Draconic Centaurs

Question

And you thought I was finally done with centaur questions.

I have a centaur race called the Draconitaurs. They're essentially centaurs, but with western dragons instead of horses.

The dragon tropes I'm using include: large, scaly, lizard-like, large wings, and stereotyped as greedy. They do not lay eggs and they are no more malicious than anybody else. They do not breathe fire.

How can I combine the draconic traits, the human traits, and the centaur traits in a believable way? I'm looking for something that could have happened without the use of magic, and I'll be rating based on probability. Bonus points if you figure out I can interpret the skin/scales thing.

Answer 1

You will need to start loooong time ago

Any centaur-like living organism has six limbs. And humans have four. If you want to start from a common ancestor, you need to go back in time even before them. Tetrapods (four limbs organisms) evolved from early bony fishes (Osteichthyes), specifically from the tetrapodomorph branch of lobe-finned fishes (Sarcopterygii), living in the early to middle Devonian period.

The organisms with six limbs evolved from a different and older ancestor (presumably a crustacean). But since Centaurs are really mammals (horses + humans) they cannot fit in that category. Therefore, if you really want to have all of them have something in common, you need to design a different evolution path.

You will need a common six-legged mammal ancestor that evolved from a different type of acuatic prehistoric animal in your world. And then it common ancestor will eventually mutate in different paths according to the environment it evolved in.

However if your Draconic centaurs have wings beside their hands, it will make them 8 limb creatures. So you need an 8 limb common ancestor, and then make it lose a pair of limbs in further evolution stages (the same way dolphins and whales loose their legs). In that way, you can justify the existance of a single common origin for all of them.

Besides you will need the Draconic creatures to be mammals. And then justify the lizard-like appearence (they will end up being something like a pangolins or an armadillos).

Answer 2

Given the parameters and leaving out magic, you have few options.

Supernatural, cabbalistic and the ilk, and aliens of course.

Or an experiment in gene mixing that somehow produced such a creature which could reproduce.

The most likely reason for such an apparition would be hallucinogenic drug use.

Answer 3

There has been plenty of humanization of dragons and maybe working those into a human society.

I picture a society seperated into small clans. Being mindful of others could be a universal trait in dragon culture. Maybe there could be an emphasis on the material possesions of a dracotaur as a show of some kind of prowess. Maybe skins or accessories.

I could see dracotaurs from other clans dueling for their treasures and maybe clan versus clan battles in times where food is in short supply.