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#wampuscat #pulicane #kogogiak #tritonomendet #tarrasque #speculativeevolution #speculativebiology
Published: 2018-08-30 01:08:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 1830; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 0
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Description
Here is an in-depth look at the wampus cats and their relatives. They are marsupial, and not placental like th centaurs and their relatives. Though most are carnivorous, some are insectivores or omnivores, and almost all members have a digigrade posture for the hindmost limbs.Otter Tritonomendets: aquatic tritonomendets, like all members of the group they have long flexible spines and a mustelid-like morphology. They are largely piscivorous. They have the most dexterous forelimbs and are the largest members of the group. They form loose family groups, comprised of closely related individuals.
Marten Tritonomendets: arboreal tritonomendets. They are good climbers and more omnivorous than other members of the group, preferring fruit.
Weasle Tritonomendets: burrowing tritonomendets. Smaller-bodied than other members of the groups. Their forelimbs have poor dexterity, being better suited to digging, but are still decent for garbing objects or potential prey. Their coats vary in coloration seasonally and regionally, ranging from solid white to brown with a white belly. They are closely related to otter and marten tritonomendets.
Mink Tritonomnedets: thick-furred cold-climate tritonomendets. They are mid-sized for the group. They show close relations to all members of the clade, but particularly weasel tritonomendets.
Polar Kogogiaks: large, white-furred kogogiaks. They are also good swimmers, and prey on merlings and selkies. They are the most exclusively carnivorous of the group. They are solitary and highly territorial.
Brown Kogogiaks: large, brown-furred kogogiaks. Some members of this group get even larger than polar kogogiaks. They prefer fish, but will also take down large prey, like ogres. They from pairs during their mating season. They are closely related to both polar kokogiaks.
Black Kogogiaks: mid-sized black-furred kogogiaks. They are solidly omnivorous, and good climbers. They tend to form paris during the mating season, and stay in small family groups until the young reach full adulthood. They are related to both polar and brown kogogiaks .
Panda Kogogiaks: one of the most specialized kogogiaks, they are completely herbivorous. They have a striking black-and-white coloration. They form monogamous lifetime pairs, and are territorial. They are only distantly related to other kokogiaks
Pulicanes: one of the most specialized members of their clade. They have highly developed forelimbs that have dexterous hands, though they are less dexterous than centaurs. They form small tight-knit non-hierarchical social groups, typically along family lines.
Wampus Wolves: largest members of the pulicaniformes. They have only limited dexterity with their forelimbs, using them almost entirely for locomotion. They form large female-led hierarchical social groups, though there are occasionally solitary individuals, usually juvenile males.
Wampus Foxes: smallest members of the pulicaniformes. They have nominal dexterity in their forelimbs, using them to assist climbing. They are more functionally arboreal than terrestrial foxes. They are related to both pulicanes and wampus wolves. They are largely solitary, except in mating season the male may help raise the kits until thy are weaned depending on the availability of food.
Wampus Desert-Cats: desert dwelling small wampus cats. One of the smallest wampus-cats. They have a tan to yellowish coloring with black tips. Like all of the small wampus cats their forelimbs are used mostly for locomotion. Also typical of the small wampus cats they are mostly solitary, only coming together to breed and raise young, who typically stay with the parents until they can hunt for themselves.
Wampus Swamp-Cats: wetland dwelling small wampus cats. Exelent swimmers, and one of the larger of the small wampus cats. They usually have a dark gray to black coloration. They are more solitary and territorial than other small wampus cats.
Wampus Jungle-Cat: tropical dwelling small wampus cats. They are excellent climbers and almost completely arboreal. They usually have a solid-red to red-brown coloration. They are closely related to wampus desert cats and wampus swamp cats.
Wampus Forest-Cats: temperate forest dwelling small wampus cats. They have excellent camouflage, with a mixed stripped and spotted coloration that hides them well. They are more social than other wampus cats. They are related to wampus desert-cats, swamp-cats and jungle-cats.
