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Name: Pierced-Snout Feef (Perforodontosaurus palunatans)
Creator: OviraptorFan
Ancestor: Chromofeef (Glossigyrinus chameleomimus)
Habitat: Yokto Montane River, Yokto Subpolar Stream, Yokto Subpolar Riparian, Yokto Bog
Size: 50 centimeters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Omnivore (Migrating Glowsnapper tadpoles, Seashellsnapper tadpoles, Glowogg tadpoles, Tonboswarmer, Sailmail tadpoles, Elahpekomlap Bubblehorn, Zurecorhiallo Bubblehorn, Roygus, young Ivy Thermoworm, Leafy Plyentwort, Miniswarmers, Tonboswarmer, Cobalt Lillyworm, Mistswarmers, Grabbyswarmers, Larvaback, Scuttlers, Cloudswarmers, Minikruggs, Xenobees, Vermees, Silkruggs, Xenowasps, Gushitos, Teacup Saucebacks, Dartirs, Sapworms, Sloshbelly, Yokto Pumpgill, Yellowstripe Gilltail, Plateback Glowogg tadpoles, Wriggletail Chromoleoxus tadpoles, Pierced-Snout Feef tadpoles)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, Two Genders, Frog-Like Eggs

As the chromofeef began to decline with the rise of taxa like the chromanke pushing them out of several of their original habitats, the remaining populations evolved overtime into a new taxon to survive in a changing world. This led to the rise of the pierced-snout feef, which ended up replacing their ancestor.

In many ways, it has not changed much from its ancestor, retaining many of its ancestral traits. The 4 limbs help it clamber about both on land and in shallow water, while its chameleon-like eyelids allow it to look in multiple directions and focus on various things in the environment. If it spots something that looks like prey, however, all 3 pairs of eyes will focus on it and the pierced-snout feef will shoot out their tongue to snatch prey. Large quantities of sticky mucus helps ensnare the target and prevent their escape as they are dragged back into the mouth.

One big difference, however, is the two pairs of large teeth on the lower jaw. These teeth are so large, that the skull of the pierced-snout feef has specialized holes that allow the two pairs of fangs to poke through without any damage. These fangs work particularly well with puncturing prey, dealing large amounts of damage and killing the creature quickly. These fangs also work as an effective defense against predators, since it means they can deliver a very painful bite to anything that tries to attack them. The pierced-snout feef can also still change the colors of its skin, changing into vibrant colors as a threat display towards predators.

While they mainly live in freshwater habitats, there are a few populations of pierced-snout feef that live within the Yokto Bog, where the water is brackish to salty. To survive in these conditions, the pierced-snout feef is able to rapidly change levels of urea in its body tissues, which avoids excessive water loss through the skin in salty conditions. In addition, this species of feef it has three glands within its skin: mucous glands, mixed glands, and vacuolated glands, which help buffer the additional salt which would otherwise enter its body. With these adaptations, the snapper can comfortably live in both fresh and saltwater and thus live in areas where its competition would do poorly. As parts of its range are also subpolar and thus can get pretty cold at times, the pierced-snout feef possesses anti-freeze proteins within their blood that allows them to tolerate the cooler winters.

Just like its ancestors and relatives, the pierced-snout feef lays their eggs into the water before abandoning them to their fate. The tadpoles of this species have the large fangs of the adults, allowing them to tackle prey around their size, which in turn gives them a competitive edge over other tadpoles of related snappers. They often stay in areas of dense cover since pierced-snout feef tadpoles are vulnerable to a variety of predators, including adult pierced-snout feef that will happily consume younger individuals.


Alright bois! Here is my descendant of the Chromofeef! Hopefully this gives the lineage some much-needed love! Any critiques or other comments on this species would be appreciated!

This post has been edited by OviraptorFan: Aug 25 2022, 07:15 PM

Little Manjack (Homunculusorex bipedalis) (little man-shrew on two feet)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Spiny Dwarfjack
Habitat: Oz Subtropical Beach, Anguan Temperate Beach, Barlowe Chaparral, Barlowe Bush
Size: 30 cm long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Omnivore (Xenobees, Xenowasps, Dartirs, Sapworms, Gushitos, Gushflier, Hemoswarmer, Supershrooms, Sapshrooms, Vermees, Teacup Sauceback adults and larvae, Snapper Scuttler, Cleaner Borvermid, False Cleaner Borvermid, Bora Scuttler, Communal Janit, Borinvermee, Mikuks, Minikruggs, Silkruggs)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Fur)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth, Milk)

The little manjack split from its ancestor and adapted for a more open environment. Standing upright on its long hind legs, it is able to see over the ground cover to scan its surroundings for predator and prey alike. Continuing its ancestor’s existing bipedal adaptations, in fact, it is almost completely bipedal, staying standing much of the time and even chasing down prey on two legs. With the short length of its tail, it assumes an upright stance by default, causing it to take on a humanoid shape. From a distance, it might look like a little man, hence its name.

The little manjack, though still mostly a generalist, uses its speed and height to chase and catch wingworms and other small winged creatures, which might be more successful at eluding its more quadrupedal ancestor. In addition to catching food in its mouth, it is also able to leap into the air after prey that has flown too high and clap it with its forepaws. Though a great leaper, it is not well-suited to prolonged hopping due to its upright stature. To support the shift to a more cursorial mode of life and to better adapt for burrowing, it has lost many of its spikes, apart from some around its neck, shoulders, and tail, though they are largely hidden in fur. It will still eat smaller flightless prey such as vermees when available.

The little manjack’s burrow suits its unique body shape. The entrance is vertical and deeper than the creature is tall. When fleeting from a predator, the little manjack leaps directly into its burrow feet-first, vanishing underground almost cartoonishly. It then quickly scuttles backwards into a side tunnel, ensuring that the predator cannot just reach in and pull it out. The interior of the burrow is relatively tall and narrow, better resembling a corridor or a mineshaft particularly with all the twigs, cut with its small blade-like tail, which are bent into arches along the walls and ceiling that fortify it against collapse. Clearly, the little manjack still retains some of the nest-making instincts of its seafaring ancestors, though with its small brain its lineage will likely never build a boat again.

Much like its ancestor, the little manjack is placental and gives birth to relatively developed young, unlike most shrews which have small, fetal pouch young. It gestates for about 50 days and the newborns are naked, blind, and helpless. The little manjack’s teats are on its belly and hidden by what remains of its ancestral pouch when not in use. To feed its babies, it crouches over them and retracts the pouch, exposing its teats so that they may nurse. In a matter of weeks, the babies are weaned and learn how to walk upright on their long legs. They follow their mother around while she is out foraging and learn to hunt for wingworms and other small flying creatures. They reach maturity in about 4 months. The little manjack has no breeding season, and a single female may give birth to many litters with different fathers throughout the year.

