Biome: Snieppe Highland Lake

The central highlands of Karmozijnië in tropical Bloëca are quite a place. While still being a warm area located on the equator of Eryobis, the elevation of these highlands makes them significantly less tropical than the savannas and rainforest that surround them. This has granted them a sort of isolation and has allowed for a number of unique creatures to evolve here.

Located in an ancient volcanic caldera is Snieppe Lake. Long dead since, the crater has completely filled up with water and is steadily fed by equatorial rains where it creates a bit of a haven for life. Many rivers spring out from the crater and feed the savannas below.

Great flocks of Chalacheiropterans gather on the shores of the lake, feeding on the wet lushious vegetation facilitated by the lake. Large herds of Kadrians come here to lessen their thirst in peace, as no gingûrs have made their way into the lake yet. A young male decides that today is the day he tries his luck and challenges an older, battle scarred male for control of his harem. 

Meanwhile, an undisturbed Triprotodont feeds in the wet, scarlet flora, unaware it is being stalked by a hunrgy Arachnothere who's crept almost within striking range.

Such are the days near Snieppe Lake, serene yet full of life.

As it was on Earth, so it is on Eryobis that you can encounter small bird like organisms practically everywhere you go. On Eryobis these are often Stauropterygians, such as the collared buwwa's (Chipteryx collaris) that are a very common sight around Snieppe Lake, as well as much of the surrouning highlands. These small Eustauropterans are quite gregarious and seem to spend much of their days foraging and socializing with members of their community. The name we've given them, "buwwa" is an onomatopoeia for the high pitched croaks they often make. They are omnivores and feed on plant seeds, fruits and arthropods alike, as well occasionally feeding on mollusks.
   

The Snieppe kuehrn (Xenotamias snieppensis) is an Austroglire Triprotodont native exclusively to the region surrounding the lake. By comparing the DNA between these creatures and other Xenotamias in the surrounding region, it was revealed that X. snieppensis has been more or less isolated from its cousins for nearly 1 million years, leading biologists to classify it as its own species. These kuehrns are otherwise quite typical for their genus. They are largely solitary herbivores that feed mainly on tubers, hard fruits and seeds and tough vegetation.

The main predator of kuehrns and other small vertebrates around Snieppe Lake is the spotted cloull (Aranictis varius), a relatively small Bloëcatherian native to much of central Karmozijnië. Around the size of a terran ferret, cloulls are typically nocturnal hypercarnivores. Their eight limbs, equipped with four claws each, make them excellent climbers. Their diet consists mostly of small Eustauropterans, Chalacheiropterans, Triprotodonts, small Parasymmetrodactyls native to the region as well as eggs and young of larger animals like the various Kadrians they share their environment with.
 

No creature creates the soundscape of Snieppe Lake as much as the greenfoot ganx (Bloecanser viridipes) does. These Chalacheiropterans often arrive at the lake in massive flocks numbering in the thousands and fill the air with their honking calls that can be heard from miles away. Their striking blue crests and full green lips make them quite peculiar animal to look at. Yet, these vibrant colours do not appear to be sexually dimorphic, as so far all individuals recorded have them. So while the mating behaviour of these creatures is not yet fully known, it is believed that their vivid faces are used to display health, the more colourful, the healthier the individual. 

Ganxes are herbivores that feed on a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic plants, as well as including the occasional mollusk or fish in their diet.

Kadrians such as the highland surraah (Rhinokadre orestes) are an expected sight at Snieppe Lake, as they are across much of Bloëca. The first thing that becomes obvious about highland surraahs is that they are very sexually dirmophic, with the males being much more robust than females, darker and more striking in colouration and possessing large horns while the females do not. While many Menokadrids possess horns, its only in surraahs where the frontal horn that sprouts up from the end of the nasal tube is the largest. These grazing herbivores typically live in herds consisting of a single male and his harem of up to 20 females, although drinking spots like Snieppe Lake often see multiple of these herds congregating to form much larger herds. When males challenge one another for mating rights, they tend to do so by first showing off their strength and horns and try to avoid injury if possible. If opponents are equally matched, they will fight by locking horns and trying to throw the other off balance. More often than not however, these fights aren't nearly as civilised as that, with many males trying to gouge each others eyes out or some cases even attempting to break their opponents' necks. A lot of males bear scars and display broken or twisted horns from such battles. 

