Note this is an unedited copy of Dr. Sarah Harkness's initial report, Dr. Harkness's...colorful commentary remains intact and will be denoted by []
[Tracking down Theta-279 clusters with the right kind of Dracoforms that had the necessary chronomorphic signatures to complete this report was a bitch, Bob. I'm getting a raise or you can find yourself a new Dracologist.]
Theta-279-Delta-DRA2^31 Cluster Earth's have a unique [fucking weird] phylogeny of dragons, and finding their earliest known examples was a challenging [seriously, give me that goddamn raise Bob] prospect.
The earliest forms of dragons were a group of amphibians that were exposed to toxic chemicals released by an early arthropod in the carboniferous era and grew extra legs. This particular toxic arthropod seems to be the primary point of divergence from Mainline-Human Cluster worlds - without their evolution, early Theta-279 cluster worlds do not develop dragons. [You know how 20th and 21st century industrial run off gave frogs extra legs? it's like that, but back when vertebrates were brand new, and eventually became an inherited trait. Can someone bring some frogs back from a Zeta Cluster world? I miss frogs.]
At first nonfunctional, the extra legs were selected for as part of mating displays. That would have lead to extinction except for a group of them developed eye like spots on the palms that proved very effective at scaring off predators. That group was able to later develop scales and hard eggs. They also had an odd trait - swim bladders they had as fish remained as a vestigial structure that would find use later. It's called the Scculi (Bag) That group evolved to the form you see pictured here, but there was a problem - [One everyone with a brain reading this has spotted, so Bob, this section's for you.]
Six legs take more energy than four. Which means they had high food requirements for their size, which forced them to consume more than similarly sized proto-mammals and archosaurs.
When the dinosaurs rose to prominence, these dragons didn't stand a chance - save a few groups that went to the trees, where the extra limbs became an advantage, not a hinderance, for climbing. They couldn't compete with the pterosaurs, but some developed gliding limbs to escape them. One particular group of dragons - the earliest members of Psuedodraco Ignis (Fire false dragon) started to eat a specific type of insect that was an early bombardier beetle, storing the chemicals in their Sacculi and use that to produce early flame breath. [I know it's weird for me to not focus on the dragons, but Theta-279 worlds have some fascinating chemosynthesis going on in insects, someone should get Beverly involved. Or some other Entomologist but lets be honest, Beverly can write circles around the rest of the department.] While that lineage did not become the true firebreathers of modern day, they did manage to develop a flame-retardant lining on their mouth and use their breath weapon to out compete early avian in a select few forests as the pterosaurs dwindled in numbers.
But another dragon rose to hunt the first flame breathers. Primordraco Sator (First Dragon-Father) [Did we have to gender an entire species for fuck's sake, Jerry] had spun off from the Psuedodraco line around the time they had developed the mouth lining, but the Primordraco lineage used that mouth lining in a different way - the developed the ability to produce an electric shock when they bit down, using a mechanism similar to the electric eel's. This allowed small flocks of Primodraco to take down far larger prey by biting on the throat or chest to trigger cardiac arrest.
Primodraco slowly out competed most of the Psuedodraco lineage save the modern day Psuedodraco Mimus (False Dragon Mimic) and its offshoots, because ultimately fire breath can only get so strong when it depends on beetles but electric shocks can scale up with the animal. The main legacy of Psuedodraco Ignis was providing the selective pressure to encourage the growth of their own flame retardant mucous in Primodraco. By spitting their mucous on each other, members of Primodraco Vulgarus (First Gross Dragon) could be protected against Psuedodraco flames, and also the mucous proved to be an excellent conductor of their electric shock bites. To produce this mucous, however, Primodraco needed to eat leaves. This was the first time a dragon developed the ability to use their Sacculi to produce a chemical they needed. [Note to Bob: as much as I think you're a bitch, I didn't leave the fucking Vulgarus mucous on your chair, and you noticed the replacement in your shampoo bottle before putting it on your head, quit whining about it.]
The transition from Primodraco to the modern day Draco lineage came around 79 million years later, where a group of early dragons started to store plants in their Sacculi to ferment into methane - methane that would ignite when shocked. Called Primodraco Stultus (First Stupid Dragon) they could do little more than detonate when threatened...which actually made them very unpopular prey.
[We can't find a clear link between Primodraco Stultus and early examples of Draco Superanus. Bob, fix my funding and pay me and I'll get you examples. Dr. Harkness out. Also? I know it means sovereignty, but you all named it the Super-Anus dragon, and you need to live with that.]
End of initial report. Regretfully, I am requesting we give Dr. Harkness her requested funding. Xenobiotics believes they’re close to Project Pern, they just need a few more species with compatible genetics. However, it would mean a great deal to me personally if the Board would attach a rider to that funding requiring Dr. Harkness engage in field work. Just because it would be beneficial for her to study the creatures in person. No other reason.
Signed:
Robert West
Department Chair of Phylogenetic Reconstruction for Theta Nexus worlds.
