Hypothetical question for you: what if frogs ruled the Earth?
Not just terms in terms of numbers… but in terms of their position in the ecosystem.
Amphiterra is a speculative biology project by the talented artist and writer Roxy Valdez,
which imagines the incredible and surreal forms frogs might achieve if given the perfect
environment to evolve.
While the world of Amphiterra often looks like an alien planet, the artist imagines
it’s actually an alternate timeline of Earth, where subtly different climatic conditions
led to early amphibians out competing the first dinosaurs and protomammals.
What creatures will develop and thrive in this drastically different history?
For this entry into the archive, we’ll explore the fascinating possibilities of the Amphiterra
Project.
And remember to support Roxy Valdez on Patreon using the links below if you’re a fan of
this project.
Now let’s leap back 252 million years, and begin our tour through the timeline of Amphiterra...
Our epic tale of frog ascendency begins in the early Triassic, with the oldest member
of the frog lineage: the diminutive Triadobatrachus.
This amphibian is present in our timeline as well, but in the alternate world of Amphiterra,
the wetter, damper conditions will lead Triadobatrachus to be better suited for the period than early
synapsids and reptiles.
As a result, its descendants will rise to the top of this primordial Earth...
By the Late Triassic in what is now Nigeria, the Common Eofrog has emerged from the Triadobatrachus
— and represents the first major deviation from our world.
Brought on by the ideal conditions of this alternate timeline, the Eofrog is, essentially,
just a big frog.
But over many eons, it will provide the anatomical basis the most significant species of this
alternate reality.
The reign of the amphibians has now begun…
By the early Jurassic, the descendants of the Eofrog have evolved to fill various major
niches across the ecosystems of the world.
In the marshy plains, an effective early predator has emerged in the form of the amusingly named
Greater Moistboy.
While these lifeforms have a comical appearance, the advance they represent is tremendous,
having brought their limbs underneath their body to be taller and faster than their competition.
The Moistboy also possess an enlarged clavicular ring, which essentially functions like a ribcage
and helps support their growing weight.
Many of the most successful predators of the future will branch off from this design.
In the rainforests of what is now Northern Africa, the Marbled Snapapple perches on a
branch.
This early tree-dweller has evolved a creeping, unpredictable form of movement convergent
with our timeline’s chameleons, and will serve as a foundation for various unusual
offshoots.
Already it is becoming more sedentary — a lifestyle that will continue until it reaches
truly extreme levels…
In the forests of what is now Eastern Africa, another major tree climbing species has emerged
in the Lanky Frogget.
While they still spend some time on the forest floor, these thin, long-legged organisms are
expert climbers, patiently navigating from branch to branch.
Even more than the Snapapple, the Froggets descendants will be the champions of the world’s
canopies.
And the last major niche filled is that of the grazing herbivore, which is currently
occupied by the Lowland Dogus.
These heard dwelling lifeforms are cousins of the Greater Moistboy, and have similarly
made the critical advancement of raising their frame off the ground.
A wide range of future herbivorous megafauna will owe their evolutionary ancestry to the
Dogus — as the various Eofrog descendants continue to diversify and expand in number…
On the dry plains of the Cretaceous period, a mighty predator comes to rule.
The Bullpronks are the descendants of the Greater Moistboy — and have become efficient
pack predators.
They hunt grazing animals in coordinated prides, much like lions in our modern day.
To communicate while on patrol, Bullpronks can raise and lower their tails like signal
flags, and even flush them with color.
These tails are actually a retained trait from their tadpole stage, showing these lifeforms
have had to get creative to take over niches typically unassociated with amphibians.
And speaking of getting creative, in the misty rainforests of the north, the Mottled Suckerlump
is a creature whose specialized lifestyle has caused a tremendous shift in its body
plan.
Even more than their ancestors — the Marbled Snapples — these animals are incredibly
inactive, with some spending their entire adult life rooted to a single branch like
an amphibious barnacle.
As with our timeline’s flatfish, their anatomy seems absurd, yet is actually perfectly suited
for their methods of survival.
The Suckerlump’s lifestyle requires few calories, so they can subsist on the insects
that come into the range of their projectile tongue.
And with their characteristic mottled coloring, they effectively hide from insects . . . until
it’s too late.