When faced with predators, surraahs will always flee before choosing to fight. They are very fast runners and like all Neokadrians sport large spikes on their shoulders that offer some protection against carnivores. If running is not an option for males, they will attempt to impale their assailants with their horns by charging at them.

There are obviously many more animals inhabiting the region around Snieppe Lake, but our biologists are yet to properly describe the majority of them.

Cladistics: Parasymmetrodactylae

Modern Anisospondyls can be placed into one of three major categories. There are the Brachiostomata, a group which was apparently very diverse in Eryobis' her past but is now only represented by a handful of species. There are the Trapezostomata, the Anisospondyls that evolved an enlarged bone below their jaws that effectively acts as a table to keep food from falling out of their mouths.

And then there are the Cryptognatha, the Anisospondyls that evolved a second set of jaws derived from their palate- and tongue bones and the group that by far the most modern Anispondyls fall into. 

Cryptognaths as a clade are quite old and fossils like those from the Frouren Formation show that they were already around by the middle of the Bobossic period 145 million years ago. Curiously enough, this actually makes Cryptognaths the youngest clade among the surviving Anisospondyls, as Trapezostomes are estimated to have evolved over 12 million years before the first Cryptognaths appeared.

Yet despite-, or perhaps because of their later appearance on the world's stage, Cryptognaths are the most successful, numerous and diverse terrestrial vertebrates Eryobis has ever seen. One major reason for this is the fact that genetic evidence points to at least 4 different lineages of Cryptognaths surviving through the devastating cataclysm known as the World Scarring, making them the effective inheritors of Eryobis.

When biologists first touched down on Eryobis, they classified the Cryptognath Anisospondyls in 2 major groups: The Paleodactylae and the Symmetrodactylae. As the name may infer, this distinction was made based on the anatomy of their feet. Specifically, the amount of digits on the front limbs. 

Due to the strange evolutionary history and anatomy of Anisospondyls, the left and right (neural and lacrimal) front limbs are not homologous as one side will have been derived from the pectoral fins while the other came from the pelvic fins. Because of this and perhaps some ancient bottleneck early on in their evolution, Anisospondyls evolved with 3 digits on their neural (pectoral) limbs and 4 digits on their lacrimal (pelvic) limbs. This asymmetry has seemingly been the ancestral condition for pretty much every Anisospondyl group since their conception.

Cryptognaths are no exception. Biologists quickly noticed that that certain Cryptognaths had asymmetrical toes and this, combined with the knowledge that this asymmetry is a primitive trait, led to these Cryptognaths being labeled as "Paleodactyls". While this term has partially held up, its counter part, the term "Symmetrodactyls", has not.

Symmetrodactyls were grouped based on the fact that the toes on the lacrimal and neural limbs were equal in number and thus symmetrical.

That however, is where the relationship between "Symmetrodactyls" ended. Genetic testing and studies of their embryonic development revealed that the so called "Symmetrodactyls" were actually 3 distinct, largely unrelated clades. These were subsequently named: Eusymmetrodactylae, Parasymmetrodactylae and Effingodactylae.


Although the digits of Eusymmetrodactyls and Parasymmetrodactyls may look superficially similar, having a standard number of three digits on all front limbs, the differences in structure between the two groups already starts shortly after conception. Where Eusymmetrodactyls lost the fourth digit on their lacrimal limbs, the Parasymmetrodactyls lost their first digit to achieve digit symmetry. So while leaving similarly looking footprints, genetic testing found that Parasymmetrodactyls are actually more closely related to the Effingodactyls than to the Eusymmetrodactyls.

Yet, their relation to Effingodactyls is not a close one, having split well before the World Scarring event occurred. As such, Parasymmetrodactyls are a very diverse clade.

There are a number of physical traits that nearly all Parasymmetrodactyls share such as a scale covered hide, ectothermy and an olfactory organ located above the visendal mouth corner. This organ is often accompanied by a bony growth or spike and likely evolved from a taste organ that migrated outside the mouth to act as a nostril, as the Parasymmetrodactyls lost their true, fish-like ancestral nostrils.

