http://viergacht.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d4l03li

A new picture that Viergacht will be doing.

First of all
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Crazy-legs" <tdmorris@...> wrote:
>
> http://viergacht.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d4l03li
>
> A new picture that Viergacht will be doing.
>
It looks great! But how did you know he did it? Did he say you about it?
I love the dynamism of this picture.

Tim, your coloured pictures look great. But I think you must replace the
background for grumbling ant-mungo and bustardgoose. These ones look too large
because of the short grass on the background. Also try to add tropical plants to
Hawaiian Moanser - the background looks grey instead of forest greenery.
As for Yesin, its neck still looks too thick. And the texture of the shell
scutes of algal turtle also looks unnatural.

> It looks great! But how did you know he did it? Did he say you about it?
> I love the dynamism of this picture.

He told me that he had started it, because I had asked him to do it.

> Tim, your coloured pictures look great. But I think you must replace the
background for grumbling ant-mungo and bustardgoose. These ones look too large
because of the short grass on the background. Also try to add tropical plants to
Hawaiian Moanser - the background looks grey instead of forest greenery.
> As for Yesin, its neck still looks too thick. And the texture of the shell
scutes of algal turtle also looks unnatural.

I'll work on those later.

-And the texture of the shell scutes of algal turtle also looks unnatural.

Do you mean the shape of the scutes, or do you mean that they should have the
tortoise-shell texture of concentric ridges?

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Crazy-legs" <tdmorris@...> wrote:
>
> Do you mean the shape of the scutes, or do you mean that they should have the
tortoise-shell texture of concentric ridges?
>
Both things, yes. Maybe, concentric ridges may be not so visible, but the edges
of scutes must be well-defined.

Hallo, people! Right now I posted some new descriptions of animals (and 1 fungus
in addition) to the site. Among them there are 3 descriptions of animals
(Elephant-kangaroo, porkoceras and toads) made in English by Tim Morris.

Carlos, I must ask you for excuse. I simply forgot to finish the translation of
your description of hopping hummingbird. I did it in another working file, and
just forgot to work with it. I'm sorry, Carlos. I will add your description
later. Ok?

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <gavial@...> wrote:
>
> Hallo, people! Right now I posted some new descriptions of animals (and 1
fungus in addition) to the site. Among them there are 3 descriptions of animals
(Elephant-kangaroo, porkoceras and toads) made in English by Tim Morris.

Thankyou most kindly, Paul :D

I noticed some discussion on the Russian forum where people were worried about
feral pigs becoming too dominant over marsupial herbivores. I had this worked
out recently, so I'll tell you.

During the early part of the Neocene, and late Anthropocene, the then-dominant
placental carnivores not only forced marsupial predators into more remote areas
(which would later radiate into vacant niches when the carnivorans went extinct
there), but also put selective pressure on the feral pigs to compete less by
turning into predominately herbivorous forms. Eventually, the only Australian
Neocene pigs were predominately herbivores, and at this time primitive trunked
kangaroos radiated to fill the larger omnivore niche, having previously been
similar to rat kangaroos in size.

So contemporary Neocene Australia will have jungle and scrub pigs that converge
on browsing Rhinos, just like africa did (and still does, in the form of the
giant forest hog), small cursorial warthog-like animals are also possible.

Tim, thank you for the picture of horns for possible futuristic species of
hyraxes and bovids. I have an idea of large Platyceratheriid species living in
the area of Levant and Persian Ridge. It has long protruding horn and is called
carcadann after mythical creature from Persia. It is an ecological analogue of
aurochs and other wild oxen inhabited this area in pre-historical and early
historical epoch.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <gavial@...> wrote:
>
> Carlos, I must ask you for excuse. I simply forgot to finish the translation
of your description of hopping hummingbird. I did it in another working file,
and just forgot to work with it. I'm sorry, Carlos. I will add your description
later. Ok?
>
Oh, worry not :). I really have to apologize for my current inactivity, I´m
quite busy right now, and I want to work for my own project.

About my concepts, I see that no progress has been done, which is actually my
fault. We should try to work on them, discuss, if not, they´ll always stay as
ideas.
When I have free time, I´ll make some sketches of my concepts, in order to make
them more consistent. I hope it works out.

PD: What about the description of abyss morain? Was it accepted?

> Tim, thank you for the picture of horns for possible futuristic species of
hyraxes and bovids. I have an idea of large Platyceratheriid species living in
the area of Levant and Persian Ridge. It has long protruding horn and is called
carcadann after mythical creature from Persia. It is an ecological analogue of
aurochs and other wild oxen inhabited this area in pre-historical and early
historical epoch.

Sounds good! The one with the complicated horn I have named "boathorn", and
would mainly use its horn for display, the thick-headed one could be either a
flathorn, or a medium sized relative of the forest horned cony.

I would be willing to write a small series of articles to summarise the known
species and horn diversity of the phobocornidae, I envision them as being fairly
shy, relying on bluff and display of their impressive horns, much like some
deer. I imagine they could live in southeast asia, perhaps they are descendants
of brahman cattle or simply domesticated water buffalo, but they have become
more antelope-like.