And further along into the Cretaceous, an even stranger variant of the Suckerlump will
emerge under the waves.
The Tropical Frondle can be found nestled in the underwater shallows, and has a truly
bizarre lifestyle.
Beginning as a free-swimming tadpole, once they mature, they never develop limbs, becoming
completely stationary filter feeders.
This lifestyle requires little brain power, so like soft bodied ‘sea squirts’ of our
timeline, Tropical Frondle shockingly digest most of their brains upon reaching adulthood
— repurposing the valuable proteins elsewhere.
The Frondle’s most characteristic adult feature is their highly derived tongue, which
has evolved sticky branches to catch the planktonic organisms it survives on.
At this point in the timeline, some creatures have clearly become unrecognizable as amphibians…
And high in the treetops around the same period, a frog with an equally bizarre body plan makes
its home.
The Tree Frixel is a descendent of the Lanky Frogget, the other tree-dwelling specialist
that emerged alongside the Snapapple.
The Tree Frixel is even better adapted for the trees however, with a body plan that at
first seems implausibly awkward, but makes perfect sense when the Tree Frixel is in its
element.
Like our primates, Tree Fixels swing through the canopy above — with their hindlimbs
perfectly positioned to navigate from branch to branch, as this biomechanical visualization
illustrates.
As a result, the Tree Frixels have developed thumb-like digits, and a general rise in cognitive
ability.
Given time, they may give rise to something truly exciting…
One relative of the Frixel will take a very different path than its tree climbing cousins.
In the forests of our timeline’s Central America, you might spot a Gliding Alloo.
Thus far in the Amphiterran timeline, amphibians have yet to conquer the skies in the way our
birds or bats have, as their ectothermic, low metabolism bodies aren’t well equipped
for the rigors of powered flight.
But the Aloo has found a loophole.
To hunt, it climbs up trees and uses eyes rotated almost to the back of its head to
calculate the distance of its prey.
Once a target is locked, the Alloo leaps back-first towards the forest floor — using primitive
wings, and a specialized sac that inflates to provide drag to slow its descent.
As bizarre as the Alloo’s strategy might seem, it is not unlike the early dinosaurs,
Archeopteryx in our timeline, that achieved flight.
The future may yet hold skies dominated by the Alloo’s curiously inverted descendants.
Speaking of curious descendants, at the very end of the cretaceous period, the arid grasslands
will give rise to a creature so bizarre it’s at first difficult to comprehend.
This is an Inhabited Lorge — a slow, bulky herbivore that is the distant descendant of
the Lowland Dogus.
At a glance, the slow-moving Lorge might seem vulnerable to predation.
But the Lorge has its own private security in the form of the Colonial Gobolins — a
species that have evolved to live within the Lorge’s hump.
The tiny Gobolins are actually another branch of the Banded Suckerlump’s family tree,
and they have developed a close symbiotic relationship with their living nests.
At the first sign of danger, the Gobolin horde will exit the Lorge, and swarm the attacker
until it backs off.
It’s an effective strategy, yet this highly specialized pairing won’t have many offshoots
going forward in a changing world…
Yet another descendant of the Lowland Dogus will continue on.
Upon the cold tundra of the early Tertiary period, one amphibian has found an ingenious
way to survive the cold.
The Foaming Squander lives farther north than most amphibian megafauna can exist.
Yet the Squander stays warm thanks to its eponymous foam.
Specialized pores on the squander’s back produce a thick, towering covering of insulating
foam.
This foam is similar to the mucus coating some frogs in our timeline produce to keep
their skin moist.
The Squander’s foam is unique, however, as it traps heat within its structure, allowing
the Squander to roam the polar reaches.
With this clever adaptation, descendants of the Squander will be well equipped for the
cooling climate...
To the south, another species that will have many successful descendants dominates the
dry steppe.
The Steppe Fraggon is a carnivorous behemoth distantly related to the nimble pack hunting
Plains Bullpronk.
Now highly territorial, the massive Steppe Fraggon has no need for a pack, hunting all
on its own.
But the Steppe Fraggon is actually an omnivore, with a lifestyle that could be compared to
a bear, gorging itself to build fat for a winter hibernation.
As the planet continues to cool, the Fraggons will endure, and will diversify in unexpected
ways...
