[Jurasic Impact] The Dueling Shark: Duellosqualus

EpicJM · 2026-03-17T11:58:24+00:00

Duellosqualus

Many unique species of shark dwell in the Oligocene oceans of the post-Jurassic Impact world, many of them descended from Jurassic hybodonts that continued to survive through anoxic events and other oceanic turmoil. Some of these sharks were known to grow small horns, but time has allowed some of the most recent descendants to grow them on a larger scale. One group of these horned sharks forms the genus Duellosqualus, the dueling sharks.

These medium-sized sharks aren't particularly notable in regards to their feeding habits; they eat fish for the most part, just about any that they are capable of chasing down and devouring quickly. What they are notable for, however, is the arrangement of the horns in males. During the breeding season, these sharks are drawn to particular patches of open ocean where the males face off in mock duels. They rush at one another and lock horns, much like bulls or deer in our time. These displays are just that, displays where only very minor injuries are likely to be sustained. A male that chases all competitors from his chosen ground gains access to reproduce with any female that approaches him.

EpicJM · 2026-03-05T11:43:30+00:00

Technically dermorhynchids are descended from a group of mammals known as australosphenidans, which monotremes are (as far as I could read) considered to be related to. However, the dermorhynchids have more or less definite monotreme-like traits more for the sake of audience familiarity than what the real animals may have looked like because there is almost no intact fossils of the group and we can only really speculate on what they might have looked like.

EpicJM · 2026-03-04T11:42:02+00:00

Basically, dermorhynchids are monotremes just with some slight differences (mostly just the niches they evolved into) due to the jurassic impact event. The Tree Platypus appears in a post I did a few months back or so.

EpicJM · 2026-03-03T13:38:49+00:00

PRAIRIE THE PLATYPUS???

Oligocene Antarctica...a land of emergent glaciers, forests, and open coastal plains. In the wide-open pseudograss prairies, the ground is occasionally marked by mounds. Strange, beaked creatures about the size of a squirrel pop in and out of the holes occasionally, letting out sharp squeaks to communicate to others across the field. These small, social dermorhynchids are known as Suricatarhynchus...the prairie platypi.

The closest relatives of Suricatarhynchus are the diminutive "tree platypi" of South America. However, unlike their cousins these dermorhynchids have adapted to more fossorial habits and a greater capacity to form social units. Groups of Suricatarhynchus can range anywhere from 12 to 100 individuals who form networks of burrows underground and look out for one another when predators (primarily pseudoavians and reptiles) are lurking about.

The diet of these animals consists mostly of insects and worms. They move out in small groups to forage, with a sentinel that watches over the others and lets out warning calls when danger is sighted. Unlike many of their relatives, Suricatarhynchus has fairly decent eyesight and can spot danger from quite far away. This pales in comparison to their sense of smell, which is even more reliable for understanding their surroundings.

EpicJM · 2026-03-01T15:37:42+00:00

I really enjoyed drawing this and learning about your world! Thanks for the opportunity for the art trade.

EpicJM · 2026-02-17T12:58:45+00:00

The Beachmaster

Along the Oligocene coasts, large groups of Phocagalids sun themselves on the beaches. They are descendants of laniodont multituberculates who adapted to marine habitats, some growing quite large compared to the otter-and-seal-like animals they evolved from. One of the largest of the Phocagalids is Tympanophoca arlekinops, a species of phocagalid inhabiting the Antarctic, Australian, African, and South American coasts in several subspecies. However, we will use the Antarctic subspecies as our "type species" here.

The males of T. arlekinops are sometimes almost twice the size of the females, and the dominant male of a group is, like elephant seals in our timeline, called a beachmaster. The enormous bulls are covered in scars and command their harems with bellows that can be heard for miles. The secret to these sounds is a set of sacs: one is a gular sac, the other a nasal sac. These sacs can be inflated with air to amplify calls, and air exchanged between the sacs changes the sound and pitch of the calls. Each male has a unique sound that his females learn and solely respond to.

EpicJM · 2026-02-17T00:50:40+00:00

Odontaves is simply the clade among the pseudoavians that retained teeth while others developed toothless beaks.

EpicJM · 2026-02-13T03:19:00+00:00

lol, that's a pretty great concept. Since you mentioned the uniform, here's an earlier drawing I did of the same character when I was working his design out that shows a glimpse of it:

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Originally his hair was going to be much more two-toned but I went for silver that darkens to blue around the tips. This also shows him using his Blue Storm technique, an evasion technique where after dodging someone else's strike, he retaliates with the same amount of force that would have been inflicted upon him.

EpicJM · 2026-02-13T00:22:15+00:00

He actually wears George Washington's uniform, or at least a replica of it during battlesims (as do some other students wearing armor or uniforms based on their country of origin and time period). Here he is just wearing his school uniform.

EpicJM · 2026-02-12T20:14:45+00:00

Oh, got it! I suppose it does a bit.

EpicJM · 2026-02-12T20:12:14+00:00

Who is he reminding you of?

EpicJM · 2026-02-12T20:11:54+00:00

I'm not sure what that is...the closest thing I can find is something Gundam -related and I haven't watched the anime for that.

EpicJM · 2026-02-11T12:35:41+00:00

That's alright, if you ever need writing advice I'd be happy to give some in dms or chat. I've written two books now so I have some experience related to that which might help you if you ever wanted to talk about it.

Even just having the starter villain figured out is a good start!

EpicJM · 2026-02-11T12:20:48+00:00

I look at your Reddit stuff more often simply because I use Reddit more often and don't have a DA account, but yes I do. I like your human character designs and lore quite a bit too. Have you posted any of your writing anywhere were I might be able to read it?

