Alien Body Plans

HEXAPODS & OTHER ECDYSOZOA

Alien Body Plans #1

WMB Saltworks
R. James Gauvreau
 Contents
Introduction ................................................................ 1
Crustaceans: Lice & Crabs & Such ......................... 2
Chelicerates: Spiders & Others ................................ 3
Hexapods: Insects & Others .................................... 5
Kinorhynchs: Mud Dragons .................................... 7
Myriapods: Even More Legs .................................... 8
Introduction
Why does this book exist?
Some ideas are well-worn—like tracks in the
ground, these paths have been traveled so often
that they have been stamped into the ground, and
one can get caught in a rut by doing the same; like
clothes, they’re comfortable and they may even
look good at first, because they are worn well, but
they’ve been worn as well, in that they’re getting kind
of threadbare now. That is to say, they’ve been used
to much, either out of lack of imagination or
because the ideas had genuine luster once and not
everyone has gotten the message that there isn’t
anything left to be mined.
When I first started brainstorming ideas for my
Species Shock series, I noticed that I was having
trouble getting very far away from the vertebrate
body plan. I might move things around, sure, but
in some respects, they were less alien than many
forms of life that can be found on Earth. The
purpose of this series is to showcase the various
body plans that are in action today and help you to
use them as jumping-off points for new forms of
life.
The book itself has not been released under a
Creative Commons license, but feel free to mine
and exploit the worldbuilding ideas as you please,
even for commercial purposes.
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Nematodes: Roundworms ........................................ 9
Onychophorans: Velvet Worms ............................ 10
Priapulids: Penis Worms ......................................... 12
Tardigrades: Water Bears ........................................ 13
Body-building Worksheet ....................................... 14
Image credits ............................................................. 15
What does this book contain?
The first volume concerns itself with the
superphylum Ecdysozoa. Not all of them molt and
shed their exoskeletons (not all of them have
exoskeletons), but all species that shed their
exoskeletons are ecdysozoans.
The worldbuilding notes in one section can easily
apply to the others. For example, the ideas about
limb specialization under “Crustaceans” would
work pretty much anywhere else in this book
(except maybe the velvet worms), since everyone
has limbs to spare.
The end of the book has a worksheet that you can
print off when building your own body plans,
whether you’re starting from scratch or taking
inspiration from preexisting organisms.
In writing this book, I erred on the side of “this is
not a biology textbook” and have simplified terms
where possible (e.g. “bristles” instead of “setae”).
About the author
You can email me at callmesalticidae@gmail.com.
If you’d like to support more projects like this one
then check out patreon.com/WMBsaltworks,
where you’ll be kept up-to-date on what I’m
working on and get discounts on books like these,
or just go to wmbsaltworks.wordpress.com, where
you can find links to purchase my latest books at
your retailer of preference and commission fiction
and setting material.
Crustaceans: Lice & Crabs & Such
Crustaceans are a large and varied group of
arthropods, some of whom are more closely related
to hexapods than they are to other crustaceans.
They are found in both aquatic and terrestrial
forms, and have a strong tendency for their limbs
to develop specialized roles.
Circulatory system: Open, with blood pumped
(by the heart) through a body cavity called the
hemocoel, in which the organs are suspended. The
coelom is a membrane-lined cavity between the gut
and the body wall, containing the organs.
Digestive system: Two each of mandibles and
maxillae around the mouth. Digestive tract may
include a gizzard-like organ with plates that grind
against food. Bristles prevent food from moving
beyond this point until ground to a sufficiently
small size. Two organs that produce digestive
enzymes.
Excretory system: Two kidney-like organs located
near the antennae. Two other organs regulate the
amount of salt in the body. Usually, ammonia is
excreted near the gills, but uric acid may be excreted
instead.
External morphology: Three regions: head,
thorax, and abdomen. Head and thorax may be
fused into a cephalothorax. Each segment of the
body has a pair of appendages. Legs may be
specialized for defense, feeding, mating displays,
swimming, and/or walking. May have a tail-like
appendage.
Muscular system: Strong muscles on opposite
sides of the stomach, responsible for controlling
the mandibles. If aquatic, may have abdominal
muscles that allow for backwards swimming.
Nervous system: Brain is a mass of ganglia located
near the antennae. Other ganglia exist all along the
body, primarily along the belly. Ventral nerve cord.
Respiratory system: Small crustaceans may
breathe through gas diffusion, but most use gills or
book lungs.
Reproductive system: Usually have two sexes, but
may be hermaphrodites or change sex.
Parthenogenesis is possible. Some hold onto their
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eggs and display maternal care. Fertilization may be
either external or internal. In males, one or two
pairs of swimming legs may be used for transferring
sperm.
Sensory organs: Two pairs of antennae.
Compound eyes, which may be able to perceive a
wide range of color. Bristles provide a sense of
touch. Two statocysts, small organs that allow the
crustacean to properly orient itself in three
dimensions.
Skeletal system: Exoskeleton, which may consist