Name: Arboreal Ooze (Arbordomum volans)
Creator: HethrJarrod
Ancestor: Oozes
Habitat: Types (Tropical, Subtropical); Flavors (Rainforest, Wetlands, Woodland)
Raptor Tropical Rainforest, Wallace Tropical Rainforest, Dixon Subtropical Rainforest, Wright Bayou, Pipcard Bayou, Kenotai Bayou, Dixon Subtropical Woodland, Dixon Tropical Woodland, West Wallace Tropical Woodland, Bardic Swamp, Ichthy Swamp, Terra Swamp, Central Wallace Tropical Woodland
Size: 15cm (Juvenile), 1m (adult)
Diet: Omnivore (Songsauce Piper, Glideabovi, Hanging Olshkra, Thorny Toadtuga, Spineless Toadtuga, Cloudswarmers, Minikruggs, Xenowasps, Teacup Saucebacks, Dartirs, Sapworms, Leaf litter), Detritivore, Photosynthesis
Respiration: Passive (Diffusion)
Support: Juvenile: Endoskeleton (Elastic Polymer)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Colony(Asexual Budding, Fragmentation), Individual (Hemaphroditic Conjugation)

The Arboreal Ooze (aka The Flying Ooze) split from its ancestor and now lives in trees. The Arboreal Ooze makes its home as a net stretching between branches of a tree. Here it eats anything that flies into its sticky trap lured in by its aroma.

The most interesting thing is the juvenile form of the Arboreal Ooze. The baby Arboreal Oozes form from buds that coalesce around small rods that begin to form once an adult reaches full size. Extra mass is then used to produce young buds. If it cannot get enough food it will not begin producing young until it does. The young will readily exchange genetic information with each other. The Arboreal Ooze has many thousands of tiny hair-like strands all over its body. When these hairs are blown about on a strong windy day, the Arboreal Ooze releases its multitude of young oozes into the wind.

The young Arboreal ooze has a small flexible rod that is bent in a shape that allows the tiny ooze to best catch the wind allowing it to travel great distances until it reaches a new tree or down to the surface. If it climbs a tree that already has an Arboreal Ooze, the larger organism assimilates the smaller one. Once the infant Ooze lands it will consume the rod and only has a few days to find a a tree or suitable high location to feed and begin growing bigger. It takes about 5 years for a new Arboreal Ooze to reach full maturity. An Arboreal Ooze typically releases a new clutch of young Arboreal Oozes once or twice a year.



Life Cycle

An infant Arboreal Ooze starts out it’s life as an imperfect copy of its parent, forming around a small flexible rod. It is inside of a chamber, (Really just empty spaces between the strands of ooze created as it colonizes the tree) surrounded by anywhere up to hundreds or even thousands of siblings.

The chamber is allowed to rip open during a strong wind, and the multitude of infant Arboreal Oozes pour out and catch the wind. They vaguely resemble parachutes. The tiny flexible rod is shaped just right to best catch the wind.

When the infant oozes land they will consume this rod, similar to the yolk of an egg. The infant ooze must use this energy to find a tree to crawl up or some other way of finding food. If it cannot find food the infant ooze will die within a few days.

The infant oozes readily exchange genetic material between cells with other Arboreal Oozes in a process called conjugation. If it climbs up a tree that already has an Arboreal Ooze, the infant ooze will be consumed/assimilated.

Once in a tree an Arboreal Ooze will stretch itself like a net between branches, luring prey in with its aroma. It will take about 5 years to reach full size and be ready to reproduce

Name: Moleroot (Quillotuber Talpiferra)
Creator: HethrJarrod & Coolsteph
Ancestor: Quillfence
Habitat: Raptor Volcanic, Raptor Highboreal, Raptor Highvelt
Size: 1 m length
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detritrovore
Respiration: Unknown
Thermoregulation: Ectothermic
Support: Cell Walls (Cellulose)
Reproduction: Sexual (Hermaphrodite), Tuber Budding, Spore Packets (1mm)


The Moleroot split from its ancestor when a population of Quillfences, grew unusually deep underground, better protecting them from predators. The tuber of the Moleroot lives about 2 feet below the surface, growing toward the strongest source of nitrogen that it detects to feed the nitrocycle microbes all through its body. It will grow toward this source and once it is depleted it will slowly grow to the next.

As a whole, the Moleroot is perennial, but will send out shoots on a regular basis as it moves along underground. The shoots sprawl across the ground. These shoots are short-lived, dying off a half-month before most other flora in the area. As the shoot dies, the nutrients are redistributed to the tuber. At this point the shoot stands vertical. A slight breeze will come along, shaking the shoot and dislodging the packets of spores (1mm in size) from the inside of the hollow quills. This shaking makes a sound similar to a rattlesnake until the spores are ejected out of the quill.

Reproduction

While Moleroots are faster than most Terran plants, it still moves slowly. This means that an encounter with another Moleroot is uncommon. When it does happen, both Moleroots release a cloud of gametes from root spikes located on the bottom of the Moleroot. The two Moleroots travel through this cloud absorbing & fertilizing them. These fertilized gametes travel up the stalk to become the spore capsules. If a Moleroot doesn’t meet with another Moleroot, it will undergo this process itself.

This post has been edited by HethrJarrod: Nov 23 2022, 09:44 AM

Lookdown Waterworm (Mallevultus glacies)
Creator: Jvirus
Ancestor: Periscope Waterworm
Habitat: North Sagan 4 Ice Sheet
Size: 70 cm long
Support: Unknown
Diet: Carnivore (Common Gilltails, Scuttlers, Hanging Necarrow, Charybdis, Speckled Spinderorm, Bejeweled Emperor Scylarian (young))
Respiration: Cutaneous (Passive, pores on head)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, 2 Sexes, Ovoviviparous

Splitting from its descendant, some Periscope Waterworms inhabiting the frigid coasts of the Drake continent would exploit the miles of sea ice above their habitat, and adapt an unusual lifestyle to do so.

Lookdown Waterworms, also known as "Lookdowns", are ambush predators specialized for hunting beneath the ice sheet of Sagan 4’s northern hemisphere. Several adaptations have allowed the species to pursue this niche. The periscope has extended outwards, forming into a cephalofoil which gives the Lookdowns an expanded view of potential prey on all sides. As the Periscope Waterworm adapted to hunting prey above it, Lookdowns do the same thing while swimming upside down, as the seafloor is traded for floating sea ice. In this position, Lookdowns float close to the ice sheet, remaining motionless and neutrally buoyant.

Being ectotherms in a freezing environment, Lookdowns are very sluggish, often staying completely still for days on end. Once its prey gets close enough, it will attempt to capture it with a quick burst of energy. Prey ranges from small pelagic swimmers, to pseudobenthic ice crawlers, to juveniles of larger creatures.

