The frogs of the First Million-Part III

Hello again and welcome to the last First Million post and last part of our three weeks series of posts about the frogs of the very first Million of Years. Without further ado let's begin.

Incilia

This is the largest of all continents, spanning from the South to the North thus having a wide variety of biomes-And so being the only landmass to have the Taiga biome. It has a long mountain chain to the East, casting an enormous Rainshadow effect leaving a good part of the continent's interior dry whith the dominant biomes being the desertic ones.

Gluttons(Rhinella spp.)

Cane toads (Rhinella marina), known like that for being introduced to many parts of the world in order to combat the Cane beetle, a pest that attacks Sugarcane. Like many other introduced species the cane toad has become invasive and destructive due to its hardy behavior, being able to live in many habitats and eat a variety of prey. So it was not differnet here in Incilia, the toads became highly widespread in just a few decades because of the lack of predators and ample food availability. Their opressive presence has led to the evolution of new behaviors among their own relatives and in their distant cousins, the Colorado river toad, (Which we will talk about soon) but for now let's see such relatives of the Cane toad.

Carmesim toad(R. eythra)

The Carmesim toad -so called for its red-ish brown color- is a relatively small species of toad, averaging a Snout to vent Length of 20 centimeters, though, as practically all other frog species, they can grow larger if they get enough food. They suffered from the effects of Adaptive radiation, evolving a different diet so to not compete much with the Cane toads preferring a diet of invertebrates over other toads, with an even higher preference for ants. This can be seen in their physiology as they have a smaller head, yet they will not let the opportunity to eat a smaller relative.

Water cane toad(R. amphibia)

This cane toad has also adapted to avoid competition with its parent species, evolving to take on aquatic prey such as other toads, centipedes, isopods, etc. For this task they have webbed feet (in the picture i erroniously drew webbed hands too) and longer legs for underwater propulsion, which are also used to launch out of the water into the land when ambushing terrestrial prey. 

Desert dwellers(Incilia spp.)

Part of the diverse genus Incilius spp. these toads are as adaptable as the aforementioned cane toads, using of Niche partitioning to stay in a separate ecology compared to the more competitive Rhinellans. Even though they are described as desert dwellers these toads are find in steppes and savannas too, in fact this genus lives in really close association with water, always living near rivers hence why they are commonly called as River toads. This is ancestral to Heqetian Incilians as they descend specifically from the Colorado river toad who exhibits semi-aquatic adaptations and lifestyle.

 

 Brown river toad(I. fuscus)

 The smallest species on the continent, the Brown river toad thrives by being more Fossorial, digging burrows where they rest. Coming to hunt during night they will forage in "dry soil" and underwater or in water edges, their dark coloration makes them blend in with the dark nights better. These toads can Aestivate during dry periods.

Brown-headed river toad(I. fuscucephalus)

 This toad is the largest of this genus, averaging at 20 centimeters SVL, however they can grow larger principally in environments with less competition. They are Sympatric with the cane toads and compete with them for food. They forage both near and away from water, preferring terrestrial habitats.

White river toad(I. albus)

 The last of the toads this species is very adept for dry environments, their light coloration helps them blend in with their generally sandy environments. As every species from this genus they will hunt both inland and underwater.

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This was the last post detailing the frogs of the First Million, it is impossible to describe every single animal, plant and fungi that appeared around this time and other time stops as this would take a very long time. Soon we will jump to the next time stop, 5 Millions of Years After Abandonment.

The frogs of the First Million-Part II

Today is Wednesday you know what that means? Another frog post, today we are looking at the continent of Batrachia, the second largest continent and home to two frogs, Dendrobates spp. and Phyllomedusa bicolor.

Batrachia

Batrachia is, as mentioned above the second largest continent and also the middle continent, in between Bufia and Incilia. It is quite dry evem though warm equatorial currents hit its East side, that is due to the mountain chain present here that even though it is not so high, it causes some Rainshadow effect what leaves the interior of the continent dry, with the predominant biomes being that of savanna, steppe, xeric shrubland and arid desert. While there are some forests in areas that encounter warm currents such as the rainforests of the East coast, mediterranean climates from the tips of the continent, the Western and Northern temperate forests.