The most basal members of Parasymmetrodactylae are the Siludrilidae, a family of serpentine Anisospondyls native solely to Hatèmica. Not much is known about these creatures as they all appear to be either fossorial, aqautic or a combination of both. From the specimens we have recorded and studied, we've found out that Siludrilids have very small, almost rudimentary eyes and instead rely on a pair of barbels on their mandibles to sense their surroundings. 

Genetic evidense suggests that Siludrilids are the sister group to all other living Parasymmetrodactyls, which are classified as the Xenosauropsia. This group in turn seems to be into two major branches which likely diverged in the Recrescian stage of the Anaktisian period around 100 million years ago.

First of these branches is known as the Novocordea. What marks this group is the anatomy of their hearts and the fact that they do not seem to be completely ectothermic, with one family, the fully aquatic Sirenosauridae, being in fact homeothermic animals. These often marine animals are mostly herbivores that stay close to coastlines around Eryobis that will feed on seaweeds, though many supplement their diet with invertebrates and some are fully durophagous with a diet consisting largely of pectinauts. 

Vyarisauria

Like the Sirenosaurids, many other Novocordeans seem to be aquatically inclined. The Vyarisauria are a clade consisting of several families of Xenosauropsians that are hypothesised to have originated on the shores of the Vyaris Ocean when it was forming as the paleocontinent Kwispuul broke apart. The least aquatic Vyarisaurs are the members of the Tarandrosauridae. The species in this family are often iguana like animals and are often omnivorous or herbivorous. The most striking characteristic of this family is that most males grow large horn- and antler like structures from their mandibles. These structures can actively impede their ability to feed, so it is likely that females use them to judge the fitness of males. In addition, some species have been recorded using these stuctures for both intraspecific combat and defense.

The great majority of crocodilian resembling Anisospondyls belong to the aptly named family Eryosuchidae. Much like terran crocodiles, these Vyarisaurs are often semiaquatic, armour plated carnivores. Eryosuchids can be found in tropical and subtropical regions all around the world where they prey on a wide variety of animals ranging from small fish to large game. While all Eryosuchids can swim, the degree to which they do this can vary quite a lot per species and region, as some Erysuchids will spend almost their entire lives living on land.

Another family of semiaquatic Vyarisaurs isthe Phocasauridae. These creatures can also be found all around the world, but unlike Eryosuchids have an elevated metabolism and higher body temperate that allows them to venture into temperate water as well. Much like the animals they derive their name from, the pinnipeds of old Earth, Phocasaurs can often be seen resting, alone or in colonies, on beaches and rocky outcrops in the sea. Phocasaurs can be extremely large animals, with the largest species reaching over 8 meters in length, though their long and muscular tail does take up half that length. As such, the diets of Phocasaurs can also differ quite a bit per species. Some are small fish specialists, sporting rows of jagged interlocking teeth that form a cage no fish can escape from. Others are large prey specialists, feeding on other marine Anisospondyls like aquatic Stauropterygians and Chalacheiropterans or even other Phocasaurs and then others are durophages or specialise in soft bodied invertebrates.

Cynerpetoidea

Curiously, despite being the most aquatic of the Novocordeans, the Sirenosaurids are not that closely related to the Vyarisaurs. Instead these marine grazers appear to be at or near the base of a superfamily known as the Cynerpetoidea. Unlike their closest living relatives, all members of this superfamily are mostly terrestrial. While bearing a vague resemblance to ancient land crocodilians of Earth, the Cynerpetoids are not Eryosuchids, with the similarities in appearance, most notably the rows of osteoderms and large scales  likely being the result of convergent evolution.

The smallest and most widespread Cynerpetoids are the members of the family Suchocyonidae. These animals tend to be on the smaller side compared to some of their relatives, usually not exceeding 50 kilograms in weight. They are more omnivorous and often live in burrows. While they likely originated in Bloëcan Miesjeta like the other members of their superfamily, the Suchocyonids somehow crossed the Vyaris Ocean around 10 million years ago, likely rafting from Azchèda to Hatèmica and Lachoba. How they did this remains somewhat of a mystery, though one theory is that Suchocyonids have a higher salt tolerance than Cynerpetoids.

The Cynerpetidae on other hand, have always remained in Miesjeta. Among their relatives, it is the Cynerpetids with the highest metabolisms, which is perhaps why they of their relatives are most common in the older regions of the continent such as Azchèda and Lotharca. These creatures are fast animals that often hunt by chasing their prey down over a short distance. They also appear to among the most intelligent Xenosauropids besides Phocasaurs and Sirenosaurs and it is Cynerpetids that have been domesticated by the Eryobian natives in some regions.

