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May 23, 2011
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:iconzippo4k:
There! Now who says I don't do anything for Affex?

Trust me, Affex is still alive and kicking, though I must admit, I feel as though when I do work on it I end up over thinking. Here is a revised Frann, Affex's iconic super predator. The Frann are large (up 4 feet at shoulder and 5-6 feet from snout to vent) and behave like big cats, with some hunting alone (like a mountain lion) and others hunting in small packs (though the structure of these groups I do not yet know).

Frann kill their prey with a pair of switch-blade like upper fangs, while a set of four or fives lower dental units are used to rasp flesh from kills. Frann, unlike many competing predators, do not have a 'bite'. However, also unlike many competing predators, they are reproductively more efficient, being marsupial and ovoviviparous (young hatch early from weakly developed eggs inside a pouch in the mother's body cavity, where they remain until they are strong enough to be left in a den.)
Most other unrelated Affexian predators are oviparous.

The frann here, unlike all those portrayed before, is covered in a thick layer of insulating fur, something I've been meaning to show off for a while.

A note to those watching: Affexian 'vertebrates' are undergoing a series of major systematic changes. Tetralobata is being dissolved and incorporated into the Hexalobate superclass. I cannot say for sure what will happen to the rest of the tree yet.
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:iconebervalius:
~Ebervalius Sep 27, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
I really like the way this thing looks like a therapspid :)
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:iconpyroraptor42:
Mood: Cheerful ~Pyroraptor42 Aug 8, 2011
Wow very cool alien!
Also, I come to see your stuff just for your nice tagline of futurama XD.
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:iconpovorot:
~povorot May 30, 2011
I gotta say, it always warms my heart to get an Affex update - you MUST GIVE US MORE!
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:iconzippo4k:
~Zippo4k May 31, 2011
Tell me about it. >XD
Read the front page of my DA account. I have a lengthy discussion with AmniotifOef about it.
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:iconcephylus:
~Cephylus May 25, 2011
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
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:iconamnioticoef:
~AmnioticOef May 23, 2011
Yes! Moses has come down from the mountain top! :D

The Frann's looking good in that fur coat. But why does it have a jaw if it can't bite?
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:iconzippo4k:
~Zippo4k May 23, 2011
That jaw doesn't close shut to give the animal a bite. Instead, the bone acts as a support for the odontophore (the cartilage that the dental units of the radula are attached to and that, in conjunction with muscles, allows for the rasping motion needed for feeding. That bone also can move the radula back (pivoting along a single hinge) to allow the animal to swallow some pieces of food whole. Also, the left & right 'proto-jaws' are not connected to one another, so the radulae can move independently if need be.

But, it's easy to see how it is pre-adapted to becoming a functioning jaw., which is almost certainly why vertically pivoting jaws have evolved at least three times.
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:iconamnioticoef:
~AmnioticOef May 24, 2011
Oh! I was wondering why jaws have evolved so many times on Affex. Still, the "tooth support" you have here looks too much like a fully developed jaw to me, to the point that the Frann could easily use it as one without any modification. A wishbone-like sliver would be better in my opinion.

To clarify: Am I right in thinking that the "chin" portion of the Affexian proto-jaw is the odontophore? Also, what muscles attach to that "sagittal crest"? The ones working the radula?
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:iconzippo4k:
~Zippo4k May 24, 2011
OK! Let's see if I can get this right so I don't have to redraw anything: The odntophore is a piece of cartilage atop which the radulary belt moves (this part is true for molluscs). The teeth shown here on the "proto-jaw" are not attached, despite what it may look like, but slide atop a smooth, round joint atop which is a plate of cartilage (the odontophore). The "proto-jaw" (mind you that's not what it's really called yet) serves two purposes: (1) it can move the entire radula much like you open your mouth in order to allow large, but swallow-able pieces of food in to be taken down whole, and (2) it serves as the site for muscles that control the radula to attach.

How's that for an explanation for now?
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:iconamnioticoef:
~AmnioticOef May 24, 2011
Sounds like a right good explanation to me. I like that the jaw is basically serves as a throat-expanding device.

And the top fangs, do they pivot on sea-urchin-like ball and socket joints? If so, can they be moved independently?
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