of fused and unfused sections. During molting, the
exoskeleton is shed when digestive enzymes are
released to digest parts of the inner exoskeleton and
release it.
worldbuilding notes
First off, keep in mind that note about limb
specialization. When you have a lot of limbs, you
can afford to turn them to specific tasks. Imagine
sharp blades or clubs for bludgeoning the hell out
of prey (or attackers), little flag-like ornaments on
otherwise useless limbs that serve no purpose but
to look sexy in the mating season, or groupings of
thin limbs that can collectively serve as a sort of
makeshift hand.
Another interesting possibility, starting from an
aquatic organism, is to focus on the limbs around
the mouth and either adapt the swimming limbs to
another purpose or let them turn vestigial and fade
away entirely in time. Such a species would
essentially walk upside down, mouth pointed at the
ground.
The stomach can fuse with the gizzard. If left as a
distinct organ, the gizzard could also serve as a crop
in which to store food. Species may “nurse” their
young by regurgitating food that has been softened,
partly digested, or even fermented in the gizzard, in
which case it is likely that both males and females
would be responsible for (or at least capable of)
feeding the young.
Temperature regulation tends to be an issue for
most species at one point or another. Those
sensitive bristles could easily be found in a thicker
coat and serve a secondary role as insulation.
Chelicerates: Spiders & Others
The most famous chelicerates are spiders, but these
arthropods can be anything from mites to
horseshoe crabs. Though they originated in the sea,
most modern species are terrestrial.
Circulatory system: Open, with blood pumped
(by the heart) through a body cavity called the
hemocoel, in which the organs are suspended.
Digestive system: Digestive tract is usually too
narrow to digest solid food. Instead, chelicerae and
pedipalps grind food and digestive enzymes break
it down into liquid. A muscular pharynx pumps
liquid food through mouth to stomach.
Excretory system: Waste is excreted in solid form
from kidney-like organs. If gills are possessed, then
some waste is instead excreted through the gills, but
the kidney-like organs remain. If present, then the
Malpighian tubules (as seen in the diagram below)
extract water and waste from the blood. The
stercoral pocket, also seen in the diagram, is a
section of the intestine used to store waste until
excretion, and is unique to spiders.
External morphology: Two main segments, the
cephalothorax and the abdomen. Heads are made
of several fused segments. Covered in cuticle.
Rearmost appendages may not exist, or may serve
as spinnerets, gills, or something else. Up to twelve
legs. Tips of legs may have claws or "teeth" to grab
or process food.
Mouthparts: Two appendages in front of the
mouth called chelicerae, which may be individual
pincers or fangs to inject venom. If pincers, they
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are usually used in feeding and may vary in size.
Pedipalps, mounted behind the mouth, are usually
employed as sensory organs but may have
manipulative and reproductive functions as well.
Muscular system: Limbs may be extended by
hydraulic pressure of blood (immobilizing them if
they are dehydrated) or muscle power. Pseudo-
endoskeletal structure, to which some muscles are
attached; may be calcified.
Nervous system: Brain is a collection of fused
masses of ganglia, centered near the mouth. Other
ganglia throughout the body may be unfused.
Ventral nerve cord.
Reproductive system: Separate male and female
sexes. Usually employ internal fertilization. Males
may use pedipalps to transfer spermatophores.
Respiratory system: Either book lungs (which
work through the blood) and tracheae (which does
not make use of blood to do its job) or gills.
Sensory organs: Pedipalps. Bristles provide
sensation of touch, can detect vibrations, chemical
changes, and shifts in air current. Up to twelve eyes,
which may be compound and/or simple. Sense of
vision may vary wildly, but being unable to form
images to being very keen and capable of seeing a
wide range of color, including ultraviolet.
Skeletal system: Exoskeleton. During molting,
the exoskeleton is shed when digestive enzymes are
released to digest parts of the inner exoskeleton and
release it.
 worldbuilding notes
It’s mostly an accident of evolutionary history that
we don’t have any large animals with more than two
eyes. We typically associate spiders (and arthropods
in general) with compound eyes, but a large animal
could easily have more than two eyes and this
difference would not only stand out against Earth-
born life but also carry a lot of potential for
customization.
Multiple eyes could evolve from herbivores as
easily as from predators, albeit for different
reasons, and take new forms as the species
continues to evolve. Predators, especially if they
specialize in ambushing their prey, would be well-
served by two columns of eyes, running at acute
angles toward a central point. As with some spiders,
this would allow for a sort of instinctive process of
“locking in” on prey: when the target is seen more
clearly by the eyes that are closest together, its
position is dead center and the predator and run
straight ahead. This isn’t anything that can’t be
handled with two eyes and a second or two (or less)
of thinking, but if timing is very important then this
could still be useful. An herbivorous species (or, for
that matter, a predator who nonetheless turns up
on the dinner plate of other, meaner predators)
would benefit by a “crown” of eyes that circle the
head and afford 360° vision without sacrificing
depth perception.
There are other reasons that a species would benefit
from additional eyes, regardless of their feeding