As Lookdowns live in an environment where the seafloor may be miles deep, the ancestral oviparous tactic of laying eggs within the sand no longer works. Instead they are ovoviviparous, developing eggs within the female for around 100 days before hatching, after which the young are on their own. It takes nearly 6 years for a Lookdown to reach sexual maturity, and can live for up to 30 years.

Lookdowns are much less willing to interact with others of their own species than their partially social ancestors, owing to their harsh environment. If two Lookdowns meet, and are not interested in mating, they will usually ignore each other. If an adult encounters a juvenile, the juvenile will often become a meal.

This post has been edited by Jvirus: Oct 18 2022, 12:55 PM

Name: Kurtback (Vermisorex vonnegutii)
Creator: Cube67
Ancestor: Teacup Saucebacks
Habitat: Vonnegut Subpolar Volcanic, Vonnegut Subpolar Beach
Size: 35 cm long
Support: Endoskeleton (chitin)
Diet: Adults: Carnivore (Teacup Saucebacks, Silkruggs, Minikruggs, Scuttlers (uncommon)); Larvae: Omnivore (Teacup Sauceback larvae, Vermees, Sunstalk roots, Supershroom roots, Cryobowl roots, Pioneeroot roots, Marbleflora roots), Scavenger
Respiration: Active (microlungs)
Thermoregulation: Adults: Endotherm (feathers); Larvae: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female, oviparous, subterranean larval stage)

The emerging ecosystem of the Vonnegut islands is a unique one indeed. As these islands emerged so far from any other land, only the smallest and most abundant terrestrial organisms managed to colonize the archipelago. Though most of the region’s native fauna are unable to attain a large size, one group stands out amongst the crowd: the teacup saucebacks. Being descended from much larger creatures, it was only a matter of time until one of these species began getting big again.

Hunting
With little competition to hinder its growth, the kurtback is over three times longer than its closest relatives on average. Due to this size advantage, mature kurtbacks are able (and, in fact, specialized) to feed on other shrewbacks. Kurtbacks hunt in a manner not dissimilar to an earthling cat. Their feet are covered in soft down, keeping them warm in the dead of winter while also allowing them to stalk their prey without making a sound. This, of course, is hugely important to a species whose main prey item relies chiefly on sound to perceive the world around it. Additionally, kurtbacks do not emit sonar calls while hunting, using their prey’s calls to echolocate instead.
Once a kurtback is close enough to its prey, it gives chase, holding its robust jaws wide open. While a teacup sauceback has a top speed faster than that of a kurtback, its small size and high metabolism mean that it loses momentum quickly enough for the kurtback to pounce on it after only a few seconds of chasing. A kurtback pounces head-first, locking its jaws on the first part of a prey item they touch, killing it instantly.

Life Cycle
Similarly to their ancestors, kurtbacks begin their lives as tiny eggs, though now they are buried in a shallow depression in the soil instead of laid in the open. While kurtback larvae are very similar in appearance to those of their ancestors’, they are distinguished by several important features, just like the adult. Kurtbacks are more K-selected than most shrewbacks, laying slightly fewer eggs but having the larvae hatch at nearly 5 millimeters long to compensate. This adaptation originally gave these larvae a developmental advantage over other shrewbacks, but as in the adult kurtback, this size difference also helps kurtback larvae catch and eat (the larvae of) teacup saucebacks. To avoid competition with adult kurtbacks and other shrewbacks, larval kurtbacks often supplement their carnivory with a variety of roots and tubers, making them mesocarnivores. It’s worth noting that while adult kurtbacks have a slightly lower metabolism than their relatives due to their larger size, larval kurtbacks have a slightly higher metabolism than other shrewback larvae, enabling them to dig through the ground a little faster than their prey.
As the soil of a subpolar volcanic island can be a harsh place for an ectotherm, kurtbacks metamorphose earlier in their life cycle than other teacup saucebacks. While teacup sauceback larvae usually reach the length of the adult form before metamorphosing, kurtback larvae only reach half of their maximum length (17 cm), with the remainder of the growth happening in the adult form. Kurtback larvae still grow hair and store a large amount of fat before metamorphosis.

Integument
Since kurtbacks spend longer out in the open than their relatives, they have developed a variety of integumentary adaptations to deal with the cold environment. Kurtbacks have a distinct summer and winter coat of feathers, with moulting between the two triggered by the year’s first thawing and first snowfall, respectively. A kurtback’s summer coat is composed of thinner, black feathers, which help it blend in with the volcanic rock and soil it calls home. The winter coat, meanwhile, is composed of a dense layer of white feathers, keeping the kurtback warm and helping it blend in with the snow. A kurtback’s feathers are replaced as they fall out, giving the kurtback a mottled grey (or “blue”) look during the brief moulting period.
The sclerites of a kurtback undergo a similar color change to the rest of the body, but by a different mechanism. When changing to the winter coat, the black pigment in the jaws, teeth, sauce, claws, and tail spike is dissolved, with the pigment being regenerated during the transition to the summer coat. While the changes in feather and sclerite color don’t hide the kurtback from the blind teacup saucebacks, it does hide it from their other prey items like kruggs.

Courtship and Behavior
Perhaps the most unusual thing about the adult kurtback is its tail spike, which now appears more like a strange fin than it does a tiny spike. This structure is for sexual display, helping kurtbacks identify each other quickly and making them more attractive to mates. Although kurtbacks are completely blind, they are able to “see” this tail spike especially well via sonar. It is much larger, flatter, and denser than in other saucebacks, perfect for reflecting sound. Larger tail spikes are also favored by both sexes as a display of fitness: the logic goes that individuals able to maintain a larger tail spike must be better at hunting and surviving. This is because the structure essentially serves as a handicap. It radiates a lot of heat due to its flat shape, making it harder to thermoregulate. It is also somewhat cumbersome and makes the kurtback more “visible” to its prey, making it trickier to hunt.
Outside of courtship, kurtbacks are largely solitary, viewing other kurtbacks of the same sex or of much smaller size as competition. Rival kurtbacks generally don’t fight each other, but they do use the size of their tail spike to try and assert dominance. While this may seem like a purely selfish trait, it actually benefits newly-metamorphosed kurtbacks, which could otherwise be seen as food by fully grown individuals. Kurtbacks are not particularly smart for a sauceback, typically ignoring or avoiding new stimuli that they don’t recognize as food, foe, or partner.

