunas quirk torments me for two months and next thing you know im knee deep in scientific papers about tunicates. many such cases. horikoshi really made me have to work to integrate the lizard portion in, because her regeneration is nothing like lizard tail regeneration at all, actually

please forgive me if my science is off, im a paralegal looking to go into art history, everything i know is just from my bio 102 class and my love of reading scientific journals i barely understand 🙏😭

[grox-empire]

Wow, I haven't posted about these guys in a while, Have I?

Anyways here's an Mspaint Xolian, I'm toying around w/ their design a bit to make them read less as generic anthro dragon aliens and more as their own seperate thing. They look a bit similar to a lot of other species i've seen but I honestly think that's because I just haven't really drawn out their body yet.

It fucks me up that these guys are my first ever spore species... They're practically unrecognizable compared to when I first made them.

[sunsetsands]

Slug people harvesting fruit on an aquatic tree farm

[ikayblythe]

so it occurred to me that i never drew the puppies lizards

I interpret them as synapsid-like, so more "mammal" than reptile! Their "scales" are often fleshy tufts or keratinized scutes rather than true scales.

To start off we have the most Lizard of lizards, the Pink lizard! I want to give each variant their own depictions as species.

[cherepizza]

After stumbling upon my sketches of bird creatures from one of my older posts which have a classic "2 forelegs – 2 middle legs – 2 hindlegs" body plan I decided to think of something that would fit better in the beacons' world. All big animals with a horizontal body position now use their side forelegs and a hindleg for locomotion while other three limbs are specialized for whatever purpose (the middle foreleg is typically specialized for holding, grabbing or stabbing soon-to-be food, and middle legs have a much wider range of specialization from being just an extra pair of claws to actual wings)

These are sketches of dog-like creatures which weren't intended to be coloured but I really liked them so now they are. These beasts remind me of butterflies because of their head silhouette, calling them butterfly-face dogs or butterfly dogs sounds suitable enough.

They aren't a serious threat to beacons but might attack when provoked. However, among domesticated butterfly dogs there're breeds which are much larger and stronger than their wild counterparts. Unlike other dogs, they're specifically trained to aim at beacons' underparts when attacking, which may cause heavy blood loss and even death (especially if the dog isn't trained to stop after one attack). Because of their notorious reputation, "killer breeds" are often banned in settlements with only farmers having the exclusive right to breed them as usually even a mere possibility of a killer dog nearby is enough for a potential thief to think twice before breaking in one's territory.

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

When creating speculative biology art, how well do you research the subject it’s based upon?

Common knowledge: things everyone might know

Minimal research: basic why’s and how’s your subject works, surface depth things

Extensive research: specific anatomical terminology, similar real-life species, information digestible to other spec bio artists (but might be confusing to those who are not)

Complete research: evolutionary lineages, intricate anatomical similarities to real-life species, extensive environmental/individual behavior, information may be confusing to those lacking knowledge in biology

[kj-ursa]

fungi who spent a billion years evolving toxic defence mechanisms to protect their fruiting bodies when a highly-derived land-dwelling chordate actively seeks out said toxins due to their inadvertent hallucinogenic effects on said chordate's neurology

[ID: A simple, black and white meme drawing of Jackie chan holding his hands to his head with a bewildered and disbelieving expression. End ID.]

[shurara-gundan]

Stuff..... after thinking of this section i have also decided that another one reassuring the readers that they wont catch any of this stuff is needed

[junebugtwin]

had to figure out how to draw Canon Ahsoka before I could redesign her! Her Lekku/montrals are such a pain to draw consistently!

And here's my version! I wanted to balance giving her a less human look while not going too crazy in the other direction, as I am wont to do. Closeup/details below the cut! (for the love of god click some of these pics they are so blurry otherwise)

Ahsoka's skull! I do a side profile in later pics

her mouth situation. took inspiration from tigers teeth here, maybe not totally realistic but extremely cool

nails and teeth! They get darker through use and damage, with her claws being damaged a lot more frequently than her teeth.

hands and feet- note that the darker brown is not padding the way a dog might have, but rather a pattern that shows on parts of the body that are more sensitive to touch.

headshot with her colors for my own use :)

testing out looks for her uniform, not totally sold on this look yet

nakey so that I have a ref for her stripes ect

her eyeballs!

[wolfsbaneandthistle]

I think the most scary part of hard sci-fi settings is that there wouldn’t be bread.

Like no planet besides earth would have actual yeast. Wild yeast can be found in the atmosphere, and unless it’s introduced in ridiculous amount another planet just. Wouldn’t have it. Even if introduced it might not be able to thrive.

And like, one obvious work-around is having a yeast equivalent on the planet; which is pretty feasible since fermentation is such an easy way to produce energy. A LOT of things use it in real life and alien life almost certainly would too. But in hard sci-fi where there’s a lot of realism, there would be very little chance that any alien yeast equivalent would be good for bread. If the yeast doesn’t live for long enough, if it doesn’t rise fast enough, or if it’s just. Not safe for humans to eat. It wouldn’t be good for bread

The other work around would be really good trade routes transporting packaged yeast. And every other material for bread.

BUT if you’re going slightly less hard sci-fi and you DO have edible equivalents for flour and uh. Buttermilk. You can just make bread with baking soda. Because you can mine baking soda, apparently. It’ll be denser and taste different from regular yeast bread, but it’s still bread.

[aeriona]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while (I've been tired and sad) but I am still indeed working on my xeno-splatoon faux scientific paper!

Also since it's a fancy document I have to use equally fancy language I am so sorry in advance lmao. I'm not exactly sure when I'll make it public, probably once all the art is done and I'm not sure when that'll be-