11-13-2019, 04:43 PM
I have removed the (SUGGESTED) and (UPDATE) tags from the latest bits that you’ve approved here.
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Notovenatoridae
I had been putting together the phylogenetic tree on paper anyway, for my own reference, so making that “tidy” version of it seemed worthwhile… and it did come out looking quite good, I agree. ;-) A tree for the closely related family ‘Noctoscansoridae’ will follow as well, once the last few of the Genus names needed have been sorted out: The rest of it is already done, but unfortunately some of the Genus names that I wanted to use have turned out to be unavailable due to previous use [for little-known animals] in RL so I need to come up with suitable alternatives without just re-using the same set of elements “too many” times.
I have re-written that section slightly to merge the original & added sections more neatly. Also, I have changed the name’s spelling from “Noto-” to the [possibly] more correct “Notio-”.
Birds
‘Turquoise-Crowned Crane’: So the crown feathers are blue enough to show up reasonably well against [most] vegetation, but green enough to show up reasonably well [usually] against the daytime sky, okay. I don’t know the Latin word for “Turquoise” itself — if there even is one — so am giving this species the scientific name ‘Balearica cyanea’ which hopefully conveys the meaning well enough… Okay?
The scientific name for the ‘Bustrich’ is ‘Struthiotis summerleei’, meaning “Summerlee’s Ostrich-bustard”, to commemorate a renowned [Human] zoologist who did some work in this general area (but who did not himself choose this name for the bird…). The continent-endemic family within which it belongs is the Struthiotidae, which contains only this one genus today — although there are probably a few others described IC (or potentially to be described IC, eventually, anyway) from fossils as well — but with several species inside this. This is a sister-group to the family Otidae, containing the Bustards themselves, which was quite recently recognised [in RL] as being more closely related to the Cuckoos than — as had previously been thought — to the Cranes and was therefore moved out of the Cranes’ order ‘Gruiformes’ into a separate Otidiformes instead.
The Bustrich is slightly smaller than an Ostrich in size, typically, but larger than a Rhea: Adult males tend to be larger than adult females, by maybe 25% in height & length and up to 50% in weight. Their plumage is a mottled brown, significantly lighter on the neck, chest, & underside, with the ‘contrast’ greater (within the mottling itself, as well as between that part of the plumage section and the paler ones) in adult males than in females or young. Although they cannot fly they still retain stubby wings, which are used in displays by the males and to shelter their young from excessive sunshine by brooding females: Possibly the young use them for assistance in propulsion when running up slopes, too. They have three toes on each foot, two in front and one behind, and normally walk or stand using all three but may rise onto just the front pair when running at speed. Their diet consist mainly of seeds and some fruit, lizards and sometimes snakes, large insects, and very occasionally small mammals as well. They may follow herds of grazing mammals around, to exploit prey startled into the open by those, just as Ostriches do. The females do most of the work in incubating their eggs, although the males commonly also take shorter turns and will often stand guard nearby at other times as well. The form of “colonial” incubation seen in Ostriches is not practiced by these birds, but several pairs will often nest quite closely together in order to benefit from each other’s alertness to the presence of possible predators: There is some evidence that this is more likely to occur where the females are siblings.
The main reasons why I want our ‘secretary-bird/seriema equivalent to be related to cranes rather than [also] to bustards are that (1) I want this continent’s prehistoric fauna to have included a now-extinct lineage of ‘Terror Cranes’, rather like those of RL South America in form & function, and although the RL ones are now recognised as being not members of the “true” Cranes’ own order (having been moved, along with the related Seriemas, into a newly-erected order that is more closely related to the Falcons, Parrots, & Passerines…) deriving their counterparts here from a crane-like bird looks easier than doing so from a bustard-like one; and (2) given the name ‘Terror Cranes’, I thought that it would be nice if this lineage really was related to the “true” Cranes after all.