The Cipehyolidae family contains some of the largest land carnivores alive on Eryobis. These carnivores are often the apex predators in the regions where they live, with especially the tropical and subtropical forest and wetland regions of Bloëca falling under their domain. Some biologists have compared Cipehyolids to ancient terran carnivores like Rauisuchians and Sebecids for these creatures also resemble land crocodiles. The biggest Cipehyolids of tropical Bloëca have been rumoured to stand up to 2 meters tall at the hip and measure over 10 meters from head to tail, which would indeed make them among the largest land predators of Eryobis and also some of the biggest terrestrial carnivores Humanity has ever encountered.

Eucryocardia

The second large branch of the Xenosauropsia is the one leading up to the Eucryocardia. As the name might suggest, all members of this clade are entirely ectothermic, which recent studies have shown might actually be a derived trait rather than the ancestral condition. The majority of modern Parasymmetrodactyls are Eucryocardians, with a majority of the latter belonging to the Eryolacertilia. Despite having been determinded to be the sister group to all other Eucryocardians and thus being the most basal, Eryolacertilians can be found on every continent except Rubiëra and fill most of the niches we'd associate with lizards on Earth and other colonies. They are a very diverse group and most are quite small, with only a handful surpassing 1 meter in length.

Plicataventria

Some of the strangest animals on Eryobis, which is saying something, are members of the group called Plicataventria. 

At the base of this group are two families of aberrant creatues that vaguely remind of tortoises. The Irrisiidae, a family native soley to Hatèmica, are the most basal Plicataventrioids. They are odd creatures. They walk quadrupedally, but not in a way comparable to any other Anisospondyl. They walk soley on both pairs of their front limbs, with their hindlimbs being very small and located at the rear of their bodies. Because of this, they have extremely large pectoro-pelvic girdles that connect their front limbs, which makes their bodies rather stiff. This type of locomotion and stiff body morphology can be seen across all members of Plicataventria. Irrisiids have small osteoderms on their backs and are mostly omnivores. It has been reported that they use their small hindlimbs in the digging process as well as with mating.

A slighly more derived family of Plicataventroids are the Opistonychidae. Native to deserts all across Miesjeta, these creatures invoke the sense of "tortoise" more than perhaps any other Anisospondyl. They possess an anatomy that is very similar to that of the Irrisiids, though Opistonychids sport large plate like osteoderms on their back and evolved their hind limbs for a different purpose than digging. Rather Opistonychids have elongated the claws on their hindlimbs and turned them into defensive spikes. Akin to terran porcupines, Opistonychids will turn their spiky rears towards potential threats for defense and as they retain control over individual claws, they can quite accurately stab their aggressors if necessary.

The higher Plicataventria can be divided into four groups. 

Most basal of these is the family known as Plicatachelidae. These animals are almost exclusively aquatic and can only be found in the Rukard Sea, the inland sea that lies on the border between southern Miesjeta and Azchèda, and the rivers and lakes that are connected to it. Plicatachelids are mostly herbivores or feed on invertebrates. Though their bodies and osteoderms are covered by a thick layer of leathery skin, their skeletons reveal that their bodies are folded. The arms below the mouths of Plicatachelids are in fact their hind limbs.

It is currently thought that Plicatachelids were pushed into the aquatic niches they hold in modern times from another, closely related group that began spreading around Bloëca around the same time the former appear in the fossil record, the Corythostegoidea. This superfamily clearly displays the folded body that Plicataventrians are known for. With rows of hard keratin covered bony plates running all along their backs, the well armoured creatures tend to be herbivores and omnivores and are often quite small. 

Across the Vyaris Ocean in Lachoba and Guralta is where two other families of Plicataventrians can be found. Most notable of these are the Apelathedontidae, a family of carnivores that are among the largest terrestrial Plicataventrians. In a curious case of convergent evolution, Apelathedonts have evolved large bony projections from their mandibles akin to Tarandrosaurids. They use them for completely different purposes however, as Apelathedonts seem to have evolved these structures to help them tackle large prey. In addition, these carnivores have have and blade like claws on their hind limbs, which are located below the mouth, to help them tear into live prey and carcass alike.

