More Primeval ideas

Here are some creature ideas for the sixth series of Primeval. With Primeval Series 4 featuring only one or two creatures from the time before the dinosaurs (the Therocephalian and possibly the Labyrinthodont) and series 5 only featuring Mesozoic reptiles and future insects I focused more on Paleozoic creatures, and I suck at drawing them! X.X

1. Trilobite
Trilobites are the poster children of the Paleozoic - they should be featured in Primeval, no matter how. There could be a swarm of rather large and spiny trilobites which can crawl around on land and... just look frightening. The weird thing I´ve drawn just doesn´t do them justice.

2. Lobopod
Like the Pre-Cambrian Fog Worm this is a completely fictional organism. Since the Pre-Cambrian is nine times longer than all other prehistoric eras combined there should be another Pre-Cambrian anomaly - I also had the idea of a bus going through an anomaly into the Cryogenian and a car going through an anomaly into the Hadean. In case a world covered in ice and a world covered in volcanoes would be considered boring without any inhabitants these things could appear - though that would be so unbelievable I think they should get their own episode. The lobopod is basically a 3 meter long velvet worm, the claws on its legs are much larger and its body is protected by a row of armor plates. Like velvet worms it immobilizes its prey by spitting with long strings of glue.

3. Burrowing Raptor
Series 4 had Arboreal Raptors, Series 5 had Swimming Raptors, so I think something like this is pretty likely. In this episode a group of non-fictional burrowing ornithopods - either Oryctodromeus or Koreanosaurus - would come through an anomaly and be followed by a pack of these fictional "Earth Creepers". Like the Tree Creeper their anatomy looks more like that of an ape than a dromaeosaurid. While the Tree Creeper has long arms with grasping fingers this creature has very muscular arms with huge shovel-like claws. Its hind legs and feet look more normal. The tail has become shorter because a long tail would be hindering in the tunnels. A fan-like head crest shields the eyes against the soil.

4. Entelodon
Primeval has turned Kaprosuchus from a crocodile with saberteeth into one with monstrous curved tusks and enormous jugal horns, making it look more like a reptilian Entelodon. So Primeval´s Entelodon needs even more exaggerated tusks, so I came up with this design resembling an elephant or a babirusa. My first idea for the episode was a mob of Entelodons on a landfill, but I also have an idea for the second episode of series 6. Like in 4.2 Duncan reappears in this episode and tells Connor about a freak show featuring a large weird animal which might have come through an anomaly. For this plot I´ve got several abomnibale creature ideas - Uintatherium and Estemmenosuchus are just examples - but Entelodon is pretty much irresistible for Primeval, same with Dimetrodon.

5. Conodont
There should be more creatures older than the Permian and since there already has been an episode with Silurian creatures I have wondered about an episode with Ordovician creatures (the Cambrian Anomalocaris is another one of these "must-haves", so I´m not gonna mention it). Currently I can only think of three Ordovician species which could terrifying man-eaters: a giant orthocone, a sea scorpion and a swarm of piranha-like Conodonts. Conodonts are jawless Vertebrates with several jagged teeth in their maws, I think if Primeval has flesh-eating Anurognathids then flesh-eating Conodonts wouldn´t be much of a stretch.

6. Placoderm
There hasn´t been an episode with Devonian creatures yet, which is a shame considering how many terrifying fish (no, not Megalodon) are known from that period. But this Placoderm is supposed to be a generic species, the design is actually entirely fictional to make this animal seem like a cross between a fish and an insect. The pectoral fins are surrounded by a bony tube, this is based on Bothriolepis, however in this species the bony tube is articulated like an insect´´s leg to allow the creature to crawl around on land. The armored skull with the serrated bony plates in its mouth is obviously based on Dunkleosteus, the rest of the body is entriely fictional.

7. Dunkleosteus
So far the only giant sea animals which have appeared in Primeval are Mosasaurs and Pliosaurs. Dunkleosteus with its steel-crushing jaws is another necessity. This design jsut makes the armor a little bit more spiky. In this episode a train goes through an anomaly into a Devonian swamp. A gigantic Dunkleosteus attacks the train, the creature is capable of disarticulating its jaws to take one bite out of the train. Smaller Placoderms (or Hyneria, that Sarcopterygian from Walking with Monsters I always wanted to see in Primeval) can go inside the train to attack the people. At the end the Dunkleosteus reappears and kills one of the smaller fish.