Classification and biology of titans

[Cryptid_Liker]

I think the MUTOs must be some sort of extremely evolved placoderm. Only earthly possibility that makes sense.

Spoiler:

Scylla's probably a sort of ammonite that evolved to walk on the sea floor.

Why does everyone in this forum think that Muto is the placoderm? explain please

What else could the MUTOs be? They aren't arthropods because they have features that contradict that.

[Olzh26]

I think the MUTOs must be some sort of extremely evolved placoderm. Only earthly possibility that makes sense.

Spoiler:

Scylla's probably a sort of ammonite that evolved to walk on the sea floor.

Why does everyone in this forum think that Muto is the placoderm? explain please

What else could the MUTOs be? They aren't arthropods because they have features that contradict that.

but their metamorphosis also contradicts the fact that they are vertebrates

[Gerdzerl]

Metamorphosis is not unheard of in vertebrates. Many species of amphibians and fish go through it.

[Olzh26]

Metamorphosis is not unheard of in vertebrates. Many species of amphibians and fish go through it.

Yes, but they do not have the cocoon stage

[Gerdzerl]

It’s a lot more likely for a vertebrate to evolve a cocoon-type stage than it is for an arthropod to evolve an endoskeleton (we see the female’s spinal cord hang from her decapitated head after Godzilla kills her) teeth, a tongue, keratinous claws, and vocal chords. Occam’s razor and whatnot.

[Olzh26]

It’s a lot more likely for a vertebrate to evolve a cocoon-type stage than it is for an arthropod to evolve an endoskeleton (we see the female’s spinal cord hang from her decapitated head after Godzilla kills her) teeth, a tongue, keratinous claws, and vocal chords. Occam’s razor and whatnot.

I did not say that Muto are arthropods

[Gerdzerl]

Yeah, I know, I was just trying to emphasize that it’s much more likely and less convoluted for the MUTOs to be vertebrates than arthropods. They don’t have anything in common with arthropods aside from the exoskeleton/armor plating and their cocoon-like stage.

[Olzh26]

Yeah, I know, I was just trying to emphasize that it’s much more likely and less convoluted for the MUTOs to be vertebrates than arthropods. They don’t have anything in common with arthropods aside from the exoskeleton/armor plating and their cocoon-like stage.

Do they have an exoskeleton? It seems just plain skin

[Gerdzerl]

That’s a good question, I’m not entirely sure about that myself. It seems that way, but it could also just be armored skin.

[Olzh26]

It’s a lot more likely for a vertebrate to evolve a cocoon-type stage than it is for an arthropod to evolve an endoskeleton (we see the female’s spinal cord hang from her decapitated head after Godzilla kills her) teeth, a tongue, keratinous claws, and vocal chords. Occam’s razor and whatnot.

In this case, the muta is most likely amphibians.

Added in 10 days 14 hours 3 minutes 48 seconds:

I think the MUTOs must be some sort of extremely evolved placoderm. Only earthly possibility that makes sense.

Spoiler:

Scylla's probably a sort of ammonite that evolved to walk on the sea floor.

The novelization said that Scylla is probably an octopus. You were almost close

[TheInfiniteAeon]

The movie has this idea that the Titans can restore ecosystems through their radiation but it just touches on it like an afterthought expecting the audience to nod their head when I feel like it required more attention and detail. I get what they were going for because they were inspired by nature seemingly thriving in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone but the allusion isn't presented as obviously as it should.

I've been thinking of the hows of the Titans' restoration works, because if the paid writers aren't going to put some effort in it, I will.

My idea is that the Titans' place in the natural order is to cycle the Earth's natural radiation into the ecosystem. Like any other animal the Titans shed cells and waste material from their bodies, but theirs contains radioactive material. While at first the radiation is lethal, over time the cells and the radioactive material inside them are broken down and decay into new chemical compounds which act like supergrowth to the microorganisms that consume them. This would then feed into the rest of the food chain, going up from microbes to plants and then to animals.

Now this doesn't explain how endangered species get taken off the list or how Scylla is able to slow the melting of Antarctic ice because these are also ideas that can't just be handwaved with news headlines without people going "wait how?"

Now if this idea were to become more relevant to the story you'd have to devote more scenes to it. Maybe something like a Monarch team surveying the overgrown ruins of Vegas or San Fran and they find something like a piece of MUTO carapace or a Godzilla scale covered in lots of plants and they take it to a lab to study the cells. And then maybe they could present this to the Senate hearing as a defense for keeping the Titans alive.

[MegaEvilSaurus666]

The MUTOS (we need an actual name for them in-universe) aren't tetrapods, so there's another strange evolutionary hole to patch. They're entirely seperate, and so a completely fictitious evolutionary path needs to be created. It's likely that they could come from fish that specialized with two additional pairs of limbs, and converged with tetrapod and arthropod traits. Sexual dimorphism is extremely apparent in their species, resembling ants in a few ways. Males have wings, females (workers) don't, with the difference being that queen ants have wings. They're weird. MUTO Prime throws a wrench in everything as well.

[G2000]

The MUTOS (we need an actual name for them in-universe) aren't tetrapods, so there's another strange evolutionary hole to patch. They're entirely seperate, and so a completely fictitious evolutionary path needs to be created. It's likely that they could come from fish that specialized with two additional pairs of limbs, and converged with tetrapod and arthropod traits. Sexual dimorphism is extremely apparent in their species, resembling ants in a few ways. Males have wings, females (workers) don't, with the difference being that queen ants have wings. They're weird. MUTO Prime throws a wrench in everything as well.