 

The leaf frogs(Phyllomedusa spp.)

Giant leaf frogs are frogs from the Genus Phyllomedusa, specifically from the species P. bicolor. They are known for their skin secretions that are used by indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest who claim that the poison grants strength or even cure diseases. One of their main characteristics is the extreme size difference between males and females of the species whith the latter being the double of the male's size. Being the largest species in the continent plus the adaptability already present on the other species from this genus on Earth this frog has a predisposition for taking available niches due to the aforementioned Adaptive radiation, exactly what happened here.

Cannibal giant leaf frog(P. gigas) 

This phyllomedusid is slightly larger than their ancestral, however their key difference is not physical but behaviorial. These frogs are very active and aggressive, hunting ivertebrates but principally other frogs including their own species such as the males, who are smaller than females. Other than this predacious behaviour no other customs have chnaged much.

Diver giant leaf frog(P. hydrica)

This and the following species have changed behaviorally in quite a drastic way... The Diver giant leaf frog descended from the trees onto the many rainforest's rivers, evolving adaptations for their new life as semi-aquatic predators. Webbed feet is such an adaptation, being used for better underwater propulsion. Another adaptation for a semi-aquatic life-style is not physical but as all other species from this genus, behaviorial. For this new way of living these frogs, as mentioned before have forgone climbing trees and live mostly near water, coming to land from time to time. As they live close to the water they don't have the need of laying eggs in leaves above water, instead laying eggs directly onto the water with a foam-nest for protection of the eggs.

Ground giant leaf frog(P. grada)

The last but not less important species, the Ground giant leaf frog exploits a niche that the other frogs on the continent don't, large terrestrial frogs. This niche isn't occupied by any other frog as the poison dart frogs are not large enough to compete with the Giant leaf frogs and so this niche was free to be taken. Thus this frog predates upon many animals on the soil including other frogs. Their egg-laying behaviour is somewhat a mix of both previous species, being able to lay eggs above water, hanging on leafs glued together and underwater too, among plants and protected by a "foam".

The new dendrobates(Dendrobates spp.)

Dendrobates spp. is a genus of small frogs native to the Amazon rainforest well known for having their potent poison being used by indigenous people in their blowdarts, which has led to this genus being commonly called as Poison dart frogs. They get their characteristic poison from the invertebrates they consume, what exactly is unknown but it is suggested that some mites and other invertebrates. This selective feeding of only these toxic animals is, added to their diminute size a problem that this genus encountered when adaptive radiating into new species. Yet they suceeded and here are some of the new species from this genus.

Leaf poison dart frogs(D. saltatorius)

The first species we take a look at is known as Leaf poison dart frogs, this is due to their green coloration that somewhat resembles a leaf. They have pactically doubled in size compared to their ancestral species, D. auratus which had an average of between 2-3 centimeters in Snout-to-vent lenght. This comparatively larger size is due to both the great lack of predators and for better locomotion, as their small size grants small jumps, which are not great in an arboreal environment that demands changing from tree to tree in order to reach new hunting grounds. Eggs of this species are laid inside of small water pools formed in the "cups" of bromeliads, where the tadpoles will feed on algae and mosquito larvae, plus any other small animal that may find itself in the pools.

Dead leaf poison dart frog(D. terrestris)

In the same way the Leaf poison dart frog is inconspicuous when sitting on leafs the Dead leaf poison dart frog becomes camouflaged among dead leafs in the ground. They are the descendants of D. leucomelas that-as all other new dendrobatids- doubled in size due to relative lack of predators. These brown-colored frogs live in social groups-which is quite unusual for frogs. Such armies are comprised of 6-10 individuals and will fight with other armies over territory. This species can be found on the monsoon forests that are the frontier between rainforest and savanna, in such locations the frogs aestivate to avoid the summer heat.

Common poison dart frog(D. vulgaris)

Both D. terrestris and D. vulgaris are found primarily on the ground, with the latter being less widespread compared to the former even though it receives the name of Common poison dart frog. This species is one of the least changed, both behaviorially and physically, with the most noticeable change being their size.