Urmahlullus: big wampus-cats with highly dextrous forelimbs. They have longer digits and shorter claws than other large wampus cats, and only rarely use their forelimbs for locomotion. They have organized social structures and form mixed-sex groups, with the dominant male mating with all members of the group. Younger members of the group share in caring for the offspring, which are raised communally. Older females typically hunt and older males typically guard the group.
Wampus Lions: one of the larger of the big wampus cats. They have a prominent mane, and a lightly-spotted coat. Like most big wampus cats, the forelimbs are specialized for hunting and combat but still functional for locomotion. They typically form all-female groups, with largely solitary males. Each group of females will have one to three "dominant" males with mating privileges depending on the size. Males join the group during the mating season, but the females may choose new males, in subsequent seasons depending on the attractiveness of potential mates. Unsuccessful males may pair-off with each other for protection and increased chance of kills, though groups as large a five individuals have been spotted.
Wampus Jaguars: dedicated arboreal big wampus cats. They have striking dark spots, but they are smaller than those of wampus lions and lack a mane. They typically hunt from trees and are good swimmers. Melanistic individuals are common, they seem to be all males and a sort of physical and sexual polymorphism. Most females will mate with both a "typical" and a "melanistic" male, and melanistic males are less common and usually mate with multiple females. They are closely related to both urmahlillus and wampus lions.
Wampus Tigers: largest of the big wampus cats. They have a striking black-stripped coat, with base colors of white, gray, brown, yellow, orange or red. Though they hunt largely solitary, and maintain their own territories they do form loose social groups over large areas. Within these groups, typically the dominant member will be a particularly large individual with over-developed canines, a sort of saber-toothed wampus tiger.
Wampus Leopards: though smaller-framed than other big wampus cats, wampus leopards are the longest, thanks to their tails. They have large striking ringed spots, and a bushy, stripped tail. They come in a number of colorations, varying by region and climate, with white, gray and yellow with black spots being the most common. However "reverse" wampus lepords also exist, with black coats and colored spots, in colors of white, yellow, orange and red. They are largely solitary, though they may form hunting pairs during the mating season and while they have cubs. They are closely related to wampus tigers.
Club-tailed Cats: a ball-tailed cat with a club of solid fused horn-like hairs on the end of its tail. Like most ball-tailed cats, they are mid-sized wampus cats. They are solitary and largely aggressive and use their tails in both interspecific and intraspecific combat. The tail makes for an effective defense, especially against hollow-boned flying predators, and is used against other club-tailed cats over kills and territory.
Spike-tailed Cats: a ball-tailed cat with a group of quill-like spikes on the end of its tail. Males may also have a sort of "mane" of quills as well, but it is sparse and they are shorter than on the tail. The presence and size of the mane is typically an indication of health, and are used in display to attract females.
Bristle-tailed Cats: a ball-tailed cat with firm quill-like bristles at the end of its tail. The bristles come off easily and embed themselves into the flesh of the target. Juveniles also have bristles interspersed with their regular coat, but these become reduced as they age and are lost in adulthood. They are the smallest ball-tailed cat and related to club-tailed and spike-tailed cats.
Wampus Pumas: a mid-to-large sized wampus cat, they are related to small, big and ball-tailed wampus cats. Together with them they make up the "long-tailed" wampus cats. They are agile and good rock-climbers.
Wampus Lynx: robust, cold-weather short-tailed wampus cats. They are larger and heavier than wampus bobcats, but both are mid-sized animals. They have large padded feet, specialized for moving silently on top of and through snow. They have distinctive long black "tips" on their ears and cheeks and a spotted coat.
Wampus Bobcat: gracile, long-legged short-tialed wampus cats. They have less prominent tips on their ears and cheeks and darker spots than wampus lynxes.
Wampus Ocelot: the most basal of the wampus cats. They have a longer muzzle, larger ears and longer body than most others. They have a striking coat, with a mix of spots, horizontal stripes and a ringed tail. They are related to both short-tailed and long-tailed wampus cats.