(I could have used certain prehistoric relatives of the RL “true” Cranes as ancestors for our ‘Ostrich’ equivalent, too, but only found out about those after I had already placed Bustriches on my list of the region’s possible birds… Possibly we have those, or at least had them in prehistory, on the northern continent instead…)
I am giving our ‘Secretary-bird’ equivalent the colloquial name of ‘Inspector-bird’, because of the way in which it seems to peer intently at the ground as it walks along foraging… “Specter” for short. The Latin name for its genus will be ‘Invigilator’, if that is available which I still need to check.
I have added the above details about these three species to the post ‘Birds: non-‘Passeriformes’ (II)’, as well.
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Re the Mousebirds: I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t make them as curious about humans (who have arrived only recently in their territory, after all) as the RL ‘Tufted Titmouse’ is, if you like: Yes/No?
In terms of appearance, that ‘Tufted Titmouse’ reminds me a bit of the ‘European Crested Tit’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_crested_tit), and the ‘Long-tailed Tit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_tit) also springs to mind as a possible comparison in some respects (although that uses feathers – possibly even scavenging some of them from other birds’ corpses! —rather than fur as a nest-lining) as well… Not that I’ve ever seen & recognized any members of either species in the wild, unfortunately. The use of hair or fur as a nest lining by birds isn’t unknown over here, though, and I’ve read about at least one species that quite often takes wool from [live] sheep…
Some species of birds line their nests with plant material that has insect-repelling properties, to help protect their young from parasites. Here in the UK, at least some urban populations of ‘House Sparrows’ have expanded that behaviour to include using discarded cigarette-ends, because of Nicotine’s insecticidal role. Unfortunately for the owner of one cottage with a thatched roof, one sparrow that was building a nest just under its eaves neglected to ensure that all of the cigarette-ends it was using there had been completely extinguished… ;-) (True story!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Of course we can have something similar to the Lilac-breasted Roller! In fact, Rollers are already on the list — alongside the related Kingfishers and Bee-eaters — although without any individual species named yet, anyway… Maybe go with a NS-related concept and make this one the ‘Violet Roller’?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I have added some notes about another IDU-endemic family of birds whose range I think might extend into your nation to the post ‘Birds: non-‘Passeriformes’ (I)’, under the ‘(SUGGESTED)’ tag, as well. This is the family Falcostrigidae, which contains the ‘Falcon-Owlets’ and [probably extinct] Falcon-Owls.
Trees
Baobab trees were something that I’d considered briefly already but had then decided not to suggest. They are “cool”, I agree, but — even leaving aside the lack of overlap between their [current] RL range and the areas from which I saw this continent’s ancestral flora & fauna as having originated — they’re really specialised to cope with drier conditions than even your nation’s driest areas seem likely to have… and even if you do have a few small patches of suitable habitat for them those would probably be too far from any already-established population for colonisation to be likely. You can have them if you insist, of course, as this is your nation, but if so then I’ll leave explaining their presence for you to do…
The ‘seasonal’ woodland in some of the drier areas in your nation’s interior might, however, include one species of tree from the coniferous family Araucariaceae whose prehistoric range on RL Earth was wide enough to “justify” this even though it’s much more restricted nowadays. This is the family that contains the ‘Monkey-Puzzle Tree’ of RL Chile and its closest relatives, today with only one other species in South America and the rest restricted [in the wild] to Australasia (including the island of New Caledonia, to which about a dozen species are endemic, and nearby Norfolk Island whose native ‘Pine’ — spread elsewhere as a garden plant —is also a member) & parts of south-eastern Asia : During the Mesozoic Era it also had members in [e.g.] North America (giving Arizona’s ‘Petrified forest’) and England (giving ‘Whitby Jet’, which has been used in jewellery…). If you have a tree that’s a lot like the Momkey-Puzzle itself then not only would this be “cool” to look at but it would provide nutritious & tasty — although, admittedly, rather difficult to access — seeds.
I’ve remembered another tree-derived crop from RL Earth that your people could try to grow here, too: Macadamia Nuts. This species originated in the coastal rainforests of Australia, but a high proportion of today’s commercial production takes place in Hawaii instead so evidently spreading the species to new homes [with suitable climates] is practical.