Supplementaries (these go with the integument section)

Winter coat

Moulting

This post has been edited by Cube67: Aug 25 2022, 03:48 PM

Mangal Sauceback (Conodenticulus glabernasus) (bald-nosed cone-denticle)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Fourmaw Sauceback
Habitat: Fly Tropical Beach, Hydro Tropical Beach, Oz Subtropical Beach, Time Subtropical Beach, Time Archipelago Subtropical Beaches, Abello Temperate Beach, Abello Archipelago Temperate Beaches, Anguan Temperate Beach, Anguan Archipelago Temperate Beaches, Barlowe Tropical Mangal, Oz Subtropical Mangal, Time Subtropical Mangal, Abello Temperate Mangal, Barlowe Temperate Mangal, Ittiz Temperate Mangal, Ittize Temperate Beach, Ittiz Archipelago Temperate Beaches, Nergali Subtropical Beach, Nergali Subtropical Mangal, Clayren Temperate Beach, Clayren Temperate Mangal, Clayren Archipelago Temperate Beaches, Fly Tropical Coast, Hydro Tropical Coast, Time Subtropical Coast, Oz Subtropical Coast, Anguan Temperate Coast, Abello Temperate Coast, Ittiz Temperate Coast, Nergali Subtropical Coast, Clayren Temperate Coast
Size: 8 cm long
Support: Endoskeleton (Chitin)
Diet: Adult: Carnivore (Burraroms, Scuttlers, Snapper Scuttler, Vermees, Floraverms, Teacup Sauceback larvae, occasional cannibal of its own larvae); Larvae/juvenile: Detritivore (wood, chitin)
Respiration: Active (Microlungs)
Thermoregulation: Adult: Endotherm (Feathers); Larvae: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Eggs and Larvae)

The mangal sauceback split from its ancestor. It moved out to the beaches and mangal biomes, where it hunts small creatures found among the substrate, much as its ancestor did--except that it has a preference for those found in water.

The mangal sauceback swims with a left-right undulation of its tail and seeks out benthic sea creatures, such as burraroms and scuttlers, by touch, as its echolocation is mostly ineffective underwater due to it only being adapted to use it in the air. Its “gums” are very sensitive and much of its face naked to aid in this. Once it finds what it’s looking for, it snatches it with its four jaws full of conical denticles. A strong swimmer with a strong bite, it can pull even the largest burraroms from their burrows with enough force to tear them in half in some cases. The shells of scuttlers are no problem, as once it has them in its grasp it can use its jaws and feet to turn them upside-down and rip into their soft underbellies. It will also hunt vermees in the mangals and beaches, where it also lays its eggs.

The mangal sauceback’s jaw teeth are elongated and each bear several conical denticles which act similarly to the teeth of a crocodile to maintain a secure grip on their chosen prey. The four swallowing teeth are set further back and difficult to see when looking into the mouth. The jaws can no longer be fully retracted, but they are still capable of some back and forth motion to manipulate food. Though the external gum-lips are covered more by skin than mucous membrane, the mouth still does not fully close at the front, leaving a roughly square-shaped gap which leaves it prone to water loss. However, this is not really an issue, as the mangal sauceback is aquatic.

Much like its ancestor, the mangal sauceback has dramatic mating practices. Females will climb onto the beach or mangroves and advertise their receptiveness with ultrasonic chirps, attracting any males nearby. Multiple males may fight to the death over a potential mating opportunity. Once the winner has mated with the female, the remaining males will mate with one another to reduce their aggression and hormone levels so that they can cease fighting and move on. Older males which have been in many mating battles often have scars, particularly taking the form of holes through their ears and gum-lips from other males biting their faces and puncturing them with their denticles. Like its ancestor, the mangal sauceback is fertile throughout the year, but unlike its ancestor, it does not hibernate.

The mangal sauceback lays around 200 eggs at a time and offers no parental care. The larvae are detritivores which eat the wood and chitin of dead trees and shrubs in the mangal and beach biomes. They reach adult length before metamorphosis, in which they bulk up into “fat hairy sausages” so as to not starve before their transformation into an adult is complete. In the colder parts of their range, larvae brumate over winter. This results in larvae taking longer to reach adulthood further north, as they cease growing during this time. Temperate populations take one year to reach maturity, while tropical ones only take 8 months. The mangal sauceback can live for 6 years, thanks in part to repair done to its damaged telomeres as it evolved, though many are killed by predators long before then.

Plentiful and ravenous and most associated with the seaside, mangal sauceback larvae present a serious problem for seafaring shrews in the region, as they infest nests and cause damage faster than the shrews can repair it. This has particularly resulted in the disappearance of the seashrog, the wolvershrog, the topship shrog, and the shailnitor in all beaches and mangals which the mangal sauceback occupies. Wolvershrogs also vanished from inland in Barlowe and from Lamarck Temperate Woodland, as they are tied to the beach and not a true population. Though more shrogs can arrive by the will of the ocean currents, if they need to build nests or do repairs they are unlikely to ever leave once mangal saucebacks find their nests and will eventually, whether by exposure to the elements or predation by pirate waxfaces, die without establishing a population, especially wolvershrogs which can easily overheat in the temperate summer.

The mangal sauceback prefers to stick close to the mangroves, as it is blind and dependent on echolocation, and navigating open water without mangroves close by to create echoes is rather difficult especially with its relatively small ears. Nonetheless, it is very common for it to get lost and cross open stretches of water, and if it isn’t eaten, it can arrive on and colonize more distant islands. This has resulted in it reaching many isolated islands surrounding Barlowe and even crossing to the mangals and islands surrounding southeastern Lamarck.

Snowflake Obsidioaks (Chameleumbraquercus spp.)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestors: Chameleon Obsidishank, Obsidoak
Habitat: Wallace, Koseman
Size: 5-20 meters tall, leaves up to 20 centimeters long, 10-30 cm long spore pods
Support: Woody Trunk with Heartwood (Cellulose)
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: Passive (Stomata)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm (Camoplasts and Sap Circulation)
Reproduction: Sexual (Airborne Cylindrical Spores)

Despite their wildly divergent lifestyles and considerable difference in size, the chameleon obsidishank and the obsidoak are very closely related, enough that where their ranges overlap they hybridize readily. These hybrids can be very successful, but often ultimately merged back into one of the parent species’ populations--that is, until new biomes opened up for colonization which these hybrids thrived in. Thus, they not only split from their ancestors, but diversified--transforming into a widely successful genus group found all over Wallace. They are also found in Koseman, having crossed the archipelagos which separate the two landmasses thanks to their airborne reproduction.

Snowflake obsidioaks are named for one of the side effects of their hybridization. They have both the circulatory-based temperature regulation of obsidoaks, which results in their leaves all being roughly the same temperature, and the color change ability of the chameleon obsidishank, where leaves can change color from black to white using camoplasts when they get too hot. As a result, when they overheat, they change color all at once rather than a few leaves at a time. This can cause a snowflake obsidioak canopy to be dotted with white and gray trees, as individuals or species might have different heat tolerance compared to one another, ultimately causing the canopy to resemble snowflake obsidian.