strategy. Having another pair of eyes means that
each set can specialize in different lighting
conditions or wavelengths of light, or in particular
tasks like judging distances or detecting motion. If
this is true, then each set of eyes could look
noticeably different than the others (especially in
the case of eyes that specialize in low-light
conditions, which are likely to be much bigger than
the others).
Just as prey animals can benefit from a “crown” of
eyes, arboreal, flying, and swimming animals with
the right set-up could have a set of eyes on the top
or the bottom of the head. Animals that get about
on the ground might only care about what’s
happening on their level but a creature that flies or
leaps through branches would appreciate a more
three-dimensional field of vision (though prey
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animals could, again, potentially benefit from being
able to see threats from above).
Chelicerate pedipalps aren’t capable of fine
manipulation, but it wouldn’t be hard to justify the
presence of that ability in the equivalents of a
fictional clade. Some species may find their capacity
for fine manipulation diminish as their pedipalps
are relegated to a purely sensory role, but in others
it would be retained. Perhaps these appendages are
a mass of tentacles that can manipulate objects
together. In that case, some species might see their
tentacle-palps turn rigid, perhaps to better serve as
a particular kind of sensory organ but also, possibly,
to act as stalactite-like fangs. If there are more
conventional fangs, with associated venom sacs,
then the fangs could extend and become nearly
indistinguishable from the stalactite-palps or recede
and turn into mere openings through which venom
can drip. At best, these vestigial true fangs might
retain a modicum of mobility in order to smear the
venom against the stalactite-palps.
The fangs don’t have to inject venom, either. In
some species, they may be a delivery system for
pheromones (especially if it is desirable for the
organism to have fine control over where and how
the pheromones are placed).
Just as the head and thorax have been fused in
chelicerates, don’t be afraid to fuse body segments
in one or more of the offshoots of your own
species. For that matter, take a moment and think
about an organism whose cephalothorax and
abdomen have fused into one swollen body
segment. Weird-looking, no matter what form you
started out with originally, but still a viable option.
Alternately, why not shift appendages around?
Depending on how the length and the way that the
joints are set up, the legs might be better-positioned
directly beneath the body rather than on the sides.
You could also position some on the back, either
as grasping appendages (rather like how Hallucigenia
was once thought to be set up) and/or as more legs
(if you expect to be flipped on your back a lot, ou
might as well set yourself up so that you can get
around easily no matter what position you’re in).
These appendages could be as complex as any
others, or mere tentacles.
Hexapods: Insects & Others
The most widespread hexapods are insects, but the
group also includes two-pronged bristleheads,
coneheads, and springtails. Speaking in terms of
cladistics, which puts species in groups according
to descent (and therefore says chickens are a type
of dinosaur), hexapods are crustaceans.
Circulatory system: Rather than blood, uses
hemolymph, which flows freely through the body.
The dorsal vessel runs through the body and
contracts to pump hemolymph.
Digestive system: Pair of salivary glands (each
with a reservoir for storage), hooked up to the
salivarium, from which saliva is dispensed. May
discharge saliva and other digestive enzymes onto
food before consuming. Digestive tract runs from
mouth to anus. May have taste receptors on their
feet.
Excretory system: May have specialized organs to
filter waste and water from the gut.
External morphology: Three main segments:
head, thorax, and abdomen. Six legs. Up to four
wings. These may be extensions of the exoskeleton,
modified gills, or another sort of appendage (their
actual evolutionary source is unknown). Sound is
produced by rubbing appendages or other body
parts against each other rather than blowing air.
This is called stridulation.
Mouthparts: Made of several structures, some of
which are hinged
vertically and others of
which are hinged
horizontally. May be
retracted within the
head. May be partially
concealed within a
gnathal pouch.
Nervous system: Brain is a series of up to three
pairs of ganglia in the head. May have nociceptors,
cells responsible for the sensation of pain, but not
always. Ventral nerve cord.
Reproductive system: Separate male and female
sexes. Females have a pair of ovaries and
spermathecae, organs which act as a reservoir for
sperm. Additional organs may exist to fulfill various
purposes relating to reproduction, such as
producing protective substances for eggs. Males
have a pair of testes, contained internally.
Fertilization occurs internally using
spermatophores, but these may be left by the male
and deposited by the female without actual
copulation. Genitalia are very complex. Eggs are
laid by an ovipositor.
Respiratory system: Depends on air tubes
through which gas diffuses or is pumped,
distributing oxygen throughout the hemocoel.
Spiracles on the sides of the abdomen for air intake.
This system becomes less efficient at greater sizes,
and larger insects will pump their abdomens to
breathe more effectively. The tracheae are part of
the exoskeleton and go into the body like tubes or
strings. The larger tracheae are shed along with the
exoskeleton during molting, a traumatic process
that not uncommonly kills hexapods.
Sensory organs: Usually have two antennae (but
may have none), which may detect pheromones
and provide a sensation of touch. Two compound