Great Tree Tarasque: the largest of the tree-tarasques. They are the result of island gigantism. Tree tarasques are the only surviving pseudotarasques. They all have long, thick, prehensile tails and are covered in hardened horn-like "scales" composed of fused hairs and are specialized in feeding on tree-dwelling social arthropod-analouges with their long tongues. They have a hexipedal walking posture.
Golden Tree Tarasque: the most striking of the tree tarasques, they have shiny gold, brass or copper-colored scales. The scales get shinier and yellower with age and health. They largely lack predators in their natural environment. They have a quadrupedal walking posture.
Pygmy Tree Tarasque: the smallest of the tree tarasques. They are the result of island dwarfism. They specialize in tree-dwelling larvae. They have a bipedal walking posture. Thy are related to both great and golden tree tarasques.
Common Tree Tarasque: the most prototypical of thegroup. They have dull-brown scales. They have a quadrupedal walking posture. It is related to great, golden and pygmy tree tarasques.
Spike-clubbed Pseudotarasque: a large extinct psudotarasque with a mace-like spiked bony club at the end of its tail. They have long bodes covered in ossified bony plates, sharp spikes around the perimeter and a hexipedal gait.
Wide-clubbed Pseudotarasque: a large extinct pseudotarasque with a wide, rounded football/rugby ball-shaped bony club at the end of its tail.
Long-clubbed Pseudotarasque: a large extinct pseudotarasque with a long, pestle-shaped bony club at the end of its tail.
Small-clubbed Pseudotarasque: a mid-sized extinct pseudotarasque with a small egg-shaped bony club at the end of its tail.
Shoulder-spiked Pseudotarasque: a large extinct pseudotarasque with long, bony shoulder-spikes. The spikes directly above the shoulders are particularly long and horn-like. It retained spikes along the tail, but they are broad and reduced.
Tail-spiked Psudotarasque: a large extinct pseudotarasque with long, bony tail-spikes. It retained spikes along the perimiter of its body, but they become reduced in size closer to the head.
Long-spiked Pseudotarasques: a large extinct psudotarasque with long sharp spikes around the perimeter. It was related to both the shoulder-spiked and tail-spiked psuedotarasques.
Short-spiked Pseudotarasques: a mid-sized extinct pseudotarasque, with some of its armored plates modified into sharp spikes. It is related to both the other spiked pseudotarasques and the clubbed pseudotarasques.
Armored Pseudotarasques: a smaller extinct pseudotarasque with scales further modified into ossified bony plates. They were realted to the short-spiked psuedotarasque.
Scaly Pseudotarasques: a small extinct psuedotarasque. They were related to both tree tarasques, and armored pseudotarsques.
Quilled Pseudotarasque: a smaller extinct pseudotarasque with long quills.
Long-spined Pseudotarasque: a small extinct pseudotarasque with hairs modified into long spines. They are closely related to quilled pseudotarasques.
Short-spined Psuedotrasque: a small extinct pseudotarasque with short spines, made form modified hairs interspersed throughout its coat. it was a basal member of the group.
So here are the wampus carnivores and their relatives the false-tarasques. They are part of the six-legged marsupial group, and are a sibling clade to the group that the true tarasques belong to. I still have not worked out exactly how the larger group works, I may make them "sweat" milk like IRL monotremes, or even have some produce it internally and regurgitate it like some birds do with "crop milk". What's interesting is that this actually makes the pulicanes more thylacine-centaurs than dog-centaurs. I also borrowed the tritonomendets from Lucian's True Hostory, because that has some of the coolest creatures.
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Comments: 2
Lediblock2 [2018-08-30 02:39:33 +0000 UTC]
A lot of the pseudotarasques are listed as extant...
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labgnome In reply to Lediblock2 [2018-08-30 14:19:32 +0000 UTC]
Yeah, it's an issue I discovered in some of the others and it might have to do with me moving things over to another file to re-size the image before uploading. I know at least some of them should be listed as extinct.
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