Metazoica

 I found this article very interesting. Apparently, taxonomic names can be used more than once. So, a few of the names I had to change before, I changed back. For example, Dolichotragus is back to being called Juncus . It's the name of a reed, but I am also using it for a slender therapedid on my list. It's actually a name I gave the animal back when I first created it in the 1980s. So, I think I should continue using it. Now that I have read this article, I know that it is OK. I'm posting the article here, as I thought this might help anyone creating their own futuristic project. If you want to read the full article, you can also view these rules at this link . Rules for assigning scientific names have become well codified in order to keep the names internationally unambiguous and understandable. The full set of rules is rather involved, but the most important parts are fairly simple: Rules for ZoologyBinomens - A genus name is one word. A species name is binomial -- the ...

 Well, I kinda got a burst of inspiration from working on the Australian bush foxes yesterday. So, I've been working on my checklist for Metazoica. I thought it was proper to add the other foxes to the canine family in the Metazoic, because to be honest with you, I don't believe foxes are going anywhere. There's a slight difference. There are 4 genera of foxes, instead of simply using the one that is classified today. I divided the genus Vulpes into 4 separate genera. I'm using not only Vulpes (northern forest foxes), but also Fennecus (for old world desert foxes), Neocyon (for American prairie foxes) and Alopex for the arctic and corsac foxes. Then, of course I added Urocyon , which is a genus currently in use today for the gray foxes. I also added a few species of my own to these genera. For example, the silver and "cross fox" are separate species in the genus Vulpes . Today, they are simply mutations of the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ). But, I figure by t...

 I was surfing the internet yesterday. I was looking for a picture of a particular animal for a project I'd like to somehow work on that has NOTHING to do with Metazoica or speculative biology. I was looking for a picture of a numbat. A numbat, in case you didn't know, is a small marsupial, said to be related to the extinct Tasmanian tiger. It's one of Australia's most beautiful animals, IMO. Well, I've known about numbats long enough to know one when I see one. But what I found was definitely not numbats! Eventually I did find a pic of a numbat, but these pics I found caught my eye and captured my heart and imagination. Apparently, they are AI generated. The coloring was almost reminiscent of a numbat, but the structure of the body and head were very different. The appearance was more like that of a cross between a mongoose and a fox. With a little bit of a squirrel thrown in there. Well, this gave me a new idea. I do need some more entries for my checklist to fina...

 An amazing event happened now, in 2024, that has only happened twice before in Earth's history. Watch this video for details... It looks like new life may be emerging. The first time this happened on Earth, it gave us mitochondria. The second time brought plants that get their nutrients from the sunlight. So, I wonder in the next billion years, what lifeforms are going to spring up from this symbiotic merging. Modern scientists already have a name for this new potential of life. They called them "Nitroplasts". Probably because they feed on nitrogen in the air. But either way, scientists are very excited about this event happening right before our eyes. It's a very rare event that truly only happens once every billion years. To me, this is exciting. The potential for new lifeforms is amazing. And to think, it's happening right now, in my lifetime! Of course I will not be around to see what is made of this, but the thought of what it could turn into is an exciting ...

So, what vertebrates have been the most successful throughout the history of the world? Was it dinosaurs? No. They were around for about 250 million years before they went extinct 65 million years ago. I'd say insects but I don't think they count. LOL! I think it's perhaps the mammals that are the most successful. Why? Because they ruled the land twice. It started in the Permian period. I used to look at mammals as evolutionary losers. Especially after Jurassic Park and what I learned about dinosaurs after becoming fascinated by them in the movie. It was actually reading Dougal Dixon's book that made me a believer in the age of mammals. In the Permian, we had synapsids. We cannot call them "mammal-like reptiles" anymore, but they were reptiles with mammal-like characteristics. Most people today refer to them as "mammaliformes". Which is a name I originally was going to assign to the mammals of tomorrow because there are a few distinct differences bet...

 Lately, I have been working a lot on my Metazoic mammal checklist. I have been inspired. Now, I am taking to naming some of the animals on that list after famous historical figures, like my favorite actors and composers and musicians. Even some modern actors that are worth falling for. There aren't many, believe me! But I do have a few newbies to the checklist. I am still trying to reach that 4000 species goal. Once I do that, I'll try to go for another 1000 species. Then another, and so on and on. I intend to make this my greatest accomplishment ever! I already have animals named after old buddies I've had on Facebook, even though I am not speaking to most of them anymore. But their names still fill a void. Hard as that is to say! At the same time though, very enthralling! Anyways, they are there, and there's nothing I can do about it now. To erase any of them now would be like seeing that species go extinct. I've added to some families, and even created at least ...

A new page is up. I have decided to create another entire page to display size comparisons between different species of Metazoic mammals. I had something similar to this on the other site, where I had size-charts. I've decided to dispense with that on this site, and instead, I have a whole page devoted to size comparisons. This time, they are in video form. They could change as more genera and species are added to certain families. But this is what I've got for now. As of this date, there is only a few videos. But as time goes on, more and more will be added as I work on them, along with more pages for mammal families in the Meet The Mammals section. I am also still working on the book. That is a task in it's self! It's been tough balancing the book with other projects I am needed to work on. So, it is a slow process. This is also why I haven't been working on the Meet The Mammals section lately. But I am trying to get back in the groove. All I can say is please ...