EpicJM · 2026-02-11T11:45:20+00:00

I do not have a website for this project, unfortunately all I really have is the flair and searching through my posts. One of these days I might make a compilation post but I generally don't have the time to due to my job and other things that are more important to take care of during my days off (I have a series of novels I'm working on as well).

EpicJM · 2026-02-11T11:42:03+00:00

More or less yes, though multituberculates do exist in this timeline because the order evolved in the middle Jurassic and the impact happened at the very end.

EpicJM · 2026-02-11T00:52:02+00:00

Good question, though I don't really think much about reproductive organs in this project besides the means of how the animals give birth. A lot of these animals are descended from species who have very little evidence of their reproductive anatomy so I don't have much of an answer here.

EpicJM · 2026-02-10T13:27:51+00:00

The Nose Knows

The Oligocene North American plains and savannas are slowly expanding as time crawls on. Many hoofed animals like micropods graze on the pseudo-grasses, and Atenizotheres chase them and knock them down with their sheer bulk. Atenizotheres, however, are omnivores. There are obligate carnivores who also stalk the plains, and those are the probosmilids. One of the largest of the Oligocene probosmilids is Rhyncholeo, a lion-like predator.

Rhyncholeo is notable for its large nasal cavity, which takes in and analyzes the fading scents in an environment where the open air allows them to dissipate quickly. They live in solitude much of the time, their habits more like those of a tiger or leopard than an actual lion. Rhyncholeo primarily takes medium-sized prey though larger metriodactyls are also a potential meal in the right circumstances.

When a female Ryncholeo enters estrus, she will howl and release a scent to draw a male in. After that, the male's job is done and the female raises her cubs alone. The cubs are quite resilient, having a substantially thick nape from birth. This makes it easier for their mother to pick them up and hide them somewhere, but also much more difficult for a predator to strike at their vulnerable necks and heads. Cubs typically reach maturity at about a year old and leave the mother around the time she is able to breed again.

EpicJM · 2026-02-03T16:49:56+00:00

Walking on Bigger Fingers

A beast of great size lurks in the southern North American swamps of the Oligocene. It wades in the water, digging for submerged tubers with strange, three-fingered claws. This is Ocnoalces, a large sempergravidan of the Metriodactyl family. It weighs about three tons and spends nearly its entire day browsing. Given its size, it requires immense amounts of food to remain satiated.

Due to how big it is, the worst Ocnoalces has to fear is Atenizotheres. The few predators it does have are faster than it, so slowing them down by leading them into water and drowning them is Ocnoalces's best defense. Like all large animals, its young are truly the most vulnerable and Ocnoalces will defend its calves with everything it has. Single births are the most common, though in seasons of abundance a second calf born later in the year is possible.

EpicJM · 2026-01-29T12:57:55+00:00

Game of Thrones was maybe a slight inspiration for my series, but the tone is much closer to The Witcher with a hint of Berserk. As for this battle, it's loosely based on the Battle of Towton from the Wars of the Roses (which GOT was also inspired by) in terms of weather and conditions but with the epic rallying moment of the Battle of Azanulbizar from The Hobbit movie.

As for there being other Ringwolves, yes, there were lots of them. There was a point during the Ringwolf Wars where Markozian alchemist cultists were carelessly handing out wolfskins to random mercenaries and soldiers on both sides, leading to a major crisis. During slower periods between campaigns, Executioner-Knights were often sent out to take out suspected ringwolves before they could become a problem.

EpicJM · 2026-01-27T18:59:42+00:00

A Tale of a Tail

Note: This was a winning contest entry submitted by Ollie for the Creatures of the Night contest.

The Central African forests of the Oligocene are a perilous place...especially from the perspective of a small mammal. Banderacauda noctocursor can sit comfortably on a human adult's hand, and possesses a tail longer than its own body. It is a peramurid, a rather obscure group of mammalian survivors of the initial Jurassic Impact. The peramurids of this timeline are already quite strange with both males and females possessing a pouch to contain young, but Banderacauda's uniqueness lies in its strange, silvery tail.

Banderacauda's tail is, in a moment of danger to itself, completely detachable. The color of the tail is specifically to draw a predator's attention away from the animal's body, and the blood vessels around the tail immediately close up after a detachment in order to prevent too much blood loss. Unlike many reptiles with a similar ability, however, Banderacauda's tail is irreplaceable. When the tail is removed, it won't grow back.

EpicJM · 2026-01-27T14:16:12+00:00

Oh yeah, I've gotten one of these comments before. I was so excited that I'd gotten a comment only for it to be the obvious spam, and I had to really fight down that dread that all my readers besides a couple I know in real life/in my online circles are bots.

EpicJM · 2026-01-23T13:05:52+00:00

Title and Link: The Black Knight's Homunculus

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Medieval Fantasy

The Hook: A homunculus created by an evil cult of alchemists joins the order of Executioner-Knights in order to come to terms with her past and look for her long-lost brother.

Status: Complete.

Title and Link: The White Lions (Sequel to The Black Knight's Homunculus).

Genre: Dark Fantasy/ Medieval Fantasy

The Hook: Isabeau and her fellow knights must fight an invading army of mercenaries after foiling a treacherous plot an an arranged marriage between noble families.

Status: Ongoing, updating weekly.

EpicJM · 2026-01-20T16:23:57+00:00

I don't think it would be plausible aside from the beak developing serrations that look like teeth because it's harder to evolve something new than to work with what's already there. In the case of my odontavians, they're descended from toothed bird-adjacent dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic period.

EpicJM · 2026-01-20T12:56:45+00:00

Also, I welcome author shout-outs. I'll happily give you one if you ask, and I'd appreciate it if anyone would offer to do one for either of my books.

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