Muscular system:
Muscles are attached to
exoskeleton. Muscles
may control wings
either by directly
contracting against the
wings or by pulling
upward against the
exoskeleton.

5
eyes and up to three ocelli, except in certain orders
that are totally eyeless. There is generally
specialization in either antennae or eyes. Those
with good vision may see infrared, ultraviolet, very
small movements, etc. Sounds are detected by the
use of body parts called tympanal organs; each is a
membrane stretched across an air sack.
Skeletal system: Exoskeleton. During molting,
the exoskeleton is shed when digestive enzymes are
released to digest parts of the inner exoskeleton and
release it.
worldbuilding notes
It is unlikely that a species will have more than two
pairs of wings (either one pair to actively generate
lift or one pair to do so, with a second pair to
generate passive lift), but more than one limb could
serve as the base for a single wing. With two limbs,
there is more support for the wing (not unlike what
is seen in bats, albeit with whole limbs rather than
fingers).
Exoskeletons have a number of disadvantages as
you get larger, among these being that they are
proportionately heavier and therefore harder to
move around in and that they take greater damage
from falls (you will note that the standard “it’s hard
to breathe” answer is not mentioned here, for there
is nothing to prevent an organism with an
exoskeleton from developing a respiratory system
more like a vertebrate’s). Species in aquatic or low-
gravity environments will suffer less from these
disadvantages, but the fact remains that you
probably won’t be getting elephants with
exoskeletons except under very rare conditions.
What would it be like to have no conception of
pain? It isn’t for certain that hexapods don’t
experience pain (for one thing, some functions of
the nociceptor are performed by other neurons,
and hexapods might have replacements for other
functions), but it’s definitely possible for an
organism to not experience pain. In humans, this
condition is called congenital analgesia. There’s a
related condition called pain asymbolia, where pain
is registered and the mind interprets it as a signal to
stop doing whatever is causing the pain, but some
extra component of the process is missing and
there is no actual suffering involved. That is to say, if
you put your hand over a flame, then you feel a
6
particular sensation which cannot be confused with
a positive or even neutral feeling, but there is no
physical or mental resistance to keeping your hand
over the flame. There is some speculation that the
Buddha might have had this condition, and
misunderstood what pain was like for the majority
of the population.
It might be difficult for either congenital analgesia
or pain asymbolia to become common traits for a
species, but their development could be
encouraged in a species that was organized in
eusocial groups or something similar. Eusocial
species are very good about throwing away
individual lives by the hundreds if that’s what the
situation requires (and if their rate of reproduction
supports such large expenditures), but at least a few
of them still experience pain and suffer. If your
purpose in life is to toil for the good of the next
generation until you get dumped in the colony trash
dump, and if the next generation will be large
enough to make up for your loss and then some,
then it could be a good deal to just not experience
pain at all. What you lose in workers occasionally
breaking their wrists and not noticing, you make up
for in a soldier who won’t stop until its dead,
because if you rip off its arm then it will pick that
up with the other one and bludgeon you to death
with its severed limb. In addition, it costs energy to
transmit pain signals, so you end up with slightly
energetically cheaper bodies if you don’t require
them to experience pain. The tradeoff isn’t good
enough for most animals but, again, a eusocial
species could probably afford it.
The antennae are positioned on the top of the head
in hexapods, but nothing says that they (or other
sensory organs) can’t project from the bottom. This
would be most likely to happen in species that sift
through soil or the undergrowth for their prey.
Wings, once developed, can always be lost if they
fail to serve a purpose anymore, but a species that
has ceased to fly has not necessarily lost any use for
its wings. Though no longer employed in flight,
they can still be used as fins (if the organism swims),
for balance while turning quickly, as a means of
thermoregulation (facing them toward the Sun to
heat up and away to cool down), to make a threat
display or appear larger, or even in mating rituals—
never discount the power of sex to justify the
existence of an otherwise useless trait.
Kinorhynchs: Mud Dragons
Most interestingly, for members of a clade known
for its many-legged species, mud dragons
technically don’t have limbs. As befits their name,
they are most often found in mud or sand, in
aquatic environments. They probably can’t breathe
fire, but you never know for sure, do you?
Circulatory system: Open, with blood pumped
(by the heart) through a body cavity called the
hemocoel, in which the organs are suspended.
Digestive system: Mouth opens into gut, lined
with cuticle. Gut contains eversible pharynx, and
intestine, and is connected to salivary glands and
two or more digestive glands. Pharynx is muscular
and lined with teeth.
Excretory system: Like most everything else in
this book (antlion larvae are a notable exception),
they’ve got an anus. Also, there are usually spines
around it. That’s about all that we know—we’re not
even certain what they eat, though we’ve got some
good ideas.
External morphology: Retractable head (covered
by plates when retracted) and twelve segments. Up
to seven circles of hollow spines around the head,
as well as other spines on the body. The spines are
used for movement, by gripping a surface and
pulling, thereby propelling the body forward.
Muscular system: Body fluids are forced into the
head to extend it forward. With the spines around
the head lodged into the ground, the fluid is
allowed to flow back, relaxing the body and pulling
it forward (because the spines are anchored).
Nervous system: Central organ is a nerve ring that
wraps around the pharynx, and a cord that runs
down the body. Forms part of the body wall.
Reproductive system: Separate male and female
sexes. Males usually have two to three spiny
structures in the sperm duct; their exact purpose is
unknown. Sex cells exit through tubes near the
anus.
Respiratory system: No specialized respiratory
organs: gas exchange by diffusion occurs across
whole body.
7
Sensory organs: Sensory nerve endings in the
body, especially on the proboscis. Chemo-sensitive
spots on the body, and bristles provide sense of