Snowflake obsidioaks are found in a variety of biomes. The tallest, 20 meter species are generally found in woodland biomes and form much of the old growth forests. Being much smaller than the ancestral obsidoak, they can grow on steeper slopes, allowing them to coexist with the much larger species. Smaller species can be found in harsher and drier biomes, and the smallest, 5 meter tall species form pygmy forests scattered around shrubland biomes, particularly the chaparral. They inherit the fire resistance of the chameleon obsidishank and can recover and regrow after a wildfire. In the plains, smaller species can be found isolated and scattered while larger ones often grow along rivers and streams, and in the deserts, they are nearly entirely absent, only existing as small species very close to water from streams or oases. Their black leaves make them well-suited to populating subpolar biomes despite being naturally broadleaf.

The leaves of snowflake obsidioaks inherit the broad shape and bitterness of obsidoak leaves and the toughness of chameleon obsidishank leaves. This makes them somewhat unappetizing, but they are nonetheless edible to browsing herbivores. Snowflake obsidioaks have many branches, creating a microclimate which can support a variety of arboreal and semi-arboreal fauna and epiphytes. They have heartwood which can rot when exposed without necessarily killing the trees, creating hollows where small fauna can hide or nest. When snowflake obsidioaks die, their leaves turn white, and likewise they leave behind white leaf litter.

As they use spores, snowflake obsidioaks are slower to sprout than flora which use seeds. However, this is mitigated by a couple of factors. First, the spores of obsiditrees including the snowflake obsidioaks are multicellular, which gives them a head start compared to organisms with unicellular spores and allows them to survive the dry conditions caused by leaf litter, even though they are not as effective at this as seeds. Second, they are very shade-tolerant and can exist even under a canopy of other black flora, staying as juveniles until there is a break in the canopy. These two factors help keep the old growth forests mostly black flora-dominated at the time of evolution.

Like the obsidoak and like the oak trees they are named for, snowflake obsidioaks are shade trees which eliminate competition by being wider than they are tall and casting shadows all around themselves. They grow many spore pods throughout their branches, which are shed at the end of their spore season. They are largely dependent on wind to disperse their spores, but some species, especially in forest biomes where there is little wind, have barbs or hairs on their spores which allow them to be tracked to new locations by fauna. Populations will release the spores in their spore chambers all at the same time based on various wind and humidity cues to ensure greater chances of successful germination, as they are mostly dependent on water to bring the spores together for fertilization. So many spores can be released at once that it creates an orange haze or spore fog, which under some weather conditions can fill the air over a particular biome for days or even weeks and which greatly contribute to aeroplankton. They hybridize, speciate, and hybrid-speciate readily, just like Terran oak trees.

Martyk Mega Quail (Perampluscoturnix martykensis) (very large quail from Martyk)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Quail Raptor
Habitat: Martyk Temperate Woodland Archipelago, Martyk Archipelago Temperate Beaches
Size: 2 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Chitin)
Diet: Herbivore (Fuzzweed, Pioneeroots, Baebula, Fuzzpile leaves and berries, Mainland Fuzzpalm leaves and berries, Hengende, Marbleflora, Fruiting Grovecrystal fruit flesh, Gecoba Tree fruit and leaves, Tropical Gecoba Tree fruit and leaves, Capped Crystal flesh, Quhft fruit and leaves, Scrubland Quhft fruit and leaves, Qupe Tree leaves and fruit, Branching Qupe Tree leaves and fruit, Hairoot, Supershrooms, Sapshrooms, Colonialballs, Flashkelps, Tubeplage leaves, Scrubland Tubeplage leaves, Boreal Tubeplage leaves, Feroak leaves, Cocobarrage leaves, Obsidibend leaves, Broad-Trunk Obsiditree leaves, Obsidoak leaves, Snowflake Obsidioak leaves, Shaggy Volleypom leaves)
Respiration: Active (Microlungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Feathers)
Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Hard-Shelled Eggs in Nests)

The Martyk mega quail split from its ancestor. In the Martyk archipelago where competition was more sparse, it rapidly grew in size through the process of island gigantism. Being able to fly using wings which were also legs gave it an edge over the other local species that might have become large herbivores in the archipelago. Unlike real world birds and insects and Sagan 4’s own phlyers, wingworms, skysnappers, gliding pinyuks, and the majority of other volant creatures on the planet, flying saucebacks walk and fly with the same appendages. This means that unlike most organisms which can lose flight in a few short mutations, flying saucebacks cannot easily do so without also affecting their ability to walk. As such, loss of flight never became advantageous enough, so the Martyk mega quail retained it, and in fact became one of the better fliers among saucebacks.

As a result of keeping its flight, the Martyk mega quail can quickly and easily travel between islands using thermal soaring and isn’t doomed to extinction when an island sinks. To support a more volant lifestyle, its tail dramatically shortened; in fact, in just a few mutations, everything past its lungs was deleted entirely, including its tail fan and spikes, causing its tail to simply abruptly stop with a blunt taper, as though it had been cut off and healed. It primarily uses its ears for stabilization, unlike most flying saucebacks which use either their tails or both. Like other flying saucebacks, its hip socket is open and upturned, which makes standing up cost more energy than it would for non-flying saucebacks, but as it is very lightweight, this is not a problem at its size. It has lost echolocation, as vast stretches of darkness do not completely cover the islands and it is, physically, generally more suited to wandering clearings and otherwise sparse stretches of forest with lots of light.

The Martyk mega quail’s sauce plate and ceres are often covered by its contour feathers, which keeps it warm in the temperate winters. To keep air entering its microlungs fresh, the feather cover is not complete and creates a sort of tunnel which opens at the end of its tail. In the heat of summer, it can cool itself off by spreading its feathers to expose its back. Like other flying saucebacks, beneath its contour feathers, it has a layer of downy feathers. These keep it warm in the winter. It has summer and winter downy coats, which molt in the spring and fall and have to be preened out.

Being a large flighted herbivore has some disadvantages for herbivory. The Martyk mega quail cannot invest in a large gut or else it will be too heavy to fly. As a result, though it does have a fermenting gut which can process tree leaves, it is too small to support a tree leaf-only diet, so it prefers softer herbs, fruit, and crystal flesh. It clips most flora with its beak-like mandibles, and it is able to break into crystals by kicking them with its hooves, generally limiting it to shorter broad-crystal species. In the absence of usable grinding teeth, it grinds up the flora it eats using gastroliths in a gizzard instead. It does not consume tubeplage fruits, as their acid can wear down its gastroliths. Though not aquatic, during low tide it will sometimes wander the beach and consume often-easy-to-digest aquatic flora, especially floating flora such as colonialballs which have been stranded on the sand.

Like its ancestor, the Martyk mega quail nests on the ground. Unlike its ancestor, it does so communally, as lack of space makes this necessary. It nests in the summer on warm beaches along the edges of the island forests and is fiercely protective of its eggs and young, using its hooves to bash in the brains of beach-dwelling potential predators. Its offspring hatch flightless but already capable of running, and they gain their flight feathers quickly, allowing them to follow their parents into the sky within about a month of hatching. Young individuals cannot digest tough tree leaves and mostly eat fruit and herbs. They reach maturity in roughly three years.

