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Olmagon — Skyfrog Concepts: Speculative Evolution

#alternateuniverse #amphibian #animal #animals #anura #bird #fantasyart #fantasycreature #fiction #flight #flying #frog #gliding #hummingbird #speculative #treefrog #vertebrate #flyingfrog #alternateevolution #convergentevolution #speculativeevolution #speculativebiology #speculativezoology #fictionalspecies #speculative_evolution #pterobatrachidae
Published: 2021-10-02 23:04:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 34698; Favourites: 329; Downloads: 10
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Description Yeah, these aren't real animals and they do not and never have existed,they're fantasy creatures I made up, but I've just had this speculative evolution concept of frogs capabel of flight for a while and decided to finally draw it.

So the idea is flying frogs. Likex actual flight rather than just gliding like the real-world Wallace's flying frog, but they did evolve from a flying form much like it. The "Pterobatrachidae" as I call them are a family of anuran amphibians that are capable of flight, with their hands and feet serving as wings. The ancestors of the skyfrogs was an arboreal animal that lived among the treetops, and it had the suction cups on its toes like other treefrogs for climbing, but it also retained the webbing between its digits from its aquatic ancestors. The animal developed large hands and feet and was capable of gliding several meters through the branches, much like the Wallace's flying frog, which it did to escape predators.

Over millions of years this gliding form evolved to have even larger hands and feet still, the webbing expanding even further such that they formed wings similar to those of bats. The four-winged amphibians were greatly successful and diversified into a wide variety of species that filled all sorts of ecological niches. Like most frogs, the majority of skyfrogs are carnivorous, and the greater horned skyfrog evolved to be big enough to hunt more than just insects but also small birds, mammals and other skyfrogs. Most skyfrogs had long, extendable tongues which were used in feeding, and the greater horned skyfrog would lauch its tongues at prey at high speed, then retract it quickly with the prey stuck onto it by its sticky saliva, and then swallow its prey whole.

Not all the skyfrogs are predators though, and the nectar skyfrogs are a subfamily that evolved to take on a different niche and sip nectar from flowers with their tongues, similar to hummingbirds. One of these is the small nectar skyfrog, with flamboyantly-colored wings used for display, and it lives in jungles rich with flowers for it to get its nectar supply. While hummingbirds have a high metabolism that force them to drink their own body weight in nectar every day, the nectar skyfrogs are cold-blooded animals with lower energy demands that do not need to drink as frequently. Living in the same place as the greater horned skyfrog, the small nectar skyfrog is preyed upon by its larger distant relative.

Skyfrogs, luke other frogs, generally use their long and sticky tongues in feeding, but one subfamily, the gulper skyfrogs, took a different evolutionary path. The large throat sacs present on frogs, generally used to amplify mating calls, serve another purpose in this group, and are used by the gulper frogs to catch large amounts of small prey in one gulp. They generally live in areas with dense swarms of small insects, and fly right into the swarms to swallow many at once, similar to what baleen whales do with krill. The mottled gulper skyfrog is one of the species in this group, and has splotches of color used to camouflage itself when it rests on the ground, and its pale underbelly serves as countershading that make it a bit harder to see from below against the sky, though its shadow tends to negate that anyways.
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Comments: 42

PG1224 [2025-01-19 01:27:04 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to PG1224 [2025-01-19 18:06:29 +0000 UTC]

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PG1224 In reply to Olmagon [2025-01-19 20:07:37 +0000 UTC]

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NPCArte [2024-12-03 09:03:33 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to NPCArte [2024-12-03 20:30:37 +0000 UTC]

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NPCArte In reply to Olmagon [2024-12-04 06:31:20 +0000 UTC]

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MarcuzLs [2024-08-11 11:52:23 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to MarcuzLs [2024-08-16 18:52:37 +0000 UTC]

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thecobrieanemperor [2024-07-12 15:42:11 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to thecobrieanemperor [2024-07-12 18:01:47 +0000 UTC]

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thecobrieanemperor In reply to Olmagon [2024-07-12 18:36:25 +0000 UTC]

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aysart78 [2022-10-08 08:19:12 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to aysart78 [2022-10-13 22:53:20 +0000 UTC]

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sytrosianoverlord40k [2021-12-11 12:45:35 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to sytrosianoverlord40k [2021-12-13 16:26:58 +0000 UTC]

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Sporedude135 [2021-10-09 21:08:39 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to Sporedude135 [2021-10-09 21:16:31 +0000 UTC]

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Sporedude135 In reply to Olmagon [2021-10-09 22:34:59 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to Sporedude135 [2021-10-12 17:49:12 +0000 UTC]

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Spinoking21 [2021-10-04 21:55:35 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to Spinoking21 [2021-10-06 17:53:12 +0000 UTC]

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PTParmenTOONS [2021-10-04 14:42:03 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to PTParmenTOONS [2021-10-06 17:52:38 +0000 UTC]

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MicromirOfTheNorth [2021-10-04 06:33:40 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to MicromirOfTheNorth [2021-10-06 17:55:12 +0000 UTC]

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MicromirOfTheNorth In reply to Olmagon [2021-10-06 18:28:14 +0000 UTC]

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zofidragondefoudre [2021-10-03 19:50:21 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to zofidragondefoudre [2021-10-03 21:33:50 +0000 UTC]

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diancie101 [2021-10-03 11:29:33 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to diancie101 [2021-10-03 21:35:18 +0000 UTC]

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herofan135 [2021-10-03 07:54:47 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to herofan135 [2021-10-03 21:36:05 +0000 UTC]

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CommissarCarnifex [2021-10-03 01:12:29 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to CommissarCarnifex [2022-04-20 20:49:43 +0000 UTC]

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Inmyarmsinmyarms In reply to CommissarCarnifex [2021-10-03 13:36:34 +0000 UTC]

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SheTheTDE In reply to Inmyarmsinmyarms [2021-10-03 20:32:46 +0000 UTC]

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SheTheTDE In reply to CommissarCarnifex [2021-10-03 06:22:13 +0000 UTC]

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WildbugWarrior1545 [2021-10-02 23:21:59 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to WildbugWarrior1545 [2021-10-03 21:39:33 +0000 UTC]

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Wesdaaman In reply to WildbugWarrior1545 [2021-10-02 23:44:46 +0000 UTC]

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Olmagon In reply to Wesdaaman [2021-10-03 21:51:33 +0000 UTC]

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Wesdaaman In reply to Olmagon [2021-10-04 01:02:31 +0000 UTC]

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