I think this topic must be started. Fungi represent the separate kingdom of life
on Earth, as ancient, as animals are. And let's discuss here any ideas of these
lifeforms and possible symbitic/parasitic relations of them with animals and
plants.
Sometimes I think about the new addition to the site containing exclusively
various species of fungi.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <gavial@...> wrote:
>
> I think this topic must be started. Fungi represent the separate kingdom of
life on Earth, as ancient, as animals are. And let's discuss here any ideas of
these lifeforms and possible symbitic/parasitic relations of them with animals
and plants.
> Sometimes I think about the new addition to the site containing exclusively
various species of fungi.
>
The problem with predicting fungi´s future is that they are so diverse, they
have such a morfological variety and potential that almost everything might be
expected from them.
In my opinion, fungi will be far more numerous and diverse in the warm and humid
epoch of Neocene than in the modern day. They will accomplish the most
incredible and original symbiotic and parasitic relations with other organisms,
as they have done for a long time.

I can even think of some carnivorous fungi, acting more like carnivorous plants,
attracting insects and absorbing nutrients from them.
They may develope special trapping structures, which might realize rapid
movements under some kind of thigmonastic tropism to cop the prey; or on the
other hand they may segregate some sticky substance to immobilize it.

PD: These are a few fungi concepts for the Allocene project:
http://allocene.deviantart.com/gallery/?26817262#/d4d4bvu

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Carlos Pizcueta" <electreel64@...>
wrote:
>
> They may develope special trapping structures, which might realize rapid
movements under some kind of thigmonastic tropism to cop the prey; or on the
other hand they may segregate some sticky substance to immobilize it.
>
I think the ability to movement at fungi is much lesser, then at plants. Fungi
have mycelium, not a true tissue, and no vessels. Because of it any hydraulic
mechanisms present at plants may be impossible for fungi.
I think the trapping abilities of fungi may be improved in producing of false
fruiting bodies adapted to attracting of insects. This idea was proposed at
Russian forum of my site. I think there may be a separate family of flower-mimic
insect-eating fungi.
Also another fungus may be possible - it attracts insects with drops of tasty
liquid and this way infects them with parts of its mycelium. The behaviour of
infected insect changes - it flies to the place needed for the forming of fruit
body of fungus and dies there. And new fruiting body grows from it.

> I think this topic must be started. Fungi represent the separate kingdom of
life on Earth, as ancient, as animals are. And let's discuss here any ideas of
these lifeforms and possible symbitic/parasitic relations of them with animals
and plants.
> Sometimes I think about the new addition to the site containing exclusively
various species of fungi.


I had hypothesised one kind of fungus for spec that was never reallu aired
properly. "Gunkshrooms" are mushrooms that secrete a sticky, adhesive liquid,
like jelly, whose sweet aroma and taste attracts insects and traps them like the
leaves of a sundew, then secreting enzymes to digest the insect and resorb the
jelly. One kind was broad and had a bowl-like top that wouldbe lined with sticky
gel. The other gunkshroom had hanging tendrils of mucus-like gel under its cap,
which it would resorb as insects became stuck.

Paul, please select which drawings you think are accurate enough for the
Neocence, these are my recently colored and fixed ones.

http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4jxxe9
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4jxmqv
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4jwy3d
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4jwy5t
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4x3w
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4xad
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4xc1
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4xe5
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4xfy
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j4xhe
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27bg
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27dl
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27fa
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27aa
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27ho
http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d4j27az

New bunch of illustrations is loaded to the project!