Seanniver (Platymancerxichthys viridis)
Creator: Jvirus
Ancestor: Ray Flat Swarmer
Habitat: Jujubee Ocean Tropical Sunlight Zone, North Jujubee Ocean Subtropical Sunlight Zone, South Jujubee Ocean Subtropical Sunlight Zone, LadyM Ocean Tropical Sunlight Zone, LadyM Ocean Subtropical Sunlight Zone, Mnid Ocean Tropical Sunlight Zone, Mnid Ocean Subtropical Sunlight Zone
Size: 40 cm wide (wingspan)
Support: Unknown
Diet: Photosynthesis, Planktivore (1 mm - 1 cm)
Respiration: Cutaneous (Passive)
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual, Spawning, 2 Sexes

Splitting from its ancestor, Ray Flat Swarmers would migrate from coastal environments into the open oceans of Sagan 4.

Seannivers are pelagic suspension feeders which eat a wide variety of plankton. It also gains energy from photosynthesizing through its skin. Seannivers inhabit warm, tropical and subtropical open waters near the equator, staying near the water’s surface. The year-round sun and plentiful plankton populations in these environments allow Seannivers to maximize productivity from its feeding strategies. It has a flattened body, with its large fins being wider than the length of its body, which further allows them to take in solar energy.

Like its ancestors, Seannivers are social animals which live in swarms of hundreds of individuals. These large swarms do allow safety in numbers, but can also warn members of danger before a predator even attacks. Seannivers alternate behavior between swimming right side up near the surface and upside down in deeper water. While swimming right side up, Seannivers harvest sunlight more easily. While swimming upside down, it is able to see predators from below with its singular eye, darting to the surface and warning right side up members of the nearby predator.

A Seanniver primarily feeds through suspension, swimming forward and allowing water to flow into the mouth along with prey. Due to having a blind gut, a Seanniver has no way to passively filter out water. Instead, after harvesting enough prey it partially closes its mouth and begin compressing its stomach using slight muscular contractions. The interior of a Seanniver's mouth is covered in villi, allowing small amounts of water to exit while most plankton remain trapped in the tightening gut. This strategy tends to be more effective at capturing larger organisms, while smaller ones may still escape. These villi have the added advantage of slightly increasing the Seanniver's surface area which increases oxygenation. Seannivers primarily feed on phytoplankton, such as Redmosses and Testudiatoms, and may also feed on zooplankton and larval young of other organisms. When not feeding, a Seanniver with its mouth closed is much more hydrodynamic, and can lazily glide along the surface while photosynthesizing or quickly evade predators.

Seeking out the most food in an environment where it is often hard to come by, Seannivers congregate near upwelling locales plentiful with plankton. Seannivers will also spawn en masse in these areas, each female releasing thousands of eggs into the current every summer.

This post has been edited by Jvirus: Oct 15 2022, 11:31 AM

Sproingshell (Fabaconcha pandere)
Creator: Solpimr
Ancestor: Stalkshell
Habitat: Dass Temperate Coast, Morokor Subpolar Coast, Austin Temperate Bay, Badger Subpolar Coast, Raq Subpolar Coast, Colddiger Polar Coast, Xeno Subpolar Coast, Martyk Temperate Sea, Elerd Temperate Coast, Iituem Temperate Bay
Size: 80 cm tall
Diet: Planktivore (1000 micrometers-5 milimeters), Kinetivore (facultative)
Respiration: Passive
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Support: Exoskeleton (Calcium carbonate)
Reproduction: Asexual (Eggs in the Water), Hermaphrodite (isogamous, broadcast spawning)

The sproingshell has split from its ancestor. Like their ancestor they are fairly simple internally, posing a gastrovascular cavity, a number of electroplaques and bands of elastic tissue. Tentacles emerging from the oral opening capture food particles and draw them in. The size and number of their electroplaques is reduced compared to their ancestor while the elastic tissue bands have increased on size and number. As a result they do not produce as strong an electric shock.

Like their ancestor sproingshell contain large multinucleated cells housing elastic protein polymers which help them to remain upright in strong currents. Unlike their ancestor these cells house a second, similar protein which plays an important role in a novel metabolic process. Beginning with a simple duplication of the gene that codes for the monomers of the elastic proteins the sproingshell has developed a unique protein “ratchet” known as “sproingase”. Sproingase has two stable states, a stretched state and a relaxed state. When physically stretched it reacts with free phosphate ions and locks into the relatively high energy stretched state. It will remain this form until it catalyses the phosphorylation of ADP, at which point it enters the relaxed state. In this way the sproingshell is able to convert mechanical energy into chemical energy which it can then use in its cellular processes.

They are found in near shore habitats, often just below the low tide line. They are most common in locations were the waves touch the sea floor as it allows them to more consistently harvest kinetic energy. Even there however this accounts for only a portion of their energy needs and they still must feed on plankton.

Like their ancestor they have two distinct methods of reproduction. In times of plenty reproduce asexualy while when stressed they instead reproduce sexually. Asexually produced eggs are slightly over twice the size of gametes and are well provisioned with nutrients. Both gametes and asexual eggs are ciliated, as are zygotes.

This post has been edited by kopout: Aug 6 2022, 08:21 PM

Name: Tyrannical Vonnegona (Tyrannoardeus venustacristatus)
Creator: OviraptorFan
Ancestor: Driftwood Dasher (Neodromuflora insulahastam)
Habitat: Vonnegut Archipelago Temperate Beaches, Vonnegut Subpolar Beach, Vonnegut Temperate Woodland Archipelago, Vonnegut Bush Archipelago, Lemmings Temperate Coast (travel only), Nemo Subpolar Coast (travel only)
Size: 5.6 meters long
Support: Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood)
Diet: Carnivore (Adorned Tamow, Quillmow, Gentonna, Tamwodjir, Marine Tamow, Seashrog, Driftwood Dasher, Stegomizer, Sparkleshrog, Shrogger), Scavenger
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Live Birth, Male and Female)

When many organisms from the Driftwood Islands arrived on Vonnegut and its various archipelagos, the lasting nature of the islands of rock meant the new arrivals could establish themselves. This then would allow certain species to go in whole new directions, such as Driftwood Dashers that rapidly got bigger and bigger. Over time, they would split off and become the Tyrannical Vonnegona, one of the largest species of snoa to have ever lived (only tying with the fully aquatic Baṛādohve).
As it lives on volcanic soil and not decaying vegetation, the Tyrannical Vonnegona has much darker colorations to blend in, though it does have lighter patterns on the face and a brightly colored crest for intraspecific communication. These usually take the form of elaborate dances to establish dominance, since while Tyrannical Vonnegonas are solitary when it comes to feeding, they actually are somewhat social outside of it.

Being giant carnivores, the Tyrannical Vonnegonas need a good amount of meat to sustain themselves and staying on a small island would quickly result in all the available prey being eaten or moving away, which in turn encouraged Tyrannical Vonnegonas to move between islands to not overexploit prey resources. For them, moving between islands taps into the nomadic nature of their ancestors, meaning it came easily for the species. Additionally, the coastal waters surrounding the various islands are devoid of any large carnivores, meaning these treks are relatively safe despite the fact that Tyrannical Vonnegonas are only decent swimmers and can take several days to reach their destination. Once they do get ashore, however, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will begin to search for game since it will be hungry. While the lineage of Driftwood Dashers that would eventually become the Tyrannical Vonnegona merely hunting down things larger than others of their kind could feasibly swallow but otherwise acted the same in how they caught it, the Tyrannical Vonnegona itself has become pretty different in both prey preferences and in how it tackles such game.

Their choice meals are the local megafauna, ranging from the various kinds of shrews native to the region to large limblesses to even the Driftwood Dasher itself. All of these are far too big to be merely swallowed whole, plus many of them are far too spiny to be safely swallowed whole anyways. As such, the ancestral hunting method of running down a victim before snapping it up and beating it against the ground needed some really big changes. A critical part of a Tyrannical Vonnegona's hunt is catch their prey by surprise, so they do not have time to set up their defenses or flee to the safety of the water (as many of their prey items such as the various tams are much better swimmers). The long limbs inherited from their ancestors still help the Tyrannical Vonnegona cover larger amounts of ground, allowing it to quickly close the distance between it and its target. When close enough, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will use its powerful jaws to establish a hold, with the powerful jaw muscles of this species applying a lot of force to ensure the prey can’t struggle its way free. Meanwhile, the bill still contains petrolignin to resist the high stresses of a struggling victim, with the bill having also been shortened to also better resist such high amounts of torsion. The teeth of this species have become larger and more blade-like, meaning that as a victim struggles they will simply cause the teeth to saw in deeper and deeper.

Once a bite is established, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will wrestle the victim to the ground, where it can then deploy a particularly deadly weapon, the huge sickle claw on their innermost toe. This claw is designed to cut into the underbelly of its prey, killing it as quickly as possible and thus minimizing the risk of injury. While this method is preferred, the Tyrannical Vonnegona can also kill its victim by ripping out chunks of flesh with their jaws and letting it succumb to shock and blood loss but this carries a larger risk of getting injured. When it comes to feeding, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will use its feet to pin down the carcass while ripping out chunks of flesh with the slight hook on their bill so the meat can then be swallowed whole. If the prey is fairly small like a Driftwood Dasher or a Stegomiser, the Tyrannical Vonnegona can actually rely on their ancestral hunting methond of grabbing the victim and beating it against the ground. It can also trash the smaller creature around to use momentum to tear it apart, which makes feeding easier.

As Tyrannical Vonnegona do indeed need a decent amount of food to sustain themselves, other members of their species are seen as competition. Fighting each other physically over such resources, however, could lead to serious injury that might compromise their ability to effectively hunt. As such, Tyrannical Vonnegonas instead have a sort of pecking order, with the bright colors on the faces in both sexes being used to establish dominance amongst their kind. If two individuals meet, the one that sits higher in the pecking order will hunt first and thus have the best access to available prey, while the one that sits lower will have to wait until the other Tyrannical Vonnegona has satisfied itself before it can go hunting for whatever game is still present. If two individuals meet and one that sits lower in the pecking order decides to challenge the other over the right to hunt first, the two will begin bobbing their heads and circle one another while making low hisses and growls. These are usually enough to establish dominance, but if neither is willing to back down the conflict will escalate to pushing and shoving until one is knocked down.

When it comes to breeding, the Tyrannical Vonnegona is fairly similar to their ancestor, though there are a few key differences. When two individuals come together to mate during the spring months, they will briefly stay together for about a week on the same island before eventually going their separate ways. The mother will move to the center of the island and go into a state of torpor as the young develop until she eventually gives birth. While they usually only give birth to one youngster at a time, since they take longer to develop, they can occasionally give birth to twins. The largest threats to the young are Sparkleshrogs and Shroggers, who will kill them both for food and to eliminate potential predators while they still can. As such, the Tyrannical Vonnegona mother is still highly aggressive to anything shaped like a shrog when rearing young, with a good portion of their diet during the two years it takes for the young to reach independence consisting of shrogs. When the youngster is born, it is unable to make the trip from island to island itself, which means that the mother will have the youngster ride in her mouth during such trips. As the youngster grows in size, they learn the necessary skills needed to live in their unique environment and hunt the local prey, even assisting their mother in the latter half of the second year with tackling prey. After two years, the mother will once more be ready to breed, marking the moment they drive away their child and have them live on their own. The youngster will take another two years before reaching sexual maturity, with the species as a whole being able to live for over fifty to sixty years.

Alright! Here is my submission for the Island Theme Challenge! I also find it funny how the shorelances went from being diminutive omnivores to gigantic apex predators thanks to the Driftwood Islands. Do give your thoughts on the submission as a whole fellas!

This post has been edited by OviraptorFan: Sep 2 2022, 08:51 PM

Vingrasions (Octopusgramen spp.) (octopus grass)
Creator: Disgustedorite
Ancestor: Octovinbion
Habitat: Lamarck, Barlowe
Size: 25 cm-2 meters tall
Support: Cell Wall (Cellulose)
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: ?
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Asexual (Budding), Sexual (Spores)

Vingrasions split from their ancestor and diversified. Their hubs are even closer to the ground than before, and in fact in some species can be almost completely subterranean. This protects them from predators, which will instead focus on their tall leaves. This makes them somewhat like terran grasses, though they are a long way from really comparing to them outside of superficial appearances.

The leaves of vingrasions are long, symmetrical, and repeating. One side forms a flat blade-like shape, while the other grows another leaf pointed in the opposite direction. They grow one on top of another like this until they break under their own weight, are burned in a wildfire, or are cropped by herbivores, after which they are soon replaced by another chain of leaves growing from the same prong. In open biomes such as the plains and shrubland, they can reach great heights by supporting one another as they grow. They have developed sexual reproduction, the spores formed on their leaves being blown by wind or transported by fauna and depending on water from rain or snowmelt to come together. They also bud, each prong being able to grow a new hub.

Speaking of prongs, another distinct feature of the vingrasions is that not all of their prongs are above ground. Their hubs are placed so low that four of their eight prongs will instead essentially burrow underground, leaving them even more protected from herbivores. Prongs will grow hubs anywhere but only grow leaves when exposed to sunlight, the latter feature also allowing the species to avoid wasting energy producing leaves while, for example, covered by snow. The number of leaves that grow from a prong are highly variable, and while regular intervals like the ancestor are common, they can also be less regular and more clustered depending on the species.

There are many species of vingrasion found in a myriad of environments. During ecological succession, they usually first arrive after annuals. The smallest species are found in extremely harsh environments, such as the desert, tundra, badlands, and alpine. They depend on fertile soil and form clumps in patches of fertility in some biomes. To survive in environments with harsh winters, they survive dormant through their prongs and grow new leaves when summer arrives. Alpine species also make use of excess sugar in their leaves to avoid freezing overnight. Taller species can be found in the plains and shrublands. As the woodlands of Lamarck lack shade trees and are full of sunlight, vingrasions easily thrive on the forest floor, creating a lush understory. It is a different story in the darker forests of Barlowe, where the vingrasions mostly thrive in younger growth lacking in the tall black trees which would suppress them. Some species are also tolerant of brackish water and thrive in the beaches and areas where sediment has gathered to make small islands in the mangals, which aided the genus in spreading to nearby islands and crossing into Barlowe.

Name: Harndsum Prickleshrew (Ericisorex cimecophagus)
Creator: OviraptorFan
Ancestor: Neoshrew (Neosorex terranmimmus)
Habitat: Central Wallace Highboreal, Verserus Rocky, Wallace Chaparral, Wallace Volcanic, Central Wallace Veldt, South Darwin Highvelt, Central Darwin Rocky, Darwin Highboreal, North Darwin Rocky, North Darwin Chaparral, South Darwin Rocky, South Darwin Chaparral, Dorite Rocky, Dorite Chaparral, North Darwin Highvelt, Darwin Veldt, Wallace Chaparral, West Wallace Veldt, Verserus Highvelt
Size: 1 meter long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Carnivore (Minikruggs, Vermees, Xenobees, Sapworms, Grovecrystal Krugg, Common Fraboo, Bloodback, Muckwater Fraboo, Cleaner Borvermid, False Cleaner Borvermid, Nightcrawler Borvermid, Trailblazer, Undergroundi, Whiskrugg, Communal Janit, Infilt Pewpa, Dungshell Fraboo, Gamergate Gundis, Silkruggs, Dartirs, Oozocorns, Hanging Frabooballs, Xenowasps), Coprophage (incidental)
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Endotherm (Fur)
Reproduction: Sexual, Live Birth, Two Genders, Pouch and Milk

The Harndsum Prickleshrew is a split from the Neoshrew that specializes in eating Entomocarcinians, Optidorsalians, and other small invertebrate-like organisms. It has also grown much bigger than its ancestor as then it can push aside most of its potential competition and better defend itself from predators. Indeed, a good portion of its hair has turned into sharp quills along the back and flanks to prick at predators that try to take a bite. These quills are somewhat like those of the tigmow and may indeed partially originate from the quills of those shrews, though they are much smaller and more numerous to be more effective at deterring bites. These quills are also found on the otherwise hairless tail, which in turn means the tail can be used to smack at threats or competition and cause some damage. If a predator keeps up an attack, however, the Harndsum Prickleshrew will quickly rush in and lash out at the other creature. In these charges, the Harndsum Prickleshrew is focused on convincing the threat that it is too aggressive and dangerous to tackle and thus scare it off, though it can also use its massive claws and strong teeth to show that these threats are not mere bluffs.

While the massive claws can indeed gut an adversary, they did not originally evolve for such a reason. Instead, these were originally evolved for the purposes of foraging, as Harndsum Prickleshrews took their ancestral behavior of digging in the ground or in tree bark to make their homes and used it to find prey. The Harndsum Prickleshrew will use its large nostrils to pick up the scent of prey, indeed being able to smell food from up to 5 miles away if the wind is in its favor. Tracking down the origin of the smell, the Harndsum Prickleshrew can use its decent vision and sharp hearing to detect movement once it gets close. If it's a small krugg or sapworm, the shrew will merely smack it with its forelimbs to stun or kill the victim so it can then be caught and eaten. While it can subsist on such prey, the Harndsum Prickleshrew will have to spend a good portion of its day foraging for food to find enough food to sustain itself. There are ways around this issue, however, as some types of prey are either bigger or not found alone. An example of the former are the several species of fraboo that can be found in their range, which are fairly large but usually either contain toxins or utilize the smell of feces to deter threats. Developing a resistance to these toxins as well as not caring about the smell of feces meant they could tackle such prey, with their teeth being well suited to crunching through their usually armored or spiny prey. There are occasions where a young Harndsum Prickleshrew might mistake actual dung for a Dungshell Fraboo, which means they can often ingest it and get infected by microbes. As this could lead to dangerous outbreaks among the species, the Harndsum Prickleshrews had to develop a powerful immune system to neutralize any pathogens as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

Another option to find a large meal aside from tackling the fraboos is to seek out prey that live colonially. These can either be things like the several species of eusocial nodents to the hives of xenobees and their descendants the xenowasps. Both kinds of prey can be hard to get to, with both types often putting up a fierce resistance while the former is usually found underground or in tree bark and the latter is usually found high up trees. This is where the Harndsum Prickleshrew’s larger size and adaptations to the forelimbs truly shine, as the greater bulk means the shrew will not be overwhelmed by the defenses of its prey and thus not get killed itself. The forelimbs, meanwhile, could be use to either dig out the colonies of Undergroundis or Gamergate Gundis from their hiding areas or to dig into tree bark to climbing up a tree to get at the hives of Xenobees (as while they are relatively slow moving and clumsy when climbing, they can capable of at least doing it). Once they do get to the colonies, the Harndsum Prickleshrew will scarf down as much as it can, with individuals sometimes even using their claws to rip the Xenobee nest off the tree and have it fall to the ground so it can feed on the ground. The thick skin present on its face and limbs provide some protection against the stings and bites of the colonies defending themselves, but after a few minutes the Harndsum Prickleshrew will have to retreat though by that point it will likely have had a big meal.

Similarly to their ancestors, the Harndsum Prickleshrew is a solitary creature, only coming together with other individuals to mate. After copulation, the two will depart and return to their respective turf. The species still digs out burrows, which are much larger and deeper to accommodate for their increased size, and it is here that females will give birth. She will give birth to about four to six young at a time, with the mother still providing them milk to aid in their growth while they are in her pouch. During this time, the pups lack any spines, since they are protected by their mother and having them at such a young age means they would only prick the skin of their mother. Once the young are old enough to venture into the outside world, their spines begin to grow while they follow their mother to learn where the best food sources are. In areas where there are not many predators, the Harndsum Prickleshrew mother will actually tolerate her young for much longer than in areas where predators are abundant. While the pups are driven away at the age of about four to six months in areas of high predation, those in areas where there isn't that much to worry about may actually stay with their mother for years, breaking the general trend of Harndsum Prickleshrews being solitary. In those areas, the young will mainly leave their mother on their own terms, usually to find a mate and breed.

Alright! I finally got this species of Neoshrew done! I wanted to do it for a while but had been occupied with other species! Do give your comments on it!

This post has been edited by OviraptorFan: Aug 25 2022, 06:42 AM