Flora

Algae

Mosses/Worts/Ferns

Lichens/Fungi

Ground Coverings

• 
  Poison Numbweed
  Discovered by an overwrought weyrling mistaking it for numbweed. The plant, if undamaged, is harmless, but the oil that is released when the plant is cut, crushed, or broken causes both human and dragon hide to break out in a painful, itchy rash. The low-lying plant requires lots of sun and is easily choked out if taller plants move in, so it is found mostly on bare rock faces and sandy flats; it may even grow out on the surface of water.

Grasses

• 
  Sedge Grass
  One of the two primary grasses on the prairie is a tall sedge that serves as the primary food source for the large herbivore. It grows waist-high, although the herbivores tend to keep it mowed down to about knee-level. Because of this, the flower and seed stalks remain short and rely mostly on smaller critters to pollinate them.
• 
  Scrub Grass
  The other primary grass on the prairie is a short stubble that rarely gets more than ankle-high. In a reversal of its competitor, its flower and seed stalks grow tall, relying on the herbivores to transport the seeds to new locations. The short sedge grass is the primary source of food for the social hopping insects, used to grow the mold that they eat.

Reeds/Sedges

• 
  Dragonclaw Reeds
  Along the shores in both fresh- and salt-water environments are tall reeds that can grow over the height of a man. The stalks stem from a root that is always three-pronged and could artistically be said to resembling a dragonet's pincer claw. Clusters of brown flowers form at the top of the reeds. Think cattails, only round, hollow leaves rather than flat ones.

Flowering Plants

• 
  5-Stalk Trumpet Flower
  This plant has a single stalk that rises about a hand-span above the ground, then splits into five stalks. Each stalk has a different-colored set of blossoms, ranging through the entire color spectrum, creating dizzying wheels of colors. The blossoms are long, tubular affairs with five petals. The different colors have different scents, although it can be hard to tell without isolating the stalks.
• 
  5-Stalk Herb
  Structured exactly like the 5-stalked flower, each stalk is a different herb, though. The most common is parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and basil.
• 
  Red Aloe
  This succulent is not entirely unlike the needlethorn plant of Pern. It has a thick, waxy skin that is primarily rust-red in hue, although the new growth and the tips of the leaves are a brilliant green. The thick leaves are sharply v-shaped and the edges have thorns, similar to those of the needlethorn plant, but too small to be useful. When broken, they ooze a sticky substance that proved to have a moisturizing effect and encourages healing. Contrary to most succulents, this plant prefers shady nooks, typically ones that hold still water for several weeks in the spring and then dry up over the summer. Their flowers are a soft blueish-lavender and bubble-like; they grow in bunches on short stalks. Mostly used in lotions and salves. Taken internally, helps soothe upset stomachaches and indigestion.

Bushes/Shrubs

• 
  Nectar Bush
  A bright pink shrub that grows near saltwater shores. The veins and bark of the bush are dark green. The large yellow and red flowers just fit in double-cupped hands. The receptacle beneath the petals is massive, holding up to a cup of nectar. The blossoms smell very sweet, and the nectar makes a decent quikal.

Trees

• 
  Gnarled Fruit Tree
  An incredibly gnarly, multi-trunked tree that produces fruit. The flesh is crisp and firm, but yellow rather than the white that the Pernese are used to. Instead of a long core, it has a heavy pit. The needle-leaves are a dull grey-green. The five-petaled blossoms are a delicate pale pink.
• 
  Drooping Willow
  The stiff central trunk of these trees never gets larger than a hand-span and splits into five smaller trunks 1-2 man-heights above the ground. These trunks lose their rigidity after half a dragon-length and slowly drape back toward the ground, each one splitting by fives every several feet until they brush the ground. The blue and black songbirds hang their nests in the curve of these trunks. The five-bladed leaves are a yellow-green and create a lush, shady cover for concealing the nests. Sort of like weeping willows.

Fauna

Bacteria/Viruses

Worms

Trilobites

Spiders/Mites/Scorpions

Millipedes/Centipedes

Crustaceans

• 
  Trundleclaw
  Ten-legged aquatic animals slightly longer than a large man's hand. They vaguely resemble spiderclaws, only with long bodies instead of round ones. One pair of legs is much larger than the other four pairs and are used to scrape the algae that they eat. They seem to thrive equally well in fresh water and salt water. A crayfish-like critter.