The Entomosauridae are the other Plicataventrian family that can be found in the western hemisphere, with members from Lachoba all the way to southern Tlèëa. Much like their cousins, Entomosaurids are a bit more carnivorous than their Miesjetan counterparts, though the majoirity of Entomosaurids are also quite small creatures that can very often be found scurrying in the undergrowth.

Saurrhamphia

Besides the peculiar Plicataventria, there is another major branch of Eucryocardians that can be found on Eryobis, the Saurrhamphia. As much be indicated by the naming, the members of this clade all have some form of beak or keratinous structure at the tips of their mandibles. Because of this, some researchers have proposed that the ancestral members of this clade were quite specialised herbivores that would later radiate into a wider range diets.

A good supporter for this ancestral herbivory theory comes in the form of the Asaurocnidae, which have been shown to be basal to all other Saurrhamphians. This is a family of slow moving arboreal herbivores that can often be found hanging upside down from tree branches much like sloths of old Earth, except these creatures are truly ectothermic. With strong limbs and very large curved claws, Asaurocnids are experts at not moving much.

Another family of arboreal Saurrhamphians are the Salitostiliidae, whose members are best characterised by their large hind limbs that allow them to jump between the canopy. Salitostiliids often have beaks that strongly curve downwards. It is believed that this allows them to break into tree bark to access arthropods living beneath, though they also include leaves and "fruits" into their diet.

Some of the most charismatic creatures on Eryobis are members of the Microdrakonidae, which as their name would imply, can indeed look like little dragons. These somewhat skink like creatures are quite common across Guralta and Tlèëa where they mainly feed on plant matter such tubers and also feed on various kinds of arthropods. Microdrakonids are often covered in extensive bony plates, osteoderm stubs and spikes, which makes them quite well protected from a large portion of the potential predators they share their habitats with.

The Eryobiguanidae were for a long considered to be members of Eryolacertilia before DNA testing showed them to be Saurrhamphians. It is easy to see the mistake, as Eryobiguanids retain many basal Xenosauropsian traits that are commonly associated with Eryolacertilians, such as a rather lizard like body shape. Eryobiguanids, much like the terran iguanas they share their name with, Eryobiguanids are mostly herbivores, though a few omnivorous and carnivorous species also exist.

Some of the strangest faces of any Anisospondyls belong to the members of the Arpazognathidae. These Saurrhampians represent the third time a group of Xenosauropsians evolved to look and behave like iguanas since the World Scarring and all evolved on a different continent in a glaring way of convergent evolution, with the Tarandrosaurs in Guralta, Lachoba and Tlèëa, the Eryobiguanids in Miesjeta and the Arpazognathids in Hatèmica. 

Much like their ecological counterparts, Arpazognathids are mostly herivores with a few exceptions. Curiously similarly to the unrelated Tarandrosaurs, Arpazognathids also display sexual dimorphism with males growing large bony structures on their heads. These often include spikes growing from the beak on the mandibles, which are often accompanied by a large arching horn that grows from between the eyes. Male Arpazognathids have often been seen duelling with other males in a way strangely reminiscent of certain beetles from Earth.

At some point though, a mutation occured in some Arpazoganthoids that made females also grow such structures. It would not have taken long for this mutation to become accompanied by an increasingly carnivorous diet as they began to use this additional weaponry to hunt other animals. It would be from such mutated populations that the Ginguridae would evolve. They would take the use of their bony growths to new extremes as they developed a unique jaw mechanism that allows them to move their mandibles up and down in addition to opening them side to side as is typical for Anisospondyls. Because of the mechanism, which bears some similiarity to that which was seen in Haidomyrmecinae ants of Cretaceous Earth, Gingurids can slam their prey against the "roof" of their jaws which evolved from the horn that grew from between their eyes. Gingurids are a relatively new family that have seen great success and quickly spread around Eryobis, filling the niche of semiaquatic ambush predators like crocodiles. The fossil record and even modern reports show that whenever Gingurids occur in the same region as Eryosuchids, the Gingurids tend to dominate and even can even replace them completely in an ecosystem.

When one observes the distribution of Parasymmetrodactyls across Eryobis, it becomes clear that they are a very "western" group, as none of their ancestrally terrestrial members can be found in Rubiëra in the east.