_____________________________________________________
Notovenatoridae
I had been putting together the phylogenetic tree on paper anyway, for my own reference, so making that “tidy” version of it seemed worthwhile… and it did come out looking quite good, I agree. ;-) A tree for the closely related family ‘Noctoscansoridae’ will follow as well, once the last few of the Genus names needed have been sorted out: The rest of it is already done, but unfortunately some of the Genus names that I wanted to use have turned out to be unavailable due to previous use [for little-known animals] in RL so I need to come up with suitable alternatives without just re-using the same set of elements “too many” times.
I have re-written that section slightly to merge the original & added sections more neatly. Also, I have changed the name’s spelling from “Noto-” to the [possibly] more correct “Notio-”.
Birds
‘Turquoise-Crowned Crane’: So the crown feathers are blue enough to show up reasonably well against [most] vegetation, but green enough to show up reasonably well [usually] against the daytime sky, okay. I don’t know the Latin word for “Turquoise” itself — if there even is one — so am giving this species the scientific name ‘Balearica cyanea’ which hopefully conveys the meaning well enough… Okay?
The scientific name for the ‘Bustrich’ is ‘Struthiotis summerleei’, meaning “Summerlee’s Ostrich-bustard”, to commemorate a renowned [Human] zoologist who did some work in this general area (but who did not himself choose this name for the bird…). The continent-endemic family within which it belongs is the Struthiotidae, which contains only this one genus today — although there are probably a few others described IC (or potentially to be described IC, eventually, anyway) from fossils as well — but with several species inside this. This is a sister-group to the family Otidae, containing the Bustards themselves, which was quite recently recognised [in RL] as being more closely related to the Cuckoos than — as had previously been thought — to the Cranes and was therefore moved out of the Cranes’ order ‘Gruiformes’ into a separate Otidiformes instead.
The Bustrich is slightly smaller than an Ostrich in size, typically, but larger than a Rhea: Adult males tend to be larger than adult females, by maybe 25% in height & length and up to 50% in weight. Their plumage is a mottled brown, significantly lighter on the neck, chest, & underside, with the ‘contrast’ greater (within the mottling itself, as well as between that part of the plumage section and the paler ones) in adult males than in females or young. Although they cannot fly they still retain stubby wings, which are used in displays by the males and to shelter their young from excessive sunshine by brooding females: Possibly the young use them for assistance in propulsion when running up slopes, too. They have three toes on each foot, two in front and one behind, and normally walk or stand using all three but may rise onto just the front pair when running at speed. Their diet consist mainly of seeds and some fruit, lizards and sometimes snakes, large insects, and very occasionally small mammals as well. They may follow herds of grazing mammals around, to exploit prey startled into the open by those, just as Ostriches do. The females do most of the work in incubating their eggs, although the males commonly also take shorter turns and will often stand guard nearby at other times as well. The form of “colonial” incubation seen in Ostriches is not practiced by these birds, but several pairs will often nest quite closely together in order to benefit from each other’s alertness to the presence of possible predators: There is some evidence that this is more likely to occur where the females are siblings.
The main reasons why I want our ‘secretary-bird/seriema equivalent to be related to cranes rather than [also] to bustards are that (1) I want this continent’s prehistoric fauna to have included a now-extinct lineage of ‘Terror Cranes’, rather like those of RL South America in form & function, and although the RL ones are now recognised as being not members of the “true” Cranes’ own order (having been moved, along with the related Seriemas, into a newly-erected order that is more closely related to the Falcons, Parrots, & Passerines…) deriving their counterparts here from a crane-like bird looks easier than doing so from a bustard-like one; and (2) given the name ‘Terror Cranes’, I thought that it would be nice if this lineage really was related to the “true” Cranes after all.
