Valid, reliable comments in your list, 1 through 10.
May I add a number 11 to your list: The classic exposed-to-radiation explanation for why ants became as big as buses, or why people become homicidal zombies.
Radiation damages DNA so that the victims offspring are born with mutations. A gecko exposed to nuclear fallout doesn't turn into the Thing That Messed Up Bakersfield during its own lifetime, assuming it still has a lifetime after being irradiated. But if it lives to reproduce, those offspring may have birth defects. The irradiated gecko is more likely to die from slow, agonizing radiation poisoning.
Also, there's a standard ratio between surface area and body mass. If the creature's body does not stay close to that ratio, then it can't maintain it's body temperature. Therefore, it can't live. (Especially if it's cold blooded.) So, giant ants, a la "Them," or giant spiders a la "8 Legged Freaks" are entertaining fiction with no science to support there existence.
May I add a number 11 to your list: The classic exposed-to-radiation explanation for why ants became as big as buses, or why people become homicidal zombies.
Radiation damages DNA so that the victims offspring are born with mutations. A gecko exposed to nuclear fallout doesn't turn into the Thing That Messed Up Bakersfield during its own lifetime, assuming it still has a lifetime after being irradiated. But if it lives to reproduce, those offspring may have birth defects. The irradiated gecko is more likely to die from slow, agonizing radiation poisoning.
Also, there's a standard ratio between surface area and body mass. If the creature's body does not stay close to that ratio, then it can't maintain it's body temperature. Therefore, it can't live. (Especially if it's cold blooded.) So, giant ants, a la "Them," or giant spiders a la "8 Legged Freaks" are entertaining fiction with no science to support there existence.