And then there’s the subspecies (?) with the spikier back that shows up in KoTM and seems to be okay with Godzilla’s Alpha status rather than attacking him outright like the others did, so that’s a whole other mess.

[Olzh26]

The MUTOS (we need an actual name for them in-universe) aren't tetrapods, so there's another strange evolutionary hole to patch. They're entirely seperate, and so a completely fictitious evolutionary path needs to be created. It's likely that they could come from fish that specialized with two additional pairs of limbs, and converged with tetrapod and arthropod traits. Sexual dimorphism is extremely apparent in their species, resembling ants in a few ways. Males have wings, females (workers) don't, with the difference being that queen ants have wings. They're weird. MUTO Prime throws a wrench in everything as well.

all the same the fact that they are an alien species seems most logical

[MegaEvilSaurus666]

The MUTOS (we need an actual name for them in-universe) aren't tetrapods, so there's another strange evolutionary hole to patch. They're entirely seperate, and so a completely fictitious evolutionary path needs to be created. It's likely that they could come from fish that specialized with two additional pairs of limbs, and converged with tetrapod and arthropod traits. Sexual dimorphism is extremely apparent in their species, resembling ants in a few ways. Males have wings, females (workers) don't, with the difference being that queen ants have wings. They're weird. MUTO Prime throws a wrench in everything as well.

all the same the fact that they are an alien species seems most logical

True. Then again, we're not dealing with the most logical series. Ghidorah is an alien, but looks more terrestrial than the MUTOS do. The mere existence of these monsters would completely change the evolutionary history of the planet, butterfly effect, and poof, humans don't exist. No reason to go that far, it's fiction.

Anyway, for Rodan, I'm thinking he can be explained with convergent evolution yet again. Scansoriopterygids (dinosaurs), bats, and pterosaurs ended up with similar morphology to obtain the ability to either glide or use flapping flight. Beaks and scales aren't exclusive to any one group of animals, either. It's just the lava aspect that breaks him a tiny bit, but we have Godzilla here as well. I'm thinking he's part of a sister group to pterosaurs.

Also, does Mothra's anatomy bug anyone else?
Everything is weird about her, and there's not much moth left in the imago design at this point. The hind legs are the most troublesome, as they're placed poorly on her abdomen, rather than the thorax, where they should be. Other than that, mantid arms, similar to praying mantis or mantidfly arms, and a powerful stinger like a hornet, really seperate Mothra from lepidoptera.

[Olzh26]

The MUTOS (we need an actual name for them in-universe) aren't tetrapods, so there's another strange evolutionary hole to patch. They're entirely seperate, and so a completely fictitious evolutionary path needs to be created. It's likely that they could come from fish that specialized with two additional pairs of limbs, and converged with tetrapod and arthropod traits. Sexual dimorphism is extremely apparent in their species, resembling ants in a few ways. Males have wings, females (workers) don't, with the difference being that queen ants have wings. They're weird. MUTO Prime throws a wrench in everything as well.

all the same the fact that they are an alien species seems most logical

True. Then again, we're not dealing with the most logical series. Ghidorah is an alien, but looks more terrestrial than the MUTOS do. The mere existence of these monsters would completely change the evolutionary history of the planet, butterfly effect, and poof, humans don't exist. No reason to go that far, it's fiction.

Anyway, for Rodan, I'm thinking he can be explained with convergent evolution yet again. Scansoriopterygids (dinosaurs), bats, and pterosaurs ended up with similar morphology to obtain the ability to either glide or use flapping flight. Beaks and scales aren't exclusive to any one group of animals, either. It's just the lava aspect that breaks him a tiny bit, but we have Godzilla here as well. I'm thinking he's part of a sister group to pterosaurs.

Also, does Mothra's anatomy bug anyone else?
Everything is weird about her, and there's not much moth left in the imago design at this point. The hind legs are the most troublesome, as they're placed poorly on her abdomen, rather than the thorax, where they should be. Other than that, mantid arms, similar to praying mantis or mantidfly arms, and a powerful stinger like a hornet, really seperate Mothra from lepidoptera.

but in MonsterVerse Mothra is still lepidoptera

[Olzh26]

if it were not for Muto Prime, I would attribute the muto from the first film to amphibians who developed parasitism and the cocoon stage

[imposterzilla]

Alot of species were wiped out in the Permian extinction. So some creatures from that time are called Problematica since we dunno how they fit in. I agree that MUTOs are Problematica. I feel they are possibly a exoskeleton and endoskeleton possessing type of possible divergent from cephalopods or maybe from another subphlyum of chordata that evolved and they are of the few remains.

[Olzh26]

on the site of the monarch it is said that the atomic breath of Godzilla is a neutron flux, which, frankly, is complete nonsense. Godzilla, like everything else in this world, consists of neutrons, and after two volleys of this “ray” there will literally be nothing left of him. How does he damage the same Kongu if the neurons just will pass through it? Why, then, does his ray shine? Does anyone will answer these questions to me?

I hope all this is a lie, and its ray is EMP. Luminescence if more precisely.