Water poison dart frog(D. hydricus)

The last frog species we will see today. Descendant from the subspecies D. tinctorius azureus they sport generally a blue coloration used in camouflage underwater as they are the only semi-aquatic species of the genus. They show Countershading, having a dark blue on their backs and lighter tones on the belly and limbs. These Poison dart frogs are the least toxic as they dont feed so much on their previous prey, now foraging underwater and near the water's edge. Curiously this species has tadpoles that can endure slightly brackish waters, and larvae populations that live near the ocean display the behaviour of swimming downstream into brackish waters when evading predators. Though the larvae can resist salt levels in the water of up to 1225 ppm(parts per million) the adults cannot outstand that much salt around them.

The frogs of the First Million-Part I

 Frogs are the main focus of this project, hence why the project's name is "Batrachiterra" which roughly translates to "Frog Earth". In the next two weeks we will see how frogs diversified in the first million of years since humans abandoned the planet, from the West to the East we will have a look at some of the anurans from the continents of Bufia, Batrachia and Incilia.

Bufia

 The continent of Bufia is heavily forested, its position in between the southern Horse Lattitude and the Southern Polar Front makes it get hit by the warm currents that create a Mediterranean climate in the West of the continent. This position aids even more in the climate of Bufia as the Winds that come from the South bring humidity further inland. The result is a Continent whith dense forest cover.

Uncommon toads

There was only one frog species seeded on the continent, the Common toad, Bufo bufo. Like all other species of frogs and most of the other seedlings(Animals, fungi and plants seeded) they passed through the process of Adaptive radiation, in which organisms evolve into new niches after new resources are added to their environment. In our context the frogs were added to a new environment.

Bufo gigas, the Giant toad

These toads evolved a larger head and body size(20 cm SVL) compared to the ancestral toad due to abundant prey and lack of competition. They also have smaller Paratoid glands due to lack of predators as these toads are the largest on the continent.

Bufo viridiverruca, the Green wart toad

These toads have a different behavior compared to its relatives. They have webbing between their toes that extend further compared to their more terrestrial ancestral. This is due to their semi-aquatic habits, spending most of their lives underwater. Green wart toads hunt(as most frogs) anything that fits in their mouth, this includes tadpoles of other species, to avoid accidentaly consuming their own tadpoles the males of this species will defend the larvae who will follow it around.

Bufo stracus, the Spike butt toad

The final toad of today, the Spike butt toad is another toad that deviates from the ancestral toad. They are fossorial and dig burrows in which they live, they hunt the occasional earthworm inside their burrows, but mainly forage during night above ground. Their names comes from a curious adaptation, this species has two pointy "warts" in the region of their ischium used to war off predators that may enter their burrows.

1 Million of Years After Abandonment

 The first one million of years is the start of adaptive radiation on the planet Heqet. Many animals and plants started to diversify and specify here, few new Genera appeared, instead the specification led to new species and Subspecies in preexisting genera. The globe was warmer than modern Earth, around 17 degrees celsius, creating a suitable environment for cnidarians, molluscs, most insects and invertebrates, plants and anurans. This is thought to have helped in the diversification and specialization of fauna and flora around the world.

 Continents

There were three main continents at this time, from smallest to largest they are Bufia, Batrachia and Incilia. Each continent has its endemic set of anurans, Bufia has the common toad, Batrachia have the poison dart frogs and giant leaf frogs while Incilia have cane toads and colorado river toads. The continent of Bufia also have endemic alderflies and lacks bromeliads and passion fruits, alongside carpenter bees.

The majoriality of Bufia was covered by the biome of temperate forest with a mountain chain in the north of the continent. Batrachia was majoritarialy savannah with a mountain chain forming on the west. Incilia was mostly desertic as the extense mountain chains in the east created a rainshadow effect stronger than that in Batrachia.

 

Diversification 

The severe lack of most angiosperms and gymnosperms, tetrapods and invertebrates alongside the total absence of fishes led to the major diversification of the seeded groups, passionfruits, pines, grasses, frogs and principally the invertebrates like dipterans, hymenopterans, miryapods and isopods. Who filled the niches that other groups would have filled on earth.