touch. May have eye spots on the head.
Skeletal system: Hydrostatic skeleton, with
rigidity maintained by hydrostatic pressure of fluid
contents.
worldbuilding notes
This business with the spines just might be the
weirdest mode of locomotion to be featured in this
book. Give them barbs or spurs, and they’re that
much better for digging into a surface and getting
traction. Increase their mobility a little bit so that
they can move on their own (instead of only
passively, brought along for the ride when the body
extends forward) and they’re like bony stilts. While
these spines could obviously be used to impale
prey, some animals use their sharp bits to
immobilize prey. Your organism could use its
spines to keep prey in one place, long enough to
bite or even stab them with a different set of spines.
If the creature can afford to lose them (perhaps
growing new spines on a continuous basis, like
shark teeth), then they could perhaps be fired from
the body to impale distant prey. Assuming that the
spines are still vital for getting around, this would
require the animal to make a trade-off between
hunting and the need to move again in the future:
prey that are unlikely to be hit will probably be
passed up, but more shots could be fired at a prey
animal that is large enough to sustain the animal
until its new spines are long enough to move again.
The position of the brain can pose a problem for
any mud dragon-like organism that wants to be
smarter than its peers. As is the case with spiders,
if you increase the size of the brain then you’ll
constrict the tube that leads to the digestive system.
This is why spiders have to consume their food in
a liquid form, and an organism based on mud
dragons might have it doubly difficult because
everting the pharynx could be difficult under these
circumstances (though on the other hand, if
eversion is possible then the pharynx might stay
everted, holding food particles safe inside until
they’ve been broken down sufficiently).
Myriapods: Even more legs
The word myriad means “ten thousand,” but no
myriapod has so many legs. Someone really ought
to have counted before picking the name, but that
seems to be part for the course for myriapods: no
centipede has one hundred legs under normal
conditions, and no millipede has a thousand. It is
unknown whether they are more closely related to
chelicerates, crustaceans, or hexapods.
Circulatory system: Open, with blood flowing
through a body cavity called the hemocoel, in
which the organs are suspended. There is usually a
long tubular heart, but not always.
Digestive system: One pair of mandibles on the
underside of the head, and another pair inside the
mouth. Two pairs of salivary glands.
Excretory system: Specialized organs extract
water and waste from the blood.
External morphology: Number of legs is quite
variable, from six to 750, in part because they grow
additional body segments (and legs) as they age.
First pair of legs may be specialized as either a
venom delivery system or a set of pseudo-antennae.
Each set of legs may have an organ for the purpose
of absorbing moisture. May be covered in crests,
ridges, spines, or similar structures, and may secrete
chemicals through pores.
Muscular system: Muscles are attached to
exoskeleton.
Nervous system: Poorly-developed brain located
near the antennae. Nerve ganglion in each body
segment. Ventral nerve cord.
Respiratory system: Usually have a pair of
spiracles on each body segment, which in turn
usually connect to tracheal system, but the spiracles
may be clustered somewhere.
Reproductive system: Separate male and female
sexes. Males may have modified legs for
transferring packets of sperm to females.
Sensory organs: One pair of antennae. Usually
have one pair of simple eyes, but may have none at
all or only have organs capable of detecting light.
May have disc-like "temporal organs" at the base of
8
the antennae to sense vibrations, or bristles for the
same reason.
Skeletal system: Exoskeleton. During molting,
the exoskeleton is shed when digestive enzymes are
released to digest parts of the inner exoskeleton and
release it.
worldbuilding notes
Myriapods are a wonderful example of what you
can get by duplicating body segments, and in that
respect, they’re also a perfect complement to
crustaceans, who showcase all the things that you
can do when you have legs to spare.
Don’t forget about appendage length, either: two
otherwise-identical organisms, one with very
stubby legs and the other with long limbs that keep
it high above the ground, will strike different
profiles from each other. Length can be mixed up,
too: short-legged organisms close to the ground
can have very long antennae or grasping
appendages, for example.
What with the fact that they’ve got legs for miles
(albeit in a different spirit than that saying is usually
meant), an intriguing possibility is to create an
organism whose appendages are, alone, unfit for to
manipulate objects, but are dexterous and
numerous enough that they can overcome this by
working together. Imagine if you had only had a
single finger on each hand, but that this was alright
because you had a dozen hands to work with. This
is treading into octopus territory, but I’m especially
interested in the idea of an organism whose
underside is covered with grasping limbs, like a
belly made of fingers. Whether they are primitive
or advanced, the way that they interact with
technology would certainly be unique compared to
humans.
Antennae (and similar “sensory stalks”) can be used
to transmit signals too, through means as various as
moving in particular ways, emitting pheromones,
and being bioluminescent. Each of these in turn
can be utilized in more than one way: jointed
antennae have a greater range of movement, scent
glands can produce many different chemicals, and
bioluminescent stalks can blink in specific patterns
or produce different colors of light.
Nematodes: Roundworms
It is estimated that there are one million species of
nematode, and they can be found all across the
world, from deep ocean floors to great mountain
heights, and from the Antarctic pole to the heat of
the equator. Four out of every five animals on the
planet is a nematode.
Circulatory systems: Open, with a pseudo-
coelom or fluid-filled body cavity between two
layers of flesh.
Digestive system: Mouth leads into a sucking
pharynx. It may also include a stylet, which, if
hollow, can be used to drain fluids. All of this is
lined with cuticle, which may have ridges or teeth.
Digestive glands in the gut, producing enzymes that
may be injected into prey through the stylet (if it
exists). No stomach: pharynx connects directly to
the intestine, leading to the rectum. Intestine is also
lined with cuticle. Food moves through the
digestive system due to body movements.
Excretory system: May have up to two kidney-like