One of my recent ideas is the order Carnomyceti among Ascomycetes. These fungi
have the special structure for prey catching. I called it "pseudocarpophore". It
is formed on haploid mycelium due to expression of genes responsible for the
forming of fruit body. But the evolution to predatory lifestyle leaded to the
evolution of pseudocarpophore as a trap for insects and others.
I have an idea of the following families of these fungi:
---
Flowerfungi (Mycoflosculidae) - pseudocarpophore mimicking the flower. They
catch large insects sticking to their surface. At this moment the mycelium
located around the trapped insect expresses the physiological activity and grows
into the prey digesting it from inside.
Also some fungi of this family form subterranean pseudocarpophores acting as a
pitfall.
---
Sponge fungi (Carnomycospongidae) - pseudocarpophore looks like sponge or piece
of cheese. It is penetrared with chaotically arranged holes and attracts insects
with smell and sweet liquid. They creep inside it and die in glue-like substance
covering the walls of the holes. Then fungus digests them and pseudocarpophore
degenerates quickly.
---
Protocarnomycetids (Protocarnomycetidae) - the most primitive predating
macrofungi. They have underdeveloped pseudocarpophore - the mat of mycelium
attracts insects with smell and sticky liquid, and insects are entangled in
mycelium threads. Then mycelium grows into prey body and digests it, and new
layer of mycelial mat grows above prey rests.
-----------------
The true fruiting body differs strictly in structure from pseudocarpophore. It
looks much more ordinar and has only some slightly expressing features of
similarity to pseudocarpophore.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <gavial@...> wrote:
>
> One of my recent ideas is the order Carnomyceti among Ascomycetes. These fungi
have the special structure for prey catching. I called it "pseudocarpophore". It
is formed on haploid mycelium due to expression of genes responsible for the
forming of fruit body. But the evolution to predatory lifestyle leaded to the
evolution of pseudocarpophore as a trap for insects and others.
> I have an idea of the following families of these fungi:
> ---
> Flowerfungi (Mycoflosculidae) - pseudocarpophore mimicking the flower. They
catch large insects sticking to their surface. At this moment the mycelium
located around the trapped insect expresses the physiological activity and grows
into the prey digesting it from inside.
> Also some fungi of this family form subterranean pseudocarpophores acting as a
pitfall.
> ---
> Sponge fungi (Carnomycospongidae) - pseudocarpophore looks like sponge or
piece of cheese. It is penetrared with chaotically arranged holes and attracts
insects with smell and sweet liquid. They creep inside it and die in glue-like
substance covering the walls of the holes. Then fungus digests them and
pseudocarpophore degenerates quickly.
> ---
> Protocarnomycetids (Protocarnomycetidae) - the most primitive predating
macrofungi. They have underdeveloped pseudocarpophore - the mat of mycelium
attracts insects with smell and sticky liquid, and insects are entangled in
mycelium threads. Then mycelium grows into prey body and digests it, and new
layer of mycelial mat grows above prey rests.
> -----------------
> The true fruiting body differs strictly in structure from pseudocarpophore. It
looks much more ordinar and has only some slightly expressing features of
similarity to pseudocarpophore.
>

Quite interesting concepts, Pavel! Are carnomyceti globally widespread? Or are
they just bounded to some concrete regions? I may suppose that they would
inhabit zones where ground nutrients are scarce and insect population is great.
I can think of some species of flower-like carnomyceti living in areas of
tundra, which may "flourish" during springtime, when insects are more common.

PD: I must apologize for my long absence here and everywhere, my laptop crashed
several weeks ago so I couldn´t make any work at all.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Carlos Pizcueta" <electreel64@...>
wrote:
>
> Quite interesting concepts, Pavel! Are carnomyceti globally widespread? Or are
they just bounded to some concrete regions?

Fungi have greater opportunities to widespread by spores having microscopic size
and carried by wind. I prepared some new descriptions of these fungi for the
project, and I think the most part of them may be tropical ones. But also in
temperate climate of Europe and America some kinds will exist.

> I may suppose that they would inhabit zones where ground nutrients are scarce
and insect population is great. I can think of some species of flower-like
carnomyceti living in areas of tundra, which may "flourish" during springtime,
when insects are more common.

Terra del Fuego and Antarctica?

>
> PD: I must apologize for my long absence here and everywhere, my laptop
crashed several weeks ago so I couldn´t make any work at all.
>
You will laugh, but I have the same problem now. My comp aboout 10 years old is
crashed (videocard is dead and comp doesn't switch on), and almost all working
files are unaccessable now. I work on notebook now, using flash card and copy of
one working Word file only.

Thanks so much, Paul.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <gavial@...> wrote:
>
> New bunch of illustrations is loaded to the project!
>

One small problem with the new illustrations that have been uploaded, the
Marsupial Hyena image doesnt load properly, and the squirrel mungo image is
absent from the bestiary, but present in the russian chapter.

I'd appreciate it if you could fix those 2 problems.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Crazy-legs" <tdmorris@...> wrote:
>
> I'd appreciate it if you could fix those 2 problems.
>
Oh, I will,but not now. My comp is damaged, and I make this message from
notebook. Working materials are not availible now. But sooner I'll do it.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, "Crazy-legs" <tdmorris@...> wrote:
>
> One small problem with the new illustrations that have been uploaded, the
Marsupial Hyena image doesnt load properly, and the squirrel mungo image is
absent from the bestiary, but present in the russian chapter.
>
> I'd appreciate it if you could fix those 2 problems.
>
So, now I corrected the pictures and the images are visible.
Yes, comp works now. Also I added a great lot of descriptions to Russian part of
"Bestiary". There are some descriptions of flesh-eating fungi of order
Carnomycetes.

--- In philosphica-dixonia@yahoogroups.com, Dale Drinnon <daledrinnon@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Paul, you seem to have a problem with the spamers lately!
> Best Wishes, Dale D.
>
I had a worse problem with comp and limited abilities to work in Net. But now
it's ok.

Wake up, people! Spring comes!

> Wake up, people! Spring comes!

Or, you know, Autumn, pretty soon ;)

So, some days ago the problem at the site ha been detected by hosting service.
Somebody hacked site and placed the certain code (possible, virus) to some
pages. Because of it the hosting service closed my site until the problem will
be removed. I had to replace the most part of pages from my reserve copy and
asked for the site check.
Now it works and life proceeds as usual.