Flora

With a mid gap in floral species it is expected that many new species evolved to fill in the ecological vacuums, pines dominating most of the world while the arboreal passionfruits took advantage of the lack of specialization to tropical climates of the pines to explode in diversity in tropical regions.

Fauna

Unlike plants there was a massive lack of fauna on the planet Heqet, who led to a major adaptative radiation event, hence the name of this time period. Without herbivores to compete with the millipedes they have grown larger, eating a wide variety of plants or specializing on specific species, most of these large millipedes were somewhat the size of the largest millipede on present Earth, the giant african millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas). Centipedes have experienced great diversification without arachnid and insect competition, but were somewhat limited by frogs where they coexisted. Robber flies were the main predators in open landscapes, predating on all sorts of prey, their monopoly as aerial predators lasted for as long as they were the sole volant predators on the planet. Mosquitoes remained largely the same as they kept feeding on the blood of animals and the nectar of plants, though they had a lot of competition with the carpenter bees as the latter was already specialized to the seeded plants and the plants mosquitoes were specialized into pollinating, (Orchids) were'nt seeded. Both terrestrial and marine gastropods became important herbivores growing to large sizes similarly to the giant African snail (Achatina achatina) in land snails and similar sizes to the sea hare Aplysia vaccaria among marine slugs. Tunicates, cnidarians and cirripedes were the sole filter feeders of the world, some growing to incredible sizes.

The frogs maintained in the same kind of niche as small to medium sized hypercarnivores, and have specialized into other more specific niches (dietary specifications, period of activity, habitat, etc.) in order to avoid competition with the progenitor species.

Prologue

In the not-so-distant future, humans have technologically advanced quite a bit, principally in terms of space travel. Humans can terraform Earth-sized planets and moons at their will, using their new homes to live, mine metals, farm animals, plants, and study certain substances, components, fauna, diseases, and even weapons in a controlled ambient environment. Such an environment is the planet Frog world. Frog World, frog's world, Frog world, many names are used to refer to the planet Heqet, in a close solar system where humans settled in to study frogs. But why study frogs?

The enterprise that did this process of terraformation, called Batrachotechnologies, began the project in order to study, breed, and preserve frog species that became endangered on Earth. They aimed not only to preserve frogs but also study their poison, the batrachotoxin, in order to make vaccines, medicines and antidotes against diseases and poisons respectively. They brought to the planet the following frog species: The genus Dendrobates commonly known as poison dart frogs, the Cane toad Rhinella marina, Giant leaf frog Phyllomedusa bicolor, the Common toad Bufo bufo, and the Colorado river toad Incilius alvarius.

The terraformation was done trough some decades, the process started when the first spacial stations settled in the solar system. The atmosphere of the planet was very similar to Earth's one, but it still needed to be changed, massive machines called 437H3-R were sent to produce gases such as oxygen in high quantities. Later on, more machines were sent, now the L1L1-P0D's, who bred phyto-plankton such as algae, an important component in order to stay with the oxygen levels alright. But L1L1-P0D's also bred Zoo-plankton needed to keep the numbers of algae in check. Then it was time for "greater" life get in, drones nicknamed 533D-3R launched spores of mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi in the continents, "pioneer species" who helped to break down nutrients from rocks, a necessary thing in order to get trees in the planet later on. But in the seas life seeded was more diverse, aquatic plants and animals were seeded to kind of establish the ecosystems of the oceans. Why "kind of"? Detritivores and primary consumers were added, but, for unknown reasons, no fish species was added, so, the ecosystems were kind of incomplete.

Then the last part of the seeding process started, once the pioneer species did their job the long term species came in. Trees, vines, grasses and bromeliads were seeded, and following them invertebrates too, such as pollinators and their predators.  The terraformation thus proceeded, and humans and frogs could now settle in to start research and breeding respectively. However, the plans to peacefully research the poisons were suddenly changed, the enterprise was purchased by an ex-military who aimed to use the research to make bio-weapons and sell them to violent organizations suchs as mafias and terrorists, the GCL: Galactic Council of Life, discovered the plans of the new owner and proceeded to interrupt the enterprise, locking their access to the solar system, evacuating the planet and leaving the new inhabitants of the planet to their own luck, in order to adapt, evolve, and thrive, on the planet of frogs.

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