glands that excrete salt through a pore near the
pharynx, or two ducts that serve the same purpose,
leading to the excretory pore. Ammonia is excreted
through the body wall.
External morphology: Head is radially
symmetrical but rest of body is bilaterally
symmetrical. Caudal gland with adhesive on tip of
the tail. Mouth has three to six lips, which may have
teeth on the inner edges. Body may be covered with
bristles, ridges, rings, or other structures.
Muscular system: Layer of muscles beneath the
epidermis, which allow movement by contracting
on one side of the body, and then on the other.
Nervous system: Nerves branch off of a nerve
ring encircling the pharynx. Four nerves run down
the body, contained in connective tissue between
the cuticle and muscles, and other nerves run up to
the head. Nervous system contains non-motile
sensory cilia. Unlike in most animals, fibers are
extended from the muscles into the nerves rather
than from the nerves into the muscles.
Reproductive system: Usually have separate male
and female sexes, but some are hermaphroditic
9
with occasional males. Up to two gonads.
Hermaphrodites may self-fertilize. Males are
usually much smaller than females and
hermaphrodites and have bent or fan-shaped tail.
Males have a needle-like structure called a spicule
that extends from the cloaca. It is not unheard-of
for the young to eat their way out of their parent.
Respiratory system: No specialized respiratory
organs: gas exchange by diffusion occurs across
whole body.
Sensory organs: Sensory bristles on head. Body is
covered with bristles and papillae to provide sense
of touch. Behind the bristles on the head are two
chemoreceptive spots. Some have pigmented eye-
spots.
Skeletal system: Hydrostatic skeleton, with
rigidity maintained by hydrostatic pressure of fluid
contents.
worldbuilding notes
This isn’t quite a body plan, though it’s adjacent
(one could argue that it’s about a set of body plans,
or the way that they develop over an organism’s life
cycle), but nematodes, like a lot of other clades in
this book, start life looking a lot different than they
do when they end it, assuming that it ends on
schedule and not just when something bigger got
hungry. The important thing about this, when
you’re working variation into your aliens, is
neoteny, or the retention of juvenile traits even into
adulthood. This can be partial, like when aphids fail
to grow wings under certain environmental
conditions, but it can also be full. We see the latter
most prominently in fish, which developed from an
organism with at least two distinct stages of life, a
mobile juvenile stage and a sessile adult stage.
Proto-fish dropped this latter stage and kept going
as juveniles. Less dramatically, humans and
domesticated animals exhibit neoteny, displaying
various characteristics more in keeping with the
appearance of a juvenile specimen of their relatives,
than with the adults. Regardless of how much you
push it, don’t forget to think about the life cycle of
your organisms and how you can get variation just
by applying a dash of neoteny.
Onychophorans: Velvet Worms
Some velvet worms live in groups that are
surprisingly complex for their brain size, with
cooperative hunting and a strict hierarchy in each
group. Other velvet worms, also peculiarly for
ecdysozoans, bear live young.
Mouthparts: On underside of second head
segment is mouth with “lips,” used for feeding.
Crescent-shaped mandibles contained deep within
oral cavity, resemble the claws. The jaw appendages
resemble the legs in early development. Jaws are
divided into internal and external mandibles and
move back and forth to tear at prey. Moved by
muscles and hydrostatic pressure. Mandibles
covered with small teeth.
Circulatory system: Body cavity is haemocoel,
filled with liquid in which organs are suspended in
order to be supplied with nutrients. Liquid does not
contain pigments, does not fill respiratory role.
Amoebocytes and nephrocytes circulate in the
liquid, the former functioning as immune system
and latter absorbing or processing toxins. Open
circulation.
Digestive system: Two salivary glands discharge
into the throat; they contain mucus and digestive
enzymes. Food particles are covered with mucus in
case they have sharp edges. Slime glands on third
head segment to left and right of mouth. Small
protuberances containing slime glands. Secrete or
spit quick-drying slime to ensnare prey and defend.
May contain a reservoir with additional slime. Most
digestion occurs outside body or in mouth.
Pharynx is specialized for sucking liquefied tissue.
Excretory system: Most segments have a pair of
kidney-like organs and openings for discharging
solid waste.
External morphology: Segmented and flattened
shape. Segments are unspecialized. “Stub feet” or
oncopods. 13-43 pairs of legs. Stub feet are conical
and baggy, hollow and without joints. Legs may
include one or both of the following: glands at the
shoulder, extending into the body cavity, that
secrete pheromones; and pouches on the belly or
the side of the leg that can be everted and which aid
in water absorption. On each foot are a pair of
retractable, sclerotized chitin claws. At base of
claws are 3-6 spiny cushions which usually support
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the animal’s weight. Claws are primarily to gain a
foothold on uneven terrain. Claws are nested, with
the outer section falling off during molting to be
replaced by another fully-formed section.
Muscular system: Several layers of muscle tissue,
some of which winds its way back and forth
through the body in a spiral, and which work
against the body wall when it is pressurized by fluid.
Nervous system: Central organ is a ring of nerves
around the mouth. Nerve ladder running down the
body.
Reproductive system: Generally, have separate
male and female sexes, but may be parthenogenic.
May have dimples that help to transfer
spermatophores. Pair of gonads. Ovipositor, if egg-
laying.
Respiratory system: Respiration occurs via
diffusion. Sacs near the legs may be involved in
respiration. The tracheae cannot be closed, causing
greater water loss.
Sensory organs: Antennae on the head. Usually
have eyes behind the antennae on underside of the
head. Eyes usually have good vision but their field
of vision is partly obscured by the placement of the
antennae. Body, including stub feet, covered with
papillae with bristles. Mouth papillae at exits of the
slime glands. Chemoreceptors at the mouth and on
the antennae.
Skeletal system: Hydrostatic skeleton, with
rigidity maintained by hydrostatic pressure of fluid
contents. Outer skin is a hard substance called
cuticula, and is covered with hair-like structures.
Water repellant but not good at preventing water
loss through respiration, so high humidity is
required. Movement occurs as a byproduct of
stretching and contraction of body. Legs may be
shortened and bent by internal muscles at any point
along the leg.
worldbuilding notes
Any clade based on the velvet worm has a problem:
those little legs just aren’t very good as they are.
Larger organisms derived from this body plan will
have to either forgo legs (except, perhaps, as a
means to gain additional traction on surfaces) or
develop an alternative. Marine variants could
conceivably make flippers out of these things, but
they could also make do and swim like sea snakes.
Another strategy is to concentrate on the claws, and
set up something like what mud dragons have with
their spines. The “stub feet” might not be used for
movement in their own right, but serve as the base
from which longer stilt-like structures protrude.
One last possibility insists on making itself known:
If the body is properly flattened out and made
streamlined, then the organism could conceivably
glide like “flying” snakes do. If additional structures
evolved (perhaps from the claws) and the
musculature was developed well enough, then flight
might also be possible. Such a design might also
appear in marine species and the same set-up could
aid in swimming.
Their slime glands show more potential. Variant life
forms could progress from using mucus to ensnare
their prey to using it as a building material. Aquatic
or semiaquatic velvets could build and seal dams
with this mucus (especially if they were larger), but
and terrestrial forms could create mounds in the
same way that termites do, or traps after the
manner of most spiders. A coating of mucus could
also be used to reduce water loss through the skin,
allowing for a larger size, migration to drier
climates, or both. Besides these possibilities, the
slime glands could be turned to the production of
venom instead, either to be delivered in a bite or to
be used at a distance ala spitting cobras.
The trachea will also cause some problems when
your velvet worm-looking critter scales up. They
work pretty well on small things, but the network
relies so much on diffusion that supply fails to keep
up with demand as the organism gets larger. This
might mean incorporating a circulatory system
more like what vertebrates have (you can even keep
the spiracles, the holes that lead to the trachea) or
just sticking with the original plan and staying real
thin, even as you get longer.
11
Velvet worms aren’t really hairy, but those sensory
bristles can be found all over their body and it isn’t
hard to imagine circumstances under which they
could cover more area. What if they became harder,
too? As far as I can tell, the specific substance that
velvet worms use for their bristles doesn’t lend
itself well to making a hard structure like a shell (as
keratin and chitin do), but that doesn’t mean that
your own organisms have to be so disadvantaged.
If you decide to give them a carapace, there’s
nothing preventing them from retaining the use of
those former bristles as a sensory organ, either. It’s
hard to see how they could be very sensitive to
touch, but a carapace derived from chemo-sensitive
could easily retain that ability, and a sense of touch
could be kept by interweaving the carapace with
more sensitive bristles.
Any terrestrial creature with a hydrostatic skeleton
will be at least roughly cylindrical in shape, due to
the constraints of this type of support system.
Developing wildly different shapes will require the
development of either an exoskeleton or an
endoskeleton.
The antennae can be made into very complex
organs, and for a number of reasons: as described
elsewhere they could be used for communication
(especially in sexual displays), but they could
become more useful in other ways as well, perhaps
by developing a certain amount of ability in the
realm of fine manipulation or by catching sunlight
for photosynthesis. This would require a large
surface area to be useful, but that is easily taken care
of. Consider, for example, a creature whose
antennae “unfurl” or release a fine, almost gauze-
like canopy, not unlike an umbrella in appearance.
A structure like this could not only help the
organism to look larger than it is but could have
arisen first for sexual display purposes and only
later developed a photosynthetic capability (which
is not as implausible as it sounds: one species of sea
slug has acquired photosynthesis by developing the
ability to steal and integrate the chloroplasts of
algae that it consumes, and other species just have
a symbiotic relationship with the algae themselves).
Priapulids: Penis Worms
Before arthropods were arthropods, they had
mouths like what priapulids have. They were a big
deal back in the Cambrian, but now there are only
a few dozen species so they’re just some has-beens
with an unfortunate nickname today. Expect to see
them cameo on some daytime television show that
couldn’t afford a B-list star.
Circulatory and respiratory systems: Employs
hemocoel, containing cells with a respiratory
pigment called haemerythrin.
Digestive system: Digestive tract contains
eversible pharynx, intestine, short rectum. Pharynx
is muscular and lined with teeth.
Excretory system: Pair of kidney-like organs. Pair
of tuft-like organs that are first used for excretion,
and later develop channels with either sperm or
eggs, which exit through the same process.
External morphology: Divided into main trunk
and invertible mouth-schnozz with a circle of
spines that continuing into a protrusible pharynx.
May have tail or pair of caudal appendages. Body
has chitinous cuticle that is molted as it grows.
Muscular system: Two layers of muscles, which
contract and release to allow for a sort of crawling
movement.
Nervous system: Nervous system consists of
nerve ring that wraps around the pharynx, and a
cord that runs down the body. Forms part of the
body wall.
Reproductive system: Separate male and female
sexes, but may be hermaphroditic. Sex cells exit
through tubes near the anus (each type through a
different tube, if hermaphroditic).
Respiratory system: No specialized respiratory
organs: gas exchange by diffusion occurs across
whole body.
Sensory organs: No specialized sense organs, but
there are sensory nerve endings in the body,
especially on the proboscis.
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Skeletal system: Hydrostatic skeleton, with
rigidity maintained by hydrostatic pressure of fluid
contents.
worldbuilding notes
Taking inspiration from the distributed or even
duplicated systems of organs that many
ecdysozoans have, to one extent or another, an
interesting sort of brain could develop out of a
distributed nervous system. Taken far enough,
while there might be a central brain or ganglionic
mass that’s responsible for, say, long-term planning
and other traits that we would associate with