But one creature whose fate is more mysterious inhabits the trees of temperate environments.
High in the canopy, the astonishing Freeple live in elevated, wooden villages.
A descendant of the Tree Frixel, Freeple have achieved a level of intelligence roughly analogous
to a human.
Like male frigate birds, under their chin, Freeple have a highly developed gular sac
for communication.
But Freeple communication is highly complex, with their language almost comparable to a
curious form of morse code.
Even more curiously, it seems the Freeple vanish from the Amphiterran timeline several
million years after their evolution.
What fate befell these enigmatic creatures?
Did they die out, or given time, reach a level of advancement that allowed for a different
kind of exit?
We have no way to say for sure, but no matter the nature of their departure, the Freeple’s
absence makes room for even stranger species.
By the late Tertiary, an isolated island environment has given rise to a stunning lifeform.
The Splendid Fraggon is a descendant of the Steppe Fragon and has become a peaceful herbivore,
spending its day wading through swampy jungles on graceful, stilt-like legs.
With a vibrant coloring, a Splendid Fraggon silently picking their way through their island
home would likely be a magnificent sight.
They feed on mushrooms that grow in this region in abundance, forgoing the omnivorous lifestyle
of their ancestor…
On the mainland, however, another Fraggon descendant has taken the opposite path.
The Catastrophic Fraggon is the largest land-dwelling carnivore the world of Amphiterra has ever
seen.
The Catastrophic Fraggon’s rotund anatomy might seems surprising at a glance, as it
almost looks too bulky to be able to stand.
Yet examining the animal’s skeleton, the Fragon’s center of gravity is a clavicular
ring that began overdeveloping all the way back in the Greater Moistboy.
This hypertrophied ring acts as the lynchpin to the fraggon’s massive bulk.
While the catastrophic fraggon’s reign is amazing, it’s also rather short.
An impending drop in temperature will cause the age of the Fraggon to end prematurely.
Yet one type of Fraggon, already well adapted to the cold, will live on.
Stalking the newly formed tundra, the Arctic Fraggon thrives late into the Tertiary, protected
from the cold thanks to layers of blubber and a thick hide.
Its most unique adaptation to stay warm, however, is the thick coating of ‘fur’ on its underside.
These hairs are actually dermal papillae: tubes of skin and fatty tissue that trap warm
air against the Fraggon’s body.
And since the Amphiterran ice age is imagined to be less severe than our own, the Fraggons
have all they need to continue to thrive.
But there are other ways of surviving the cold.
A short distance south, the Eon Toad are a species with a very different method of enduring
the long winter months.
Not a type of Fraggon, the Eon Toad is actually a descendant of the Foaming Squander that
has traded its foaming coat for something even stranger.
Eon Toads enter a state of hibernation that can last multiple years, enduring periods
of minor freezing and unfreezing as it waits for the perfect spring to become active again.
While this type of cold protection has never been seen in an animal, some plants contain
cryoprotectors that stop their cells from lethal shrinkage while they allow themselves
to be frozen solid for long periods.
And on the subject of plants, the Eon toad will often wake to find many types of vegetation
have grown over its body, which can be harmful if left unchecked...
And in the same region, the final species of this timeline can be found — which serve
as an example of just how alien the fauna of Amphiterra can be.
The Foaming Trogglefolk are another descendant of the Foaming Squander, which are quite a
bit smaller than their ancestors.
Incredibly, Trogglefolk live in villages constructed from their characteristic foam, which freeze
into solid structures due to the cold.
They’re also highly communal, sculpting the foam on the bodies of family members into
regionally distinct ‘styles.’
This social grooming behavior is not unlike that of certain primates in our timeline,
and shows an emerging intelligence.
Indeed, certain communities of Trogglefolk have begun cultivating edible fungus within
their nests, demonstrating the beginnings of agriculture.
Like the Freeple before them, Trogglefolks may rise to incredible heights…
Over the course of this journey, we’ve seen pseudo-frogs rise and fall, evolve incredible
adaptations and fulfill unexpected niches.
But now, we must return to our own timeline, where frogs, though not quite as abundant,
are still quite wonderful.
If you enjoyed learning about Amphiterra as much as I did, you can support Roxy Valdez
on Patreon and social media using the links in the description.
And as always, thanks for watching.
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See you in the next video.