User blog comment:PitchBlack696/Alatreon/@comment-4640052-20111130222859/@comment-4640052-20111201055207

Thanks Lord Loss, you did put it in a better way than I did. What I was trying to say is that the Alatreon probably kept more characteristics from the actual common ancestor of the elder dragons while most most of the others branched away from them in a few points. I say that based in the fact that tetrapods seem to have evolved in the world of Monster Hunter, I mean, most of the bigger animals have four limbs, while elder dragons have six limbs. It seems that the ancestor of all the elder dragons developed dorsal fins with musculature to move them, enough to use them for locomotion. With time the elder dragons branched, having some with simple wings with one articulated appendage (Teostra/Lunastra, Chameleos), another group with wings with five extra appendages, forming a bat-like wing (Fatalis family) and a few ones that kept the dorsal fin like wings (Kushala Daora, Alatreon, Rukodiora) and are probably the ones that resemble the most the true common ancestor. Actually, it seems Rukodiora would be the one with the closer to the ancestor wing pattern, since it's fins are more separeted, while Kushala and Alatreon have their fins spouting more closely at the base of the wing, maybe a intermediate form between the pseudo-wings from the ancestor and the actual wings from the Fatalis. Alatreon's many elemental powers might be a hint to the ancestors powers too (that the elder dragons kept and lost, especialising in one mostly) I think I talked too much alredy, sorry for the wall of text ...