Insects

• 
  Burrow-hoppers
  Crawling and hopping insects that harvest grasses are abundant. They grow to the length of a human's pinkie finger and are the primary prey for the long-tailed leaping rodents. They live in a social structure with 3-5 "queen" females that lay the eggs and are otherwise tended to by the other members of the colony. The insects build burrows in moist soil and carry grasses into the wettest parts where the harvested plant matter molds and produces a fungus that is the staple food for the insect. Think grasshoppers, but with a social structure like ants or bees.
• 
  Needlefly
  Long-bodied insects, vaguely reminiscent of VTOLs appear to be the main pollinator for the tubular flowers. They have four wings which are much narrower than the VTOLs' wings and fold flush against the body, allowing the insect to crawl partway inside the flowers. Very like damselflies.

Bivalves

• 
  Redshells
  Contained inside a palm-sized, half-circle shaped shell with five lobes and colored bright red, these marine creatures consist primarily of a large muscular piece of tissue. Produce pearls in red, pink, orange and sometimes purple hues.

Fish

Coral/Sponges

Sealife

Snails/Slugs

Amphibians

Reptiles

Avians

• 
  Seahawk
  Broadwinged avians with powerful talons and wicked-looking bills coast lazily over the grasses and reeds. They rarely soar to any great heights, preferring to coast a dragonlength or so above the ground. They'll prey on any creature smaller than them that has the misfortune of being caught out in the open. Their feathers - true feathers, not proto-feathers like wherries - are brown above and gray below, causing them to blend against the sky as camouflage against a wary and watchful meal. Hawk-type bird of prey.
• 
  Red-robber
  Extremely vocal, this avian is primarily a scavenger. They'll eat anything that appears edible - fruit, nuts, or another predator's kill. They prefer wooded areas and will mob any larger avian that comes into their territory to drive it off, or occasionally attack smaller avians for food they may be carrying (or to eat them, if they're unlucky enough to be grounded and killed by an attack). Their bodies are bright red from the shoulders down, with a black or grey head. Their crests and faces are spotted with red in the males and white in the females. Like stellars jays, only red instead of blue.
• 
  Blue Weavers
  These musical and social avians live together in groups typically consisting of 3-4 males and up to a dozen females. The males have a dusty-brown lower body, but from their shoulders up, they're brightly colored: most of the feathers are black, but on the breast, shoulders, and back they have a dark blue hue; each cheek and the top of their head is a bright blue. The females are the same dusty brown all over They are constantly in motion, particularly their long, flat tails which stick up at a jaunty angle for those rare moments when the birds actually hold still. They build nests in the trees whose branches bend over (possibly, the branches bend back toward the ground due to the weight of the nests); all the nests of a social group are built together, with newer residents' nests attached to the bottom of the nest above. The nests are woven of narrow strips of sedges gathered from marshy areas and are quite watertight. The males often present females with a single red, yellow, or orange blossom from a bush or flowering plant, apparently to curry favor with the females. They are quite musical and males that don't fit in with the harmony in a social group will be driven off (at which point they'll no doubt start their own social group). Based on the superb fairy-wren.
• 
  Diving goose
  A large feathered avian that in shape and behavior resembles domestic geese on Pern. The head, neck, breast, and belly feathers are pale gray to white while the backs are slate gray to black with white down feathers underneath. The coloration is camouflage. They appear to spend nearly their whole lives in or on the water except to preen and lay eggs, the latter which they do in the early spring. As a result, they have over-sized preen glands that produce significant amounts of oil. Although they primarily dabble for greens in shallower waters, they do occasionally dive for deeper foraging; they may also dive and swim underwater for short distances to evade predators. Although they can fly, they prefer not to, possibly because their skeleton structure is not as airy as most avians. Nearly every part of their bodies are useful.

Marsupials

Rodents/Lagomorphs

• 
  Treerat
  Plump and short-bodied, this creature both climbs trees and burrows. They have scruffy rust and silver fur and long, slightly fluffy tails. They are about the size of a riding boot. They eat nuts, fruits, and seeds, squirreling them away in holes in the fall to eat later, and they enjoy blossoms in the spring and summer months. Think a cross between a squirrel and a rabbit.
• 
  Jumping Mouse
  These small rodents are the primary prey of the canid predator. They have exceptionally long tails and can jump incredible distances. They're a dull grey-brown in color all over. They're primarily insectivores, but also eat seeds and roots. Based on pocket mice.

Ungulates/Herbivores

• 
  Herdbeast
  Large, cloven-hoof herbivores, vaguely resembling herdbeasts, but larger, with especially massive shoulders that rise over a tall man's head, half again the height of the hips. They have two horns that curl like a goat's, only larger and heavier; in males, the horns tend to angle more to the front of the head, while in females they angle back over the neck. At first glance, they appear mostly hairless except for a scraggly mane on the neck and shoulders, but closer examination reveals that the otherwise-scaly hide has a fine layer of extremely short, coarse stubble, giving the extremely thick hide a sandpaper-like feel. They graze primarily on the long prairie grasses, finding it difficult to crop shorter growth because their necks are too short to reach the ground; they have to drop to their knees to drink water, or drink from waterfalls. Think bison crossed with wooly mammoth.
• 
  Treehorn
  Runnerbeast-sized herbivores, distantly similar to the deer described by AIVAS. Their hides are similar to that of the herdbeasts, with short, coarse stubble over most of the body and longer, thicker hair along the neck and shoulders, as well as around the hooves and a tail very similar to a runnerbeast's tail. The shorter hair is often patterned with stripes and spots; streaks near the mane and ruff will spill their color into the longer hair. Their hair varies from white to grey to black, plus reds and browns and yellows. The males have large, twisted horns; the older the male, the larger and more convoluted the horns. The females have shorter horns that only barely clear their heads and are shed each fall (the males' horns are never shed). The horns tend toward a blue-green color, courtesy of their aquatic diet.

Carnivores

• 
  Long-toothed Feline
  Hunting the large herbivores in pairs or small packs are feline-shaped predators, standing as tall as a man's hips at the shoulder. Their teeth and claws are longer than the felines on Pern, apparently to get through the tough hide of their main prey, especially their eyeteeth, which are as long as a man's hand. Their hides are coarsely furred and vary in color from red to gold and shades of white, gray, and black, and in pattern from plain to striped to spotted, and even combinations, although most tend towards tawny with black stripes or spots. They are formidable hunters. Sort of like a sabertooth tiger.
• 
  Tunnel canine
  Infrequently seen, but often heard at night, these little canids are, in the words of the woman who first found one of them, absolutely adorable, in a strange sort of way. They stand about 8-10 inches tall and weigh about 15 pounds. They have small, round ears that sit close to their heads, but unusually long muzzles. Like the big cats, their eyeteeth are longer than their other teeth, about two inches long. They have tough nails on their front legs and live in burrows that they've either dug themselves or stolen from other creatures. Their fur is incredibly soft and plush and changes with the season to white in winter and brown in summer, with black paws, ears, and tail tip. Like a cross between an ermine and a fennec fox.
• 
  Treebear
  Roley-poly, these thick-coated predators are short-distance sprinters. Their primary prey are the tree-climbing, burrowing herbivores. Because their prey is so hard to catch, these predators are omnivorous, enjoying the nuts and berries they can otherwise steal from their escaped meals. They have a particular fondness for the sweet-fleshed crisp tree-fruit. Think koalas, only bigger.
• 
  Spiffen
  Crepuscular/partially diurnal canid predator, prefer avians as food. These odd creatures have a rather interesting life-style. Due to the high chances of larger or more violent predators attacking their young, they have taken to building their nests in rocky crevices higher up on a mountain. They are capable of reaching them due to their sharp claws and the incredible balance they have when making use of their twin tails. On some occasions, they will even find dens that have a fallen tree against them, but only if that tree is weak enough that it would not support the larger predators or if it is harder to reach. Their hunting habits are rather fun as well. While they like small game, they do not hunt as normal Terran fox do. Instead, they will hide in a tree, balanced perfectly with the help of their tails. When a bird flies by, they will snatch it from the air should it pass close enough. Or if it lands, then they will use their uncanny climbing abilities to try and reach the bird that way, always keeping themselves hidden. Have 1-3 litters of kits each year, usually in the spring and summer, occasionally in the fall; litters are usually 2-4 kits, but may be as large as 6.
• 
  Flying Spiffen
  Miniature cousins to the spiffen, between 8-12 inches tall. Like their larger cousins, they have two tails, but they also have wings. They come in red, orange, brown colors. These little devils are rather tricky and dastardly... they absolutely LOVE cheese... and little pieces of meat... and well... pretty much any random foods left behind. They are more scavengers than hunters, but they WILL NOT eat veggies. Kind of like a firelizard, but without the usefulness.