“higher thinking,” secondary brain masses could
oversee the management of other parts of the body.
It is sometimes said that humans have a “second
brain” in their guts because there is so much neural
tissue tied up in the digestive system (more than in
either the peripheral nervous system or the spinal
cord). It has an actual influence on our behavior,
not too unlike what you might expect if you literally
had a second brain in your body, possessing its own
will and desires but capable of communicating with
you only by sending raw impulses in your direction.
Now imagine if your limbs were like that, too, and
the analogy wasn’t just an analogy and your primary
brain had to actually work with and convince the
rest of your body to get along. Considering that the
human brain itself is arguably a composite of
multiple brains (and I’m not just talking about the
one in the stomach now, but the different sectors
of your actual brain), each with their own interests,
this might not be as unfeasible as it sounds at first.
Clearly, humans can get along just fine despite the
different components of their brains having
competing desires, so how much harder would it be
if sometimes you had to sometimes cajole your
arms into doing something that they weren’t
interested in?
The nervous system can also provide the basis for
a skeletal system. There’s no reason that the
evolution of the skull has to follow the spine;
invertebrates (especially the squashy ones like
priapulids) have just as much of a reason to make a
case to keep their brains safe. If the brain is
distributed, though, then it stands to reason that the
skull would be, too, providing a basis for a bony
structure (or structures) to eventually turn into a
bona fide skeletal system.
Tardigrades: Water Bears
These little fellows can survive anything. Well, not
anything. Decapitation would probably not be very
good for them. They can, however, survive all sorts
of environmental extremes: high and low
temperature, intense pressure, lethal doses of
radiation, and even prolonged dehydration, which
they survive by turning halfway to glass. But not
black holes. Those are lethal. Other names for them
include pudgy wudgies, moss piglets, and space
bears; the name tardigrade means “slow stepper.”
Circulatory system: Open, with blood pumped
(by the heart) through a body cavity called the
hemocoel, in which the organs are suspended.
Digestive system: Tubular mouth. Pharynx leads
to esophagus and then to the intestines, where
digestion occurs. Multiple stylets used to pierce
food, draining fluids. Y-shaped, sucking pharynx.
Stylets are lost during molting. New pair is secreted
from glands near mouth.
Excretory system: Three tubular excretory organs
at the rectum. Defecation may occur only during
molting.
External morphology: Five body segments: head,
three segments, rear segment with fourth pair of
legs. Eight legs, each with four to eight claws and
no joints. Fourth pair of legs controlled separately
from the others, used primarily for grasping
surfaces rather than moving outright.
Muscular system: Limbs are controlled by
independently-operated sets of muscles, which help
to form the body wall.
Nervous system: Brain is three paired clusters of
neurons. Large ganglion below the esophagus.
Reproductive system: Usually have separate male
and female sexes, but may be parthenogenic or
hermaphroditic. One gonad, above the intestine,
leading to a pore near the anus. Oviparous. Mating
occurs during molting: eggs are lain inside the shed
cuticle. May employ external or internal
fertilization.
13
Respiratory system: No specialized respiratory
organs: gas exchange by diffusion occurs across
whole body.
Sensory organs: Pair of simple eyes. Sensory
bristles on head and body.
Skeletal system: Hydrostatic skeleton, with
rigidity maintained by hydrostatic pressure of fluid
contents.
worldbuilding notes
Expect those stylets to get specialized if you have a
diversifying clade of pseudo-tardigrades. Because
the stylets are lost and regrown on a regular basis,
you could even see different forms on the same
organism depending on environmental conditions.
Imagine a creature that molts (or loses its stylet in
some other way) twice a year, with one form that’s
optimized for summer conditions and another for
the winter. Changes for dry and wet seasons or for
other varying conditions would be just as viable.
With multiple stylets, it’s also possible to give a
specialization to each one.
They could also be envenomed or barbed, turning
their replaceability into something to count on as a
successful hunt could inevitably end in the loss of
at least one stylet (which might be consumed along
with the prey in order to conserve resources).
Another cue could be taken from the antlers that
adorn deer: especially if the organism develops
another feeding strategy, it’s possible for the stylet
to become involved in sexual displays to the extent
that it ceases to be effective at its original purpose.
Over the course of a season, the year, or other
period of time, the stylet grows to immense and
elaborate dimensions, and then is lost for a time.
Don’t discount a structure’s ability to turn into
another kind of structure over time: a sufficiently-
sensitive stylet isn’t that far off from being some
sort of antennae. Depending on their makeup, they
could be only tactile sensors or also detect
chemicals, local pressure, and other interesting
things.
Bodybuilding Worksheet
Clade name: ____________________________ ______________________________________

Evo. history in brief: _____________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

Circulatory system _______________________ Muscular system: _______________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

Digestive system: ________________________ Nervous system: ________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

Excretory system: _______________________ Sensory organs:_________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

External morphology: ____________________ Skeletal system: ________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

______________________________________ ______________________________________

Additional notes: ____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

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 Image Credits
Cover photograph by Matt Reinbold. Hexapod image by CNX OpenStax.
© Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 © Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Crustacean image by Obsidian Soul. Nematode image by KDS444

© Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 © Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Chelicerate image by John Henry Cornstock.

© Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

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