This points to Parasymmetrodactyls having evolved in the ancient supercontinent of Kwispuul and rather than spreading across oceans, merely drifted to new locations as tectonics pulled Kwispuul apart, with a few exceptions where some must've rafted over. Additionally, the Parasymmetrodactyls seem to be more aquatically inclined than any other kind of Anisospondyl, with a number of families independently evolving to live mostly in the water. Their specialisation in ectothermy and energy conservation allows them to fill completely different niches to Eusymmetrodactyls and Effingodactyls, which gives them an evolutionary edge like no other.

Currently they exist all over the world except in the coldest of regions and are likely to continue to do so for many millions of years to come. 

The most reptilian looking and behaving of all Anisospondyls, many Parasymmetrodactyls are quite popular as pets for both natives and humans alike 

 

Blunt Stodée

Back on Earth, the seeming similarity between sharks and the bony fish known as strugeons was purely superficial and the result of convergent evolution. 

Semantics aside, because Eryobis has a small dozen of different fish groups that are referred to as "sharks" by explorers, the Eryobian equivalent of sturgeons do belong to these "shark" like groups. In fact, it has recently been revealed that the highly derived coelacants often called coeaaien, belong to one of two differernt groups that split long ago before either evolved to look similar to sharks. These groups became the Odontocoeiida, the "toothed coeaaien", and the Lamidocoeiida, the "plated coeaaien". Curiously, the apparent sturgeon equivalents of Eryobis were also part of this split and now it seems that most of the armoured ones belong to the Odontocoeiida while the less armoured or armourless ones belong to the Lamidocoeiida.

Common names are always quite variable and can differ per region, yet many of the armourless sturgeon like Laminocoeiidans are reffered to as surgées by human explorers. It is likely that this word came directly from the word for sturgeon from one of the imperium's colonies, given the similarity of the words. But curiously, it was the last part of the name that somehow became a standard suffix for Eryobian sturgeon like fish, which led to common names such as the word used for certain kinds of armoured sturgeon like bunnyfish, "stodée".

Stodées, such as the blunt stodée (Humeracanthus breviceps), are rather easy to recognise by their high set pectoral fins which no longer sport any fin rays at all, rather having been turned into a single large defensive spine on each side. Additionally, they have a row of spine like scales running down their backs that culminate in a very large spine at the base of the first dorsal fin. Despite sharing these defensive spines with many Laminocoeiidans, the stodées seem to have evolved them independently, because unlike surgées and kin, stodées possess true teeth and are thus considered Odontocoeiidans.

The blunt stodée can be found in equatorial rivers and lakes in western Bloëca. These fish are on the smaller side as far as stodées are concerned, typically maxxing out around 1.5 to 1.8 meters long. 

Their diet mostly consists of small mollusks and worms, but they have been observed also including various water plants in it. According to reports of both explorers and native Eryobians, these fish taste like mud and require a lot of seasoning to be palpable. This bad taste is likely caused by their freshwater habitat and benthic diet.

Ægiric Ubondo

Some people in the imperium have referred to Eryobis as "a fisherman's paradise". Compared to Earth and the countless colonies of the imperium, Eryobis has a particularly high amount of very large marine creatures that make for great sport fishing. The kicker is, the local goverment of the AnVela Koeliv system encourages sport fishers to come to Eryobis to help document the incredible diversity of marine life that this world possesses. 

A very large portion of the marine biologists currently deployed on Eryobis are indeed just fishermen who take their job seriously.

 As such, a lot of newly found marine creatures also get their names from the fishermen that catch them. While they often call in actual biologists for the binominal names, they tend to give their fish common names with sometimes unclear origins, sometimes derived from their own languages, sometimes from what the native Eryobians call them or something else entirely.

In the case of the Ægiric ubondo (Ubondo aegiricus),  it was named not for any of the above mentioned reasons, but was rather named by the fisherman that first caught it, Agner Ubondo, and named it after himself. At first they called it "Ubondo's fish", but it quickly changed to just "ubondo"  for simplicity's sake.

