In response to: https://twitter.com/afewbugs/status/381841849779879938
It is part of the lore of the Elder Scrolls series that this is not Earth, afterall. So it'd be weird to expect things to have the same evolutionary history. Further, it's very obvious that this world's evolutionary history did not evolve from Earth origins, but evolved in Parallel (one example of this is the "human" races of Tamriel. Although they at first appear to be human, a look at their eyes will reveal that their eyeballs are significantly larger than ours.
Further, if you notice the gait, it is more angular and less fluid than a human's, indicating a more rudimentary muscular structure. At first, I was also thrown by the width of the dragon's wings, assuming they'd need to be larger for flight. Although from investigating Skyrim and traveling from one side of it to the other, compared with a full map of Tamriel, I concluded that they are able to fly due to a decreased planetary mass (and thereby, lower gravitational pull). This would also explain the reduced musculature in the "humanoid" species, as the energy requirements to move would be lessened, putting less selective pressure on muscle development. This lower gravity is further emphasized by the presence of giant spiders and other giant insect life (not to mention the cumbersome mudcrabs); which would not be possible in a heavier gravitational pull.
Now, delving further into the Xenobiology, use of the abilities to "summon Daedra" will reveal that their physiology is very similar to that of the humanoid races. (Everything from Redguards to Kahjit). This indicates to me that they likely have related backgrounds, as that much evolution in parallel is downright statistically improbable. Further, we have seen "ascension" of multiple humanoids and Daedra (Tiber Septim into Talos for the humans, The Tribunal for the elves, and some rumors of the hist and larger forms that are more common for the "beast" races, and Daedric princes for the Daedra). This strongly suggests that Daedra/Aedra, the "Man & Mer" races, and the beastman races all share a common ancestor, as they all seem to have this rarely used capability to go through a butterfly-like metamorphosis. Thus I'm inclined to assume that all the "humanoid" races are actually evolved from insects.