(I could have used certain prehistoric relatives of the RL “true” Cranes as ancestors for our ‘Ostrich’ equivalent, too, but only found out about those after I had already placed Bustriches on my list of the region’s possible birds… Possibly we have those, or at least had them in prehistory, on the northern continent instead…)
I am giving our ‘Secretary-bird’ equivalent the colloquial name of ‘Inspector-bird’, because of the way in which it seems to peer intently at the ground as it walks along foraging… “Specter” for short. The Latin name for its genus will be ‘Invigilator’, if that is available which I still need to check.
I have added the above details about these three species to the post ‘Birds: non-‘Passeriformes’ (II)’, as well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Re the Mousebirds: I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t make them as curious about humans (who have arrived only recently in their territory, after all) as the RL ‘Tufted Titmouse’ is, if you like: Yes/No?
In terms of appearance, that ‘Tufted Titmouse’ reminds me a bit of the ‘European Crested Tit’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_crested_tit), and the ‘Long-tailed Tit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_tit) also springs to mind as a possible comparison in some respects (although that uses feathers – possibly even scavenging some of them from other birds’ corpses! —rather than fur as a nest-lining) as well… Not that I’ve ever seen & recognized any members of either species in the wild, unfortunately. The use of hair or fur as a nest lining by birds isn’t unknown over here, though, and I’ve read about at least one species that quite often takes wool from [live] sheep…
Some species of birds line their nests with plant material that has insect-repelling properties, to help protect their young from parasites. Here in the UK, at least some urban populations of ‘House Sparrows’ have expanded that behaviour to include using discarded cigarette-ends, because of Nicotine’s insecticidal role. Unfortunately for the owner of one cottage with a thatched roof, one sparrow that was building a nest just under its eaves neglected to ensure that all of the cigarette-ends it was using there had been completely extinguished… ;-) (True story!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Of course we can have something similar to the Lilac-breasted Roller! In fact, Rollers are already on the list — alongside the related Kingfishers and Bee-eaters — although without any individual species named yet, anyway… Maybe go with a NS-related concept and make this one the ‘Violet Roller’?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I have added some notes about another IDU-endemic family of birds whose range I think might extend into your nation to the post ‘Birds: non-‘Passeriformes’ (I)’, under the ‘(SUGGESTED)’ tag, as well. This is the family Falcostrigidae, which contains the ‘Falcon-Owlets’ and [probably extinct] Falcon-Owls.
Trees
Baobab trees were something that I’d considered briefly already but had then decided not to suggest. They are “cool”, I agree, but — even leaving aside the lack of overlap between their [current] RL range and the areas from which I saw this continent’s ancestral flora & fauna as having originated — they’re really specialised to cope with drier conditions than even your nation’s driest areas seem likely to have… and even if you do have a few small patches of suitable habitat for them those would probably be too far from any already-established population for colonisation to be likely. You can have them if you insist, of course, as this is your nation, but if so then I’ll leave explaining their presence for you to do…
The ‘seasonal’ woodland in some of the drier areas in your nation’s interior might, however, include one species of tree from the coniferous family Araucariaceae whose prehistoric range on RL Earth was wide enough to “justify” this even though it’s much more restricted nowadays. This is the family that contains the ‘Monkey-Puzzle Tree’ of RL Chile and its closest relatives, today with only one other species in South America and the rest restricted [in the wild] to Australasia (including the island of New Caledonia, to which about a dozen species are endemic, and nearby Norfolk Island whose native ‘Pine’ — spread elsewhere as a garden plant —is also a member) & parts of south-eastern Asia : During the Mesozoic Era it also had members in [e.g.] North America (giving Arizona’s ‘Petrified forest’) and England (giving ‘Whitby Jet’, which has been used in jewellery…). If you have a tree that’s a lot like the Momkey-Puzzle itself then not only would this be “cool” to look at but it would provide nutritious & tasty — although, admittedly, rather difficult to access — seeds.
I’ve remembered another tree-derived crop from RL Earth that your people could try to grow here, too: Macadamia Nuts. This species originated in the coastal rainforests of Australia, but a high proportion of today’s commercial production takes place in Hawaii instead so evidently spreading the species to new homes [with suitable climates] is practical.