This Is An Aerial Ecosystem Inhabited By Floating Creatures That Utilize Gas Sacs Within Their Bodies

Desert creature

I've decided to start posting sketches more often, as they comprise over 90% of my artistic time. This is the Greater Parvasalia. It travels in large groups, is about the size of a hamster, and is generally non-aggressive. More details as they are developed.

Passengers

The Purple Slow Walker is primarily photosynthetic, but occasionally it must travel to acquire additional resources. It retracts its mobile roots, extends its tube legs, and begins the tedious journey to better feeding grounds. Groups of slow walkers congregate around a large carcass, exogenously digesting the flesh and absorbing the coctail through their extended roots. This is the opportunity the passengers have been waiting for. Not only do they rely on the walker for shelter and free transport, but also as a source of pre-digested nutrients they can pilfer from their host's method of carrion consumption. Whether the passengers provide the walker anything in return for its efforts is unclear.

New Lands

Tripodal Plains Runner

An agile and fast herd-dwelling inhabitor of the open plains, this creature posesses no true jointed appendages. Its legs and periscope are comprised of rigid, yet flexible hydraulic tubes. Sensory organs are clustered on the top of its upward-pointing appendage to give maximum perspective even during more vulnerable moments like feeding.

Grandulus

Trifasciatus grandulus

I should preface the description of this creature by giving a short statement about the natural history of its home planet. Early in its evolutionary history, life on this world did not split into such rigidly defined taxa as it did on Earth. For example, the majority of multicellular earth-life is divided into autotrophic creatures (plants) which are immobile, and the highly mobile heterotrophs (animals). On grandulus’s planet, the peculiar biochemistry allows for a much higher rate of horizontal gene transfer and endocytosis. This means that instead of a taxonomic “tree of life” like on Earth, their evolutionary history looks more like a web. In short, this allows for a wide array of photosynthetic, yet mobile creatures. The grandulus is one of these. It moves around slowly with its sticky appendages and positions itself in a spot with maximum sunlight to unfold its inflatable photosynthetic organ from its posterior shell. It also feeds on the internal fluids of metaflora, as well as decaying organic matter. Its many species range in size from that of a quarter to the size of a hippo.

A Universe Below

Almost no sunlight penetrates the thick canopy of the glow forest. As a result, organisms in this ancient biome have evolved a massive array of survival strategies using bioluminescence. Some emit light to attract mates or warn against predators. And some, strangely, illuminate themselves in order to be eaten.

Sunworshipper

By our terrestrial standards, the coloration on this creature may seem vivacious or even gaudy, but in its native habitat it actually serves as cryptic camouflage. Its planet orbits a star with different color output than our own, and photosynthetic systems have adapted to reflect a different color than our earthly green plants. The sunworshipper, like many other mobile creatures here, receives a portion of its energy from photosynthesis - as evidenced by the specially-adapted appendages radiating from its body.

Forest Floor

The long tendrils of the Purple Spire Creeper encircle this forest community deep in the valley. Following its traditional hunting path by the river, the predatory Veloxos has spotted its prey – a Dish-Faced Septaped that emerged from the undergrowth for a drink. The Septaped’s teal, reflective surface camouflages it well in its dimly-lit damp home on the forest floor, but now out in the open it appears as a shining beacon. After this brief instant of mutual acknowledgment, the race begins. The Veloxos’ three powerful hydraulic legs can propel it with surprising swiftness to get it within striking range of its harpoon-like proboscis, which extends almost instantaneously to the full length of its body. The Septaped is a formidable quarry. Though it possesses no defensive mechanisms, the seven muscular legs aligning its body can nearly teleport it back to its shady lair - where it will become lost in the shadows. The perpetual arms-race of natural selection continues daily all across the planet with countless moments such as this.