The Ægiric ubondo grows to around 1.5 meters in length and is a powerfully built pelagic fish with a very large tail fin. While it may not immediately look like one, the ubondo is in fact a kind of bunnyfish, as can be determined by the placement of its pectoral- and pelvic fins. But while a lot of bunnyfish have evolved somewhat shark-like features, the ubondo has evolved to look more like a tuna, with a torpedo shaped body and small front fins. DNA analysis has shown that ubondos are most closely related to the deep sea fish known as gladdos and together they seem to form their own branch at the base of the Odontocoeiida.

Ubondos usually swim between 0 and 70 meters below the surface where they feed on other and typically smaller pelagic fish, as well as llamplelgans and pectinauts.

While most of their teeth are rather small and concealed by their lips, they possess 4 large fangs at the tips of their jaws that are probably used in prey capture, but might also be used for interspecific combat during mating season.

Red-eye Prosse

Toeing the line between camouflage and extravagant display, the red-eye prosse (Ithopoius coccineus) is a curious little bunnyfish that inhabits seaweed forests off coastal Lachoba. The most striking feature of prosses are their enormous pectoral- and pelvic fins that are normally held against the body, but can be folded out for display. These four large fins have colorations and markings resembling large, red eyes.

These fins are used for both attracting mates and to intimidate competitors and predators. As typically solitary animals, prosses carve out little territories for themselves and do not seem to tolerate other prosses of the same sexe within their territory, but these territories do often overlap with those of the opposite sexe.

Red-eye prosses feed mostly on small invertebrates like various annelids, small arthropods and pectinauts. One thing that has been observed by scuba divers is that prosses will approach divers within their territory and search them for parasites, which might indicate that they act as cleaners for larger animals when they stop by.

Despite possessing no teeth, genetic testing has revealed that prosses are most closely related to the Odontocoeiida, the toothed coeaaien, more than any other bunnyfish. This further reinforces that the shark like body shape of various coeaaien evolved independently.

Blue Surgée

Back on Earth, the seeming similarity between sharks and the bony fish known as strugeons was purely superficial and the result of convergent evolution. 

Semantics aside, because Eryobis has a small dozen of different fish groups that are referred to as "sharks" by explorers, the Eryobian equivalent of sturgeons do belong to these "shark" like groups. In fact, it has recently been revealed that the highly derived coelacants often called coeaaien, belong to one of two differernt groups that split long ago before either evolved to look similar to sharks. These groups became the Odontocoeiida, the "toothed coeaaien", and the Lamidocoeiida, the "plated coeaaien". Curiously, the apparent sturgeon equivalents of Eryobis were also part of this split and now it seems that most of the armoured ones belong to the Odontocoeiida while the less armoured or armourless ones belong to the Lamidocoeiida.

One of the most common sturgeon equivalents along the northern Riatic coasts of Guralta and the southern coasts of Tlèëa is the blue surgée (Riatelops caerulus), a 3 to 4 meter long armourless sturgeon equivalent Lamidocoeiidan, specifically of the family Eryosturiidae.

A medium sized surgée, the blue surgée typically stays close to the seafloor and is often found relatively close to the shore. Unlike many other surgées, this species does not seem to venture into freshwater, instead spending its entire life in the sea.

They have downturned mouths at the end of their rather elongated heads and weak jaws that instead of teeth, possess large plates used to crush hard shelled organisms. Indeed, most their diet consists of various benthic mollusks and crustaceans, though small demersal fish are also ingested on occasion.

Despite surgées often being called armourless, they are not exactly defenseless. Their large size makes sure that they are not frequently preyed upon by predatory fish and they possess a long, extremely sharp spine on at the base of their first dorsal fin which, although no evidence has been presented as of yet, its rumoured to be venomous.

Southern Putsaai

In the shallow farsouthern waters of Rubiëra one can find large expanses of sponge reefs that form where waters too cold for corals bring lots of nutrients up from the deep. These reefs possess a huge array of wildlife that live in-, on- or off the sponges. A large number of invertebrates feed on the sponges themselves and can destroy entire patches of reef within a relatively short time if given the chance.

So naturally there are other animals that fulfill the role of cleaners and pestcontrol. So it is within these reefs that one of the strangest bunnyfish can be found.

Typically measuring no more than 20cm in length, the southern pustaai (Catharsichthys meridionalis) is a slenderly built fish that mainly swims by flapping its pectoral and pelvic fins while its tail trails behind. This allows it to effortlessly swim inbetween the sponges and even enter their opening to rid them off their parasites.

