Sunday 25 November 2018

Rainforest Drainage Basin


The land to the northwest of the Eastern Forest Outskirts supports a much more humid and tropical climate, with dense jungles and rainforests. Within this area there is an ammonia river surrounded by a large drainage basin, making the environment in this region especially wet and swampy.

In Amthalassan rainforests plants are especially huge, owing to the high levels of methane and tropical climate of the planet. Trees can get much taller and grow far larger leaves on Amthalassa than in the rainforests of Earth, towering over even the largest animals that walk through. Many of these trees are kelp trees, but there are also a high number of large woody trees and trees with exoskeletons, far more so than in the less densely forested woodland to the east. In the open woodlands and savannahs of that area, the faster growth rate of kelp trees provides an advantage as it allows at least a few to outgrow Cursor predation. 

With the high canopy blocking sunlight, the forest floor can be quite dim. Only moss and fungi grows here, requiring relatively little light to thrive. The moss here is far more primitive than the variety found in mosslands, lacking the waxy layer that prevents moisture loss. As such, they require a far more humid environment than steppe moss.

Cornucerva tricerus
Size: 1.1 metres in length

Diet: fungi, primitive moss

Habitat: rainforest floor

Colouration: purple or red, with darker or black spots

Symmetry: biradial

Reproduction: reproduces sexually, all hermaphrodites, lays eggs

C. tricerus is a particularly small duocaputin, roaming the forest floor and feeding off the fungi that grow there with its large proboscis. The spotted, splodged colouration of its exoskeleton breaks up its form in the leafy environment of the rainforest, allowing it to escape the attention of predators and avoid danger.

As is common for folivorids they tend to live in groups, and they use the three long, thin chitinous horns at each end of their body to settle disputes. Unlike many other horned duocaputins, C. tricerus doesn’t engage in head butting, but instead engages in a kind of “sword fighting” with their horns, each trying to push their opponent to the side in a competition similar to arm-wrestling. Although their exoskeletons are rather thick, they aren’t as tough as most of their relatives, so they probably couldn’t endure a great deal of head butting – even if their horns didn’t get in the way.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Herbivora
Family: Folivoridae
Tribe: Velocini
Subtribe: Duocaputina
Genus: Cornucerva
Species: C. tricerus


Megarhamphus plumalis






Size: 30 - 55 centimetres, not including tail

Diet: primarily fruit, may also eat leaves

Habitat: arboreal

Colouration: bright white, yellow, and blue feathers. “Males” possess more yellow and blue plumage, while other individuals have duller mostly white feathers. The feathers of males are highly reflective and iridescent.

Symmetry:  8 fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all individuals are hermaphrodites though take on either a “male” or “female” reproductive role that can change over time. Lays eggs.

This species of caudarostrin is far more active than their relatives Caudarostrum, with a diet consisting largely of energy rich fruit rather than leaves and seeds, and climbing on the tops of branches rather than lazily hanging from underneath.

Megarhamphus is highly social, with complex group structures and a large number of different calls. They are very visual animals, but unlike most plumalians, who tend to be trichromatic or tetrachromatic, Megarhamphus is pentachromatic. Their white, blue and yellow colouration is only the tip of the iceberg; to other members of their species, their feathers bear complex patterns in the ultraviolet, indicating the health of the individual.

While many folivorids practice serial monogamy, Megarhamphus is polygamous. Unlike most other hermaphroditic species on Amthalassa, individuals of this species will usually either take on the role of a male (depositing sperm during mating sessions) or female (receiving sperm during mating and laying eggs). The group consists of one “male”, who has very well developed and colourful feathers, with a crest of feathers around their neck, as well as numerous “females” the male mates with, and their children. It is quite common for them to switch roles, especially if the lead male dies, with gradual changes in physical appearance following this, especially in their feathers. Since more offspring are related to the male than to any of the females, the colourful feathers of the male is strongly selected for. Females will only allow individuals with especially bright feathers to mate with them, rejecting any attempts other females may make to impregnate them.

While this is the typical group structure, it isn’t always quite so clearly clear cut. Some groups will have a main male and one or two other competing males, for example. The competing males will often let the main male impregnate them, but will also mate with a few of the females and attempt to fight the main male for its position.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Herbivora
Family: Folivoridae
Subfamily: Caudarostrinae
Tribe: Caudarostrini
Genus: Megarhamphus
Species: M. plumalis

River Hydrodiscid
(Ahris potamus)



Size: 15 - 25 cm radius

Diet: plants and dead matter on riverbed

Habitat: jungle rivers

Colouration: brown

Symmetry: radial (12 fold)

Reproduction: reproduces sexually though capable of asexual reproduction, all hermaphrodites, lays eggs

Hydrodiscids belong to a group of monothecians characterised primarily by the lack of legs, instead using waves of motion on its soft oral surface to move. This group, known as stomatopds, tends to be rather flat in shape, especially the aquatic hydrodiscids.

Hydrodiscids spend their time eating small food particles off the floors of riverbeds and lakes, although they’re also comfortable on the surface, coming up occasionally for air or in search of food. They can survive without surfacing for quite some time, however; not only are they able to trap air in a space between their exoskeleton and their flesh, but they’re capable of breathing through the skin of their mouth, much like some species of non-exoskeletid amphibians do over their whole bodies.

Since monothecians tend to have very hard, thick shells, hydrodiscids are difficult for predators to crack open. However, many have learned to focus on striking its vulnerable underside to kill it, although since it’s usually against the ground only animals with the coordination to lift them over can do this. This is no problem for intelligent animals like Hyloarctus and Molitor, but it can cause difficulty for others. Still, they have a relatively low rate of predation compared to many other animals.

In spite of this, they have been endangered in the past due to overhunting by the planet’s only known native intelligent species, as their shells have been highly valuable to them as food plates since ancient times. Even compared to other stomapods their shells are well sought after, thanks not only to what is seen as an ideal size and shape, but also the lack of nostril holes that need to be filled. Luckily, conservation efforts that began after the start of the environmentalism era have led to a rise in the population of these animals.

As one would imagine, their shape poses difficulty for this species when it comes to mating, since like most exoskeletids their reproductive organs are located on their backs. In some stomatopod lineages, the individual taking on the role of the female will mount another individual and take semen directly into their birth canal, but caudal tail-to-tail mating is far more common. Arhis potamus like most related species, possesses a penis, something that – while uncommon – has developed independently in a number of plurafistulate groups (especially in monothecians). While the penis is usually tightly wrapped up inside the animals shell, during mating it extends to sizes several times that of its body to reach another individuals cloaca.
Top view of Arhis potamus

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Monothecia
Order: Stomapoda
Family: Hydrodiscidae
Genus: Arhis
Species: A. potamus


Jungle “Lake Cucumber”
(Cucumis lacus)





Size: 20 - 30 cm long

Diet: dead plant and animal matter on river or lake floors

Habitat: Rainforest floor near freshammonia, or in rivers, lakes, or ponds

Colouration: Green, with black stripes at the intersection of segments

Symmetry:  Close to radial (10 fold), but with flat stomach (larvae are fully radial)

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs in bodies of ammonia. Larval stage is fully aquatic.

On land, the majority of plurafistulates lacking exoskeletons are amphibious; without a protective outer casing, they need to keep their skin moist or risk serious dehydration. One such animal is Cucumis lacus, or the “lake cucumber”. They crawl on their bellies, which led them to deviate slightly from their ancestral radial symmetry, with one side of their body flattened and adapted for locomotion against the ground.

They spend most of their time close to or in freshammonia, including the lakes, ponds, and streams common in the region.  They breathe through their skin, and can breathe just as well underammonia as they do on land, obtaining all the hydrogen they need from the ammonia. They rarely ever swim, instead crawling along the river floor with their undulating bellies just as they do on land.

Slow and weak, lake cucumbers have very little means of defending themselves against predators, so have developed a bright green colouration to warn predators of their poison. This poison rarely kills predators straight away, but will put smaller animals’ lives at risk later on. Although larger animals also avoid the poison of lake cucumbers, they are rarely killed by it; in fact the native sapient species often uses it as a recreational drug.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Clade: Geophida
Class: Monopleumata  
Order: Platygastaria
Family: Pharmacidae
Genus:  Cucumis
Species: C. lacus




Casor
(Casor casor) 



Size: 1 meter from tail tip to mouth, 1 meter arm span

Diet: meat

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: brown, dark brown

Symmetry: ten-fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites, lays eggs

These solitary carnivores spend most of their time hanging from hard tree branches, staying perfectly still and waiting for suitable prey to pass underneath. As soon as they see the right moment, the Casor releases its grip on the branch and drops straight through the tree canopy until it reaches its target below, grabbing it with its ten arms. If the impact itself doesn’t kill it, the Casor will use its claws and arm spines to finish the job. Once its prey is dead they then use their sharp hook-like tongue teeth to rip apart the meat and pull it into their mouth. Since they’re usually well hidden behind branches and foliage, waiting far above their prey, animals rarely have a chance to escape.

These are territorial animals, preferring not to interact outside of mating and childrearing. However, there are often territorial disputes between two individuals, which are settled through fights while hanging from trees. Their claws, arm spikes, and teeth are used, and they usually aim for the unprotected oral skin. A great deal of wrestling is also involved, and they will attempt to pull their opponent from the tree branch where it will possibly be injured if it doesn’t fall properly. There are even documented cases where one Casor will drop onto another unsuspecting individual trespassing in its territory.

Casor has fairly well developed chemical senses, and will use specialised milk secreted from its tongue to mark its territory to other members of its species. When they’re not hunting – that is, staying still and waiting for prey to pass by – they can often be seen moving across the jungle canopy rubbing their tongues against tree branches. Any passing Casor will detect the other individuals scent with taste receptors on the hairs of its feet, letting it know that someone has already claimed the area.

Their most common means of locomotion is to inch themselves across a tree branch, with their prehensile tail gripping it at one end, and their legs gripping the branch at the other end. They usually keep the tips of their claws raised off the tree branches in order to preserve their sharpness.

With a wide arm-span, Casor is able grasp a wide range of prey of various sizes, and since they possess good colour vision this means many animals need to be well camouflaged. Running from these animals is rarely successful, so avoiding their attention is usually the best survival strategy.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Acuta
Family: Casoridae
Genus: Casor
Species: C. casor

Stripe-tailed Zebra Snake
(Zebrophis grammourus)
 
Size: 60 - 75 cm in length


Diet: leaves, small fruit, tube bugs, moss

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: purple

Symmetry:  Radial symmetry (eight fold) (although their markings deviate from this symmetry)

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs. Has a fully aquatic larval stage.

Like the lake cucumber, Zebrophis grammourus, or the zebra snake, is one of the planet’s exoskeleton-less amphibians. Unlike the lake cucumber, Zebrophis spends the majority of its time in trees, possessing a long body well adapted to their arboreal lifestyle, as well as retaining their ancestral radial symmetry.

Although they spend less time in bodies of ammonia than some other amphibians, they still need to remain moist, so will usually be found quite close to lakes and rivers where it’s humid. In drier weather, they are far less active, and will spend more time in tight places where they’re safe from moisture loss, or even in lakes or ponds. Luckily, it rarely gets too dry in the rainforests they inhabit – even during the dry season there is still plenty of rainfall – but if they were taken into plains or deserts they’d be unlikely to survive long.

Their lack of an exoskeleton makes them a particularly favoured target for casorids and adriptorids, so they are well camouflaged, with purple skin allowing them to blend in with the surrounding purple foliage, and dark stripes and dots to break up their form. In spite of having small brains and very low intelligence, zebra snakes are quite social, living together in groups. So their stripes not only serve as camouflage but also allows them to recognise other individuals as belonging to the same species. It also plays a role in sexual selection, as imperfections in their patterning can indicate bad health.

Their social nature is likely an adaptation to protect them from predation, as they’re more likely to spot a predator in large groups. They are mute and make no effort to alert other members of the group, but individuals will usually keep their eyes on each other and escape if they see any other zebra snakes running.

Like other Amthalassan amphibians, they lay eggs lacking hard shells, from which small fully aquatic larvae hatch. Unlike many other amphibians Zebrophis doesn’t lay its eggs in ponds or lakes. Instead, eggs are kept in nests they build within trees, which they wrap in a kind of silk zebra snakes are able to produce from their mouths. These silk sacks are filled with ammonia, keeping the eggs moist until they eventually hatch. Chemical pheromones will be released when the embryo has almost completed its development, signifying to the parent that it will soon be ready to hatch. Once it has reached this stage, the zebra snake will place the egg sack in a body of ammonia, ripping the silk open with its teeth. Here they will spend their early years, until they’re ready to move onto land and into the trees.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Clade: Geophida
Class: Monopleumata
Order: Serpentiodea
Family: Sericidae
Genus:  Zebrophis
Species: Z. grammourus

Jungle Tree Lethargid
(Ramiflagellum arborealis)


  


Size: 1 metre in length, including tail (which makes up 60% of its body length)

Diet: meat, often preys on animals larger than itself

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: purplish brown to purple

Symmetry: bilateral, originally evolved from animals with 12 fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

Like most lethargids, these animals don’t chase down their prey, instead preferring to use their venomous tongues to subdue them. Like the related species Ramiflagellum solum, they cover their tongues in their toxic stomach acid, and once their prey is poisoned they’ll stalk them from a distance until they’re weak enough to kill.

They’re somewhat bigger than their eastern cousins, in part because the heavier foliage allows larger individuals to remain adequately concealed from prey, but also because the larger kelp trees can support more weight before their buoyancy is overcome.

R. arborealis is far more adapted to an arboreal life than R. solum, as they live far higher in the tree canopy and face a greater risk of injury if they fall, and spend comparatively little time on the ground. With an elongated body, stretched out limbs, and a long prehensile tail, they are much more proficient climbers.

They can take down prey far larger than themselves, and there are even documented cases of them killing Hyloarctus, though this is rare.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Venatores
Order: Insectilupiformes
Family: Lethargidae
Genus: Ramiflagellum
Species: R. arborealis


Echinolepid
(Echinus medispina)

 
                   



Size: 10 - 15 cm tall

Diet: Moss, leaves

Habitat: Rainforest floor

Colouration: Brown to light brown or yellow brown

Symmetry:  Twelve fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

It is common for monothecians – animals without tail or torso joints in their exoskeleton – to use the space that would otherwise be occupied by support muscle for thicker, more protective shells. Many monothecian lineages, such as echinolepids, have additional defensive adaptations; these small animals in particular possess numerous spines along their shells, making the consumption of them particularly unpleasant. Like plumalian feathers, they have developed from the small sensory hairs commonly covering exoskeletons, although they have become much harder and chitinous. These spikes reduces their chances of predation, as many predators will avoid them in favour of prey more comfortable to eat, although they are still very prone to being eaten in spite of this. In particular, Hyloarctus will crack them open with its jaws before separating out the flesh from the shell with its tongue, allowing them to eat the animals comfortably.

These animals are fairly reclusive, preferring a solitary life rarely interacting with other members of its species outside of mating. However, they are by no means territorial, and will rarely ever attempt to fight other individuals they come across. Usually, other echinolepids are treated with a degree of indifference, though they usually keep their distance from each other. When not feeding on moss and leaves, they spend a lot of their time hiding in burrows dug by other animals, usually abandoned molitorid nests. They are very poor at burrowing themselves, with limbs poorly suited for the task.

Like many other monothecians, their inflexible tails make cloaca to cloaca mating an awkward task, so echinolepids possess long, flexible penises for depositing sperm into the cloaca of a receptive mate. These penises are usually curled up in the animal’s shell, only leaving through the cloaca during mating. They will later find an abandoned burrow to lay their eggs, leaving them there after lightly burying them and never coming back. Like many other monothecians they don’t look after their young, who are able to take care of themselves the moment they hatch. However, unlike many other cold blooded exoskeletids like sectitestans, most of whom keep growing throughout their lives, shedding exoskeleton plates as they do so, monothecians stop growing once they reach a certain stage of development. This allows their shells to thicken and harden, whereas in earlier stages of their life it’s regularly shed to accommodate their growth, never lasting long enough to fully mineralise. Because of this echinolepids are particularly vulnerable as juveniles, and will spend much more time hiding in thick vegetation or burrows than as adults.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Monothecia
Order: Eurypoda
Family: Echinolepidae
Genus:  Echinus
Species: E. medispina


Armatid
(Gibbatesta teres)
          

Size: 12 - 17 cm tall

Diet: Leaves, moss, fungi and fruit

Habitat: Rainforest floor

Colouration: brown and grey

Symmetry:  Twelve fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

Possessing an exoskeleton, most exoskeletids are fairly well protected. Some animals have taken this a step further, developing hard shells as a result of exoskeleton thickening and mineralisation. Armatids are one such group, but they’re distinct from other lineages that independently developed this adaptation in that they’re able to fully retreat into their shells, tucking their legs inside. This feature was inherited by their ancestors, who were able to extend and contract by folding their exoskeleton plates over each other. This likely developed to allow them to reach food while also remaining compact and hidden from predators most of the time. Their exoskeletons had to be softer than usual so the plates could bend to properly fit under each other, which put their ancestors at risk. With a weak exoskeleton, it was only natural that they would develop a shell for protection.

Armatids keep their eggs in a nest which they usually watch over, but once they have hatched they do little to look after them. Luckily, as is the case for most sectitestans, they’re fairly independent at an early age, with well-developed instincts. Armatid shells are quite hard even at birth, so even their young are  well protected from predators, although they spend a great deal of time hiding in their early years. Still, even with their defences very few make it to adulthood, either eaten by animals that can bite into the shells of young armatids, such as Hyloarctus, or dying of some other cause. Luckily, they give birth to a very large number of offspring, allowing the population to remain stable.

These animals are herbivorous, with a diet that consists largely of the moss and fungus found on the forest floor. The teeth of their outer tongues are well adapted for this diet, with spade-like teeth near the ends for cutting plant matter, and numerous blunt molars further up their tongues for grinding it up in their mouths. Unlike other animals that eat food off the ground, namely herbivorans, they lack proboscises, but since these small animals don’t hold their limbs erect below their bodies their mouths are close enough to the ground these aren’t needed. When reaching leaves or fruit further away, they will reach out with their long tongues to grasp it, tearing it from the tree.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Clade: Geophida
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Sectitestae
Order: Extendabilia
Family: Armatidae
Genus: Gibbatesta
Species: G. teres

Green River Molitorid / “Trap builders”
(Molitor fluminalis)





Size: 1.2 - 1.4 metres in height

Diet: omnivorous; eats small to medium sized animals, supplementing its diet with fruit, seeds, and small tube bugs or mobile plant gametophytes

Habitat: rainforest floor, near rivers

Colouration: dull brown exoskeleton, bright green and blue feathers. Are known to cover their feathers in mud when they want to hide

Symmetry:  ten-fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs, which are kept in underground nests when not warmed in pouch

Molitorids are very intelligent animals found in the jungles and woodland throughout the southern continent, as well as a few other environments. They are highly resourceful, using a number of creative methods to catch prey that allow them to overcome their relative lack of natural weapons. One of their most noteworthy hunting tactics is the construction of traps. These are usually made by rearranging branches to build structures that will ensnare unsuspecting animals, with kelp trees function as rope, or using branches and leaves to disguise holes in the ground.

As fossorids, most molitorids keep their eggs in nests within burrows underground, though as adults they spend most of their time on the surface unlike more basal members of the group. Their hands are very poorly suited for digging, and are instead better adapted to walking on the surface and grasping the logs and twigs used in construction. Because of this, they’re unable to build their nest burrows with their bare hands; instead, they rely on stone tools to dig with, holding them in their dextrous hands to scoop away dirt.

Their muscular arms are useful for the placement of heavy logs and branches, and their tough exoskeleton protects them from the impact if anything falls as they’re in the middle of construction. Their exoskeleton is particularly thick near the part of their body their brain ring sits, acting as a biological helmet, and fluids within their neural segments further reduce the impact. Molitor fluminalis, as one of the larger molitorids, tends to deal with particularly heavy branches to build traps that will ensnare even the biggest animals, so these adaptations are crucial.

Like all fossoirds, they possess enlarged sensory hairs that function similarly to whiskers, but unlike other fossorids their primary function isn’t to help them navigate in the darkness of underground burrows, but rather aids their ability to sense nearby logs as they’re busy building for safety. Thanks to this they rarely fall into their own traps (or those of other molitorids) even at night, and will avoid knocking things over during construction. The hairs on their feet are also particularly well developed to increase their sense of touch, improving their manual dexterity.

They occasionally build structures similar to beaver dams, using them to redirect the river current to create a moat around mounds in the ground. This will deter many predators such as Hyloarctus, which are poor swimmers. Most molitorids aren’t particularly proficient swimmers either, but they will often use bridges to go across that only individuals on the island can operate, lowering them for any member of their group wishing to cross. When there’s a bigger gap of ammonia between the island and the rest of the forest, a system of floats is usually used to pull them across, operated with kelp tree ropes.

These are very opportunistic feeders, eating a wide range of plants and animals. When it comes to meat, they prefer to eat folivorids like Hinneleus, but will eat virtually any animal they find in their traps. The shells of Armatids and Echinolepids make them hard to eat for most animals, but with their advanced tool use ability Molitor has little difficulty. Using sharp stones, they scoop the flesh out of these animals from their soft oral undersides, eating it.

The genus Molitor is characterised by the presence of a number of adaptations to its swampy environment. This includes the presence of membranes inside their ear holes that are able to close over to prevent liquid from entering when they’re wading in shallow ammonia. Since plurafistulates have their ears on their legs, even walking in ankle high ammonia can cause issues for many species, clogging their ears.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Fossorida
Family: Molitoridae
Genus:  Molitor
Species: Molitor fluminalis


River Basin Hyloarctus
(Hyloarctus pachysoma telmatodytes)


 


Size: 3.4 m from head to tail tip, 1.4 m at shoulder

Diet: they eat meat, but supplement their diet with a great deal of vegetation

Habitat: Rainforest floor

Colouration: dark brown

Symmetry:  Bilateral

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

These large, omnivorous predators can regularly be seen roaming the rainforest floor, picking small nuts, seeds and berries from trees as they keep their eyes out for prey.  One of the most noteworthy features of Hyloarctus, shared by other magnilupids, is their extremely powerful lower facial graspers. These two facial graspers developed from the fusion of two separate pairs, and are controlled by the extremely powerful muscles filling the animal’s head and neck shells. In the much smaller minolupids, the two lower facial graspers aren’t fused, which is one of the most easily noticeable distinction between these two related families. Magnilupids also lack the serrations minolupids possess on the insides of their facial graspers, instead relying more on biting force.

While most magnilupids are very muscular animals, Hyloarctus is especially so, with convex portions of its exoskeleton accommodating greater muscle growth. The exoskeleton of Hyloarctus is also very thick and tough, allowing the muscles to apply greater force to it without putting the skeleton under undue strain. This makes these animals especially powerful, and they tend to rely largely on their strength to take down prey. Although their powerful muscles allow them to run in spite of their large size, they are still much poorer runners than many smaller and less bulky venators, so they tend to rely on ambushing unsuspecting prey and attacking them quickly rather than chasing them down.

Although they are able to take down fairly large prey, they also prey on smaller animals and have a very varied diet, eating whatever’s available to support their huge size. Given that a large portion of their weight is metabolically active muscle and heavy exoskeleton, their energy requirements are quite high. They catch fish and tube bugs with their tongues, and crack open the shells of echinolepids and armatids with their powerful lower facial graspers.

These are solitary animals, and they’re highly territorial, with fights regularly breaking out when a Hyloarctus intrudes in another individual’s expansive territory. Their facial graspers, as well as the six claws on each of their front and middle limbs, are used in combat. Outside of fighting, interacting with members of the same species is mostly limited to mating and childrearing. Pairs are mostly monogamous, although they never bond for life, and will look after their young together. They take good care of their young, and stay with them until they’re old enough to look after themselves. After this, the mating pair split up, and their offspring leave to live on their own. They tend to have only one to three young at a time, focusing on ensuring the survival of just a few children over having many.

Although still large, this animal is smaller than many other magnilupids, allowing the cramped, heavily forested environment to more easily accommodate it, and preventing it from sinking into the sludgy mud that fills much of the area. This smaller size doesn’t take significantly from its strength.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Venatores
Order: Insectilupiformes
Family: Magnilupidae
Genus:  Hyloarctus
Species: H. pachysoma
Subspecies: H. p. telmatodytes



Hinnuleus silvestris
Size: 1 – 1.1 metres on average, not including tail.

Diet: leaves, sometimes moss and fungus

Habitat: rainforest floor

Colouration: dull red, purple, black and brown in various patterns that break up its form

Symmetry:  eight fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

This Hinneleus species has a much longer tail than its woodland cousins, using its tail grasper to feed off of higher lying foliage. Compared to its neck, its body and tail is comparatively small, allowing it to hide effectively in spite of its long reach. Usually, when predators are near, this Hinneleus species will wrap its tail close to its body so as not to draw attention to itself.

With the ground covered in a lot of low lying branches, moss, and large fungi, this species is more agile than most of its relatives, with longer and more slender legs. The joint structure of Hinneleus doesn’t allow their legs to be especially flexible, at least compared to other, more active folivorids, but when hiding fails they’re at least swift and nimble enough to escape from danger in the densely forested environment.

Most Hinneleus species, with the exception of the far eastern variety, are well camouflaged; this is especially important for H. silvestris, with keen sighted Casorids lurking in the tree canopy above it. This is the likely reason this species is more feathery than the woodland and savannah species, as the feathers break up its silhouette better than its bare exoskeleton would.

Like most folivorids, their diet largely consists largely of leaves, although they have far less competition than the woodland species. Without any Virgata or Procera relatives, who prefer more open spaces than exist in the swampy seasonal rainforest, H. silvestris have a far higher range of heights available for feeding from, hence the longer neck. Most other herbivores in the area are arboreal, eating leaves and fruit far higher than H. silvestris can reach, or graze fungi and simple moss on the forest floor.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Herbivora
Family: Folivoridae
Genus:  Hinnuleus
Species: H. silvestris

Microsalitor orientalis


Size: 3 cm

Diet: tube bugs, mobile plant gametophytes

Habitat: arboreal

Colouration: dark brown or black

Symmetry:  seven fold radial symmetry.

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

These animals belong to a group of small monothecians called crustaceiformes. Unlike most plurafistulates, crustaceiformes possess open circulatory systems, and many species even lack hearts or respiratory pigments in their blood. Their smaller size and low metabolic rate make a more advanced circulatory system unnecessary, so there was little selective pressure against the loss of these features, and retaining them was often more costly than it benefited them.  

Many crustaceiformes are partially or fully aquatic, and occupy a similar niche to crabs on earth, even resembling them to an extent, reaching a similar size range to crabs. Some lineages even possess gills. Microsalitor is one of the few fully terrestrial species, spending its time almost entirely in trees. These animals are also fairly small compared to other crustaceiformes, averaging just three centimetres in height, which, coupled with their exoskeletons, makes the family they belong to closely resemble the arthropods of earth.

Microsalitor orientalis is a very active carnivore, hunting tube bugs like Dynamopus in tree branches. Their well-developed legs and light weight allow them to jump great distances compared to their body size, leaping from branch to branch with ease. This adaptation is invaluable for hunting in their arboreal habitat, allowing them to not only move around easily, but spring out from nowhere to attack unsuspecting prey.

Microsalitor is among the crustaceaformes that lack lungs, instead allowing air to enter their bodies through numerous holes in their exoskeleton, from which they travel through trachea that stretch throughout their bodies. They also lack well-defined hearts, which have likely slowly atrophied throughout their evolutionary history, instead relying in muscular contractions of their blood vessels.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Monothecia
Order: Crustaceiformes
Family: Microskeletidae
Genus:  Microsalitor
Species: M. orientalis

Insectivorus maculosus     


Size: 55 -75 centimetres in height

Diet: tube bugs, mobile plant gametophytes, and other tiny insect-like creatures.  Supplements diet with seeds

Habitat: rainforest floor

Colouration: purple or reddish brown, with black spots and splodges

Symmetry:  8 fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

Insectivorids, unlike many of their relatives, eat very little plant matter, instead having a primarily carnivorous diet consisting of tiny non-plurafistulates. Their proboscis clearly marks them as belonging to the same order as muscivorids and folivorids, but these appendages are much longer and thinner to best accommodate their diets.

With pointed pincer-like teeth at the end of their proboscis, Insectivorus maculosus can often be seen picking gametophytes out of holes in trees of the Haploformica genus, or catching tiny flightless tube bugs. They are small compared to other herbivorans, and very well camouflaged, with purple-brown to red-brown colouration and black spots all over their exoskeleton and feathers; even their proboscises – homologous with tongues – share this pigmentation.

Unlike other herbivorans, who can often be found in large herds, Insectivorus can be rather reclusive, although they do exhibit quite complex social behaviour whenever they do interact with other members of their species.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Herbivora
Family: Insectivoridae
Genus:  Insectivorus
Species: I. maculosus


Branch hopper
(Dynamopus dendrodytes)
Size: 2 cm long

Diet: bits of plant matter

Habitat: Rainforest canopy

Colouration: brown

Symmetry:  bilateral

Reproduction: reproduces sexually between males and females. Lays eggs, which hatch small worm-like larvae

This tube bug uses its powerful hind limbs to jump from branch to branch in its arboreal environment, allowing it to quickly escape predators. This is especially useful for evading Microsalitor, which possesses a similar adaptation. Using its quick reflexes, Dynamopus is often lucky enough to spot these monothecians coming towards them, and will leap out of the way before they’re caught. Microsalitor, unable to change direction in mid-air, will be forced to continue on its course.

Another adaptation, by no means unique to Dynamopus, is their powerful, fast moving tails, capable of lifting these animals into the air by moving in a rapid helical motion. Often, after leaping from danger, they will then take off into flight and move to a distant branch, relatively safe from the threat they’ve escaped. Taking off into flight isn’t as rapid as their jumping, so they will rarely fly straight away to escape danger without leaping away first.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Fistularia
Class: Fistulacimices
Order: Hexapodidea
Family: Heliura
Tribe: Dynamopodini
Genus:  Dynamopus
Species: D. dendrodytes


Caudarostrum silvestre



Size: 40 - 60 cm long, not counting tail

Diet: seeds, leaves, tube bugs, mobile plant gametophytes, sometimes worms

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: red-brown to purple exoskeleton, brown feathers; moss and algae tends to cover their body, giving their feathers a purple and red appearance as well as their exoskeleton, disguising their true colouration.

Symmetry:  eight fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

As well as Megarhamphus, there is a second caudarostrin species in this rainforest; Caudarostrum silvestre. Since they’d run into competition with their relatives if they ate fruit, they need to rely on a diet of leaves and seeds even moreso than their cousins to the east. They also supplement their diet with small insect-like animals like tube bugs. Many of the features this species is recognisable for are a result of this diet, with a long, thin beak to reach through the holes in which many plants store their seeds, as well as for catching small tube bugs or worms.

These animals are generally slow moving, although their tails and proboscises tend to be more energetic than the rest of their body, able to move relatively quickly if they need to. This is particularly useful for catching bugs. With Casor high in the canopy overhead, camouflage is particularly important for C. silvestre compared to other caudarostrins, even compared to Megarhamphus who are much faster and able to escape danger more easily. These animals also tend to be rather solitary compared to their relatives, so they’re less likely to be warned of danger by other members of their group like Megarhamphus.

To keep itself better hidden, many small plants will grow through the gaps in these animals’ exoskeletons, breaking up its form and helping it blend in with its forested environment better – especially if it keeps still, as this species often does. Nutrients they secrete encourage this foliage to grow, and they will regularly use their beaks to plant seeds. Much moss and algae also grows on their exoskeletons and in their feathers, further aiding in their camouflage. If any plants are growing somewhere inconvenient, the animal will remove it with their thin beak during its regular grooming sessions.  

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Herbivora
Family: Folivoridae
Subfamily: Caudarostrinae
Tribe: Caudarostrini
Genus:  Caudarostrum
Species: C. silvestre


Eastern Jungle Potamodyte
(Remipes orientalis)




Size: 2 - 2.3 metres in height, not including tail

Diet: omnivorous; they eat algae, river weed, fish, moss and leaves

Habitat: rainforest rivers

Colouration: bright yellow feathers, although this can vary between subspecies, pale brown exoskeleton

Symmetry: eight fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: reproduces sexually, all hermaphrodites, lays eggs

Closely related to the highly successful and diverse herbivorans, potamodytes fill a large variety of aquatic niches, with some families even making the transition to becoming fully aquatic. Ramipes, however, is semiaquatic, and like most potamodytes dwells in freshammonia.

Like most plumalian lactilinguids, potamodytes possess feathers, although their feathers cover a larger portion of their bodies than in most other lineages and are specifically adapted to trapping air. This layer of air between the feathers and exoskeleton provides the animals with a degree of buoyancy, very useful for the river dwelling environment Ramipes inhabits. In addition to this, the buoyancy of potamodytes is furthered by the presence of large air sacks throughout their body; these air sacks are present in many lactilinguids, but are nowhere near as large in other groups (except some species of pteroceph) as they are in potamodytes, where it fills a large portion of their body cavity. These adaptations allow Ramipedes to swim at the top of the ammonia with no effort needed to stay afloat, although Ramipedes is very bad at diving, spending most of its time at the surface.

Since they’re only semiaquatic, these animals don’t spend their whole lives in rivers and lakes. But when they do come out onto dry land, they’re very clumsy, with their rudder-like legs ill-suited for walking. However, they rarely need to move fast, as their large size protects them from most predators.

Like herbivorans, potamodytes are very social animals, Ramipes being no exception. They can always be found together in close knit groups, and engage in communal grooming and singing to bond. There’s a rough hierarchy, although it isn’t that strict, with more colourful individuals with better singing ability tending to take the lead.

Ramipes possesses a number of long straw-like tongues, which can be used to extract air from above the ammonia whenever their nostrils are below the surface. Since this species rarely goes deep, and their nostrils are quite high up on their body, this function isn’t as useful as it is for many of its relatives. However, they do use their tongues to catch fish underammonia, which supplement their otherwise herbivorous diets.

Although their eyes are located in a similar position to most plurafistulates, they’re placed relatively low on their body compared to some of its relatives, which often puts them below the ammonia when they let air out of their lungs to reduce buoyancy. This feature aids in their fish hunting, allowing the animals to watch them beneath the surface.

Unlike many herbivorans, most potamodytes, including Ramipes, don’t build nests. Instead, their eggs are kept in their pouches until they hatch. Members of the group usually share in the looking after of eggs, allowing individuals to leave the group’s territory without risking their young coming to harm. When their eggs do hatch they aren’t yet able to swim, and are entirely dependent on their mother, spending their time in their mothers pouch or the pouch of other adults.

Ramipes can easily recognise its own eggs from their colour, since they all have a distinctive pattern, so eggs are rarely mixed up when they’re shared between individuals.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Lactilinguida
Subclass: Plumalia
Order: Potamodyta
Family: Remipedidae
Genus: Remipes
Species: R. orientalis

Proto-floater
(Acanthoglossa megalosoma)



Size: 15 cm from mouth to tail base

Diet: nectar, leaves, insect-like creatures (tube bugs, gametophytes, ect.), worms, seeds

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: orange-brown

Symmetry:  Bilateral, evolved from animals with twelve fold symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

Floaters (or folivesicates) and their hydrogen sacks exhibit one of the greatest degrees of symbiotic evolution than any other two multicellular organisms on Amthalassa, the plant and animal acting as one single being. Equisorids, or proto-floaters, give us some clue as to their evolution, being the most basal members of the group. They are thought to closely resemble the first floaters, and fossil evidence seems to confirm this, making the study of these animals invaluable to those researching the development of this group.

Unlike “true floaters”, proto-floaters don’t have hydrogen sacks growing out of their stomachs, with roots extending into their bodies. Instead, they simply borrow the hydrogen sacks of kelp trees after finding one of an appropriate size and ride them, using the leaf as a flotation device. They possess a concave stomach to accommodate these leaves, and are bilaterally symmetrical, both of which are characteristic of all floaters.

It seems likely that the first floaters initially floated in the same manner as equisorids, tearing off leaves and mounting them for buoyancy. They were likely very small at this stage, in spite of the large sizes modern floaters can reach, and almost certainly arboreal.

As these animals moved to drier, more tree-scarce environments, the leaves may have been kept alive longer with nutrients secreted from these animal’s belies. This is the case for many proto-floaters alive today, namely those inhabiting plains, who often have to re-use the same leaf. Kelp tree leaves can survive after being severed from the tree – it is possible to replant cuttings – so they can last surprisingly long like this, provided they are given sufficient nutrients.

Being used this way by floaters is very beneficial to the plants themselves since, if a seed bearing part is taken with the leaf, this can greatly aid in seed dispersal. This meant kelp trees better suited for use by floaters had a higher chance of passing on their genes, and were favoured by natural selection.

Over time, these leaves likely grew more dependent on ancient proto-floaters, and these floaters began devoting more and more energy to keeping them alive, until they eventually began to take root in the animals. There was probably a stage where these plants could both grow on the underside of floaters and in the ground, but now the hydrogen sacs of floaters are entirely dependent on the animal they’re attached to, unable to live anywhere else or even reproduce without the aid of floaters. 

One of the most obvious features setting Acanthoglossa apart from other proto-floaters is their straw-like tongue, well suited for their diet consisting largely of nectar. Unlike many other animals with proboscises, such as herbivorans and potamodytes, the teeth of the Acanthoglossa proboscis is on the outside, due to the way their tongues fused to form it.

While it’s useful for herbivorous animals to have teeth inside their proboscises for the grinding of plant matter, Acanthoglossa only uses its proboscises for the consumption of liquid, so this would be pointless. Its proboscis isn’t even large enough to accommodate much food in the first place. However, having teeth on the outside allows it to be used just like regular plurafistulate radulae, with each tubular tongue working together to grind up food. Other animals, like Foliovis or potamodytes, cannot use their proboscises this way, depending instead on their unmodified tongues to masticate food not taken in through a proboscis.

Unlike true floaters, Acanthoglossa is able to walk and climb affectively with its legs (with the exception of their facial graspers). In other floater lineages these limbs have become much more rigid, functioning more as ribs than as legs. But Acanthoglossa spends a great deal of time holding on to no hydrogen sack, instead moving around like an ordinary animal. This poses a disadvantage when it comes to floating, as it is possible for it to lose its grasp and fall off, but this allows the animal to be less dependent on kelp leaves.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Folivesicata
Order: Equisorida
Family: Acanthoglossidae
Genus:  Acanthoglossa
Species: A. megalosoma


Adriptor
(Adriptor velox)
Size: 50 centimetres long on average

Diet: small animals

Habitat: rainforest canopy

Colouration: red-brown to orange-brown

Symmetry:  twelve fold radial symmetry

Reproduction: sexual, all hermaphrodites. Lays eggs.

These carnivores hang from trees with their prehensile tails, waiting for prey to approach before lashing out and attacking them with their clawed limbs. Like armatids, Adriptor has an extendable body, with test segments capable of overlapping each other, but they lack the shells of their relatives.  Instead of using this adaptation to conceal themselves inside shells, they use it to stretch out to reach prey, waiting for them with their body compressed and better hidden.

Taxonomic classification
Tree: Amthalassavitae
Domain: Parvigrana
Kingdom: Hydrogenia
Phylum: Plurafistulata
Superclass: Exoskeletida
Class: Sectitestae
Order: Extendabilia
Family: Adriptoridae
Genus:  Adriptor
Species: Adriptor velox