Linnaean Binomial Names for Magical Creatures!

[BBkat]

And you have a huge biological debate about Razan Orchids and what to classify them as since, according to the lore, he are nehe plants nor animals.

Razan orchids are strange beings that, despite heated discussions among many magi, cannot be classified as either animals or plants.

[PeelTheMango]

OOF are we talking about horses and goats and such? Yowza I never got to say my thing about dragons.

What I was thinking was that there would be two groups; True Dragons and Pseudo-dragons, and a potential third group in the Crystalwings. True dragons include Western Dragons, Drakes/Drakelings and Wyverns, Pseudo-dragons include Eastern Dragons, Wyrms, Serpaens, Amphistas, and Hydras. Crystalwings include all the Crystalwings and the Crystalcoatl, and are more closely related to Pseudo-dragons than True dragons.

[PKGriffin]

OOF are we talking about horses and goats and such? Yowza I never got to say my thing about dragons.

What I was thinking was that there would be two groups; True Dragons and Pseudo-dragons, and a potential third group in the Crystalwings. True dragons include Western Dragons, Drakes/Drakelings and Wyverns, Pseudo-dragons include Eastern Dragons, Wyrms, Serpaens, Amphistas, and Hydras. Crystalwings include all the Crystalwings and the Crystalcoatl, and are more closely related to Pseudo-dragons than True dragons.

Why would crystalwings be more closely related to pseudodragons in this instance? They have four legs and wings, unlike most of the others (I’d actually put hydras with true dragons). Also, crystal coatls only bear a superficial resemblance to crystalwings. Their body structure is much closer to quetzalcoatls and osquali.

[jillybean711]

Oh wait, what about the hippocampus and kelpies? While we're on the topic of horses, dragons, and such?

[TheNewBlack]

Oh wait, what about the hippocampus and kelpies? While we're on the topic of horses, dragons, and such?

I would classify them as an offshoot of the horse family that has reverted to an amphibian, similar to whales.

@vipor you're right, the Peryton does resemble the Enoxes and drakelings.

Maybe the Peryton is the result of a cross between a drakeling and a Kirin? Since those kinds of hybrids seem to be pretty common on Magistream.

My head is starting to hurt though

Razan Orchids are probably something like a coral then.

[Tekla]

Perytons appear to be bird + deer, according to their descriptions. O3O

[PeelTheMango]

OOF are we talking about horses and goats and such? Yowza I never got to say my thing about dragons.

What I was thinking was that there would be two groups; True Dragons and Pseudo-dragons, and a potential third group in the Crystalwings. True dragons include Western Dragons, Drakes/Drakelings and Wyverns, Pseudo-dragons include Eastern Dragons, Wyrms, Serpaens, Amphistas, and Hydras. Crystalwings include all the Crystalwings and the Crystalcoatl, and are more closely related to Pseudo-dragons than True dragons.

Why would crystalwings be more closely related to pseudodragons in this instance? They have four legs and wings, unlike most of the others (I’d actually put hydras with true dragons). Also, crystal coatls only bear a superficial resemblance to crystalwings. Their body structure is much closer to quetzalcoatls and osquali.

I was thinking a sort of convergent evolution thing
Elder Crystalwings would've been the first to branch off from Pseudodragons, and then from them it splits into more Western crystalwings and more Eastern crystalwings, with the type genera for each grouping being pteira crystalwings and regular crystalwings. The crystalcoatl would split off from the eastern crystwalings, given that it has gem-like scales, horns, and a draconic head rather than a bird/snakelike one.

Looking back I agree with what you said about Hydras.

[jillybean711]

https://sta.sh/011ab7obibse (click the image twice)

This took me forever to make oh my goodness. This is how I view the evolutionary tree for the horse-creatures and reptiles. I cri. Feel free to try and edit I guess.

[Tekla]

interesting! i do disagree with the placement of the jax at least though. while the jax is a mammal, it is definitely not related to the ungulates - the antlers are an evolutionary result of mimicking tree branches rather than a branch off from deer. so more like convergent evolution.

--

i see the ungulates this way -

since most of our kirin are very strongly cervid in feature, i feel like it's safe to assume that any hooves they have are cloven (artiodactyl)
-
this grouping would include kirin, with cervinus deer, reindeer, and other cervids as descendants.
the peryton could be some kind of sister group; related to kirins from the cervid aspect, but related to birds in the front claws and feathers respect. the peryton group includes enoxes as descendants.
the peryton group provides a link to birds, which through the enox leads to pegasi, alicorns, and hipponox

our unicorns are pretty much universally horses and most of them have single hooves (perissodactyl)
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this grouping would include perissodactyl unicorns, with hornless horses and sleipnir as descendants.
yales and sheep could form a sister group to the unicorns, or ancestors of them.
tapirucorns could be a sister group to unicorns.

and i know this is MS, but real-world bongos are actually bovines, so those could be classified among bovines like delroch.

the artiodactyl unicorns would form the link between unicorns and kirin, with the saebra being a closer descendant to kirin, while the silendarus is closer to perissodactyl unicorns.
the earth/frost unis are the closest perissodactyl uni to the silendarus, based on tail similarities, while the other unis have standard horse tails, from those horsetailed unis is where hornless horses and sleipnirs come from.

the lethe and struana kelpies could form the link between hippocampi and hornless horses.

alternatively, goats and sheep + artiodactyl unicorns come together to form the sleipnir, specifically, since sleips have two horns apiece.

http://prntscr.com/hccuil
dragon leads to kirin
through birds, kirin leads to peryton
peryton leads to enox
enox leads to pegasi, alicorn, hipponox

artiodactyl unis link kirin to unis
unis diverge into sleipnir and hornless horses
hornless horses diverge into kelpies
kelpies link to hippocampi

[PeelTheMango]

https://sta.sh/011ab7obibse (click the image twice)

This took me forever to make oh my goodness. This is how I view the evolutionary tree for the horse-creatures and reptiles. I cri. Feel free to try and edit I guess.

AAAAAAAH I LOVE IT!!!! It's 3 AM for me so I'm not awake enough to think about biology or make edits but I just had to reply to tell you that I like it a lot!