It has a long face that terminates in a thick lipped mouth that hides a sharp "beak" composed of fused teeth. While the rest of the fish might look aberrant compared to other bunnyfish, it is this trait that reveals the putsaai as a member of the Lamidocoeiida, the plated coeaaien.

Unlike many other plated coeaaien, putsaaien do not possess defensive spines and in fact lack the first dorsal fin altogether, which is most likely an adaptation for their lifestyle of swimming in tight spaces. 

While not necessarily social animals, they aren't completely solitary either. Rather it seems they are communal, typically living in sponges that they share with other members of their species, but going out on feeding trips alone.

Black Gladdo

The deep sea of Eryobis is a large and scarcely studied habitat, yet it is also likely one of the most biodiverse. ROV expdeditions and deep sea fishing by both researchers and natives continuously bring up extraordinary and strange animals.

When one goes deep sea fishing in the Vyaris Ocean, a fish that is often caught at mesopelagic depths is the black gladdo (Eryobalepus atratus). This up to 40cm long deep sea bunnyfish seems to be quite common in these deep tropical waters. Stomach contents of these fish have revealed that they are not picky eaters and will feed on whatever they think they can fit in their mouths, which seem to be able to open up very widely and can expand to twice the width of the head.

The phylogenetic placement of gladdos is a bit unclear, as they possess a mixture of primitive and derived traits and have therefore been placed in their own branch on the family tree.

Cladistics: Effingodactylae

Modern Anisospondyls can be placed into one of three major categories. There are the Brachiostomata, a group which was apparently very diverse in Eryobis' her past but is now only represented by a handful of species. There are the Trapezostomata, the Anisospondyls that evolved an enlarged bone below their jaws that effectively acts as a table to keep food from falling out of their mouths.

And then there are the Cryptognatha, the Anisospondyls that evolved a second set of jaws derived from their palate- and tongue bones and the group that by far the most modern Anispondyls fall into. 

Cryptognaths as a clade are quite old and fossils like those from the Frouren Formation shows that they were already around by the middle of the Bobossic period 145 million years ago. Curiously enough, this actually makes Cryptognaths the youngest clade among the surviving Anisospondyls, as Trapezostomes are estimated to have evolved over 12 million years before the first Cryptognaths appeared.

Yet despite-, or perhaps because of their later appearance on the world's stage, Cryptognaths are the most successful, numerous and diverse terrestrial vertebrates Eryobis has ever seen. One major reason for this is the fact that genetic evidence points to at least 4 different lineages of Cryptognaths surviving through the devastating cataclysm known as the World Scarring, making them the effective inheritors of Eryobis.

When biologists first touched down on Eryobis, they classified the Cryptognath Anisospondyls in 2 major groups: The Paleodactylae and the Symmetrodactylae. As the name may infer, this distinction was made based on the anatomy of their feet. Specifically, the amount of digits on the front limbs. 

Due to the strange evolutionary history and anatomy of Anisospondyls, the left and right (neural and lacrimal) front limbs are not homologous as one side will have been derived from the pectoral fins while the other came from the pelvic fins. Because of this and perhaps some ancient bottleneck early on in their evolution, Anisospondyls evolved with 3 digits on their neural (pectoral) limbs and 4 digits on their lacrimal (pelvic) limbs. This asymmetry has seemingly been the ancestral condition for pretty much every Anisospondyl group since their conception.

Cryptognaths are no exception. Biologists quickly noticed that that certain Cryptognaths had asymmetrical toes and this, combined with the knowledge that this asymmetry is a primitive trait, led to these Cryptognaths being labeled as "Paleodactyls". While this term has partially held up despite it becoming clear that "Paleodactyls" are almost definitely polyphyletic , its counter part, the term "Symmetrodactyls", most certainly has not held up.

Symmetrodactyls were grouped based on the fact that the toes on the lacrimal and neural limbs were equal in number and thus symmetrical.

That however, is where the relationship between "Symmetrodactyls" ended. Genetic testing and studies of their embryonic development revealed that the so called "Symmetrodactyls" were actually 3 distinct, largely unrelated clades. These were subsequently named: Eusymmetrodactylae, Parasymmetrodactylae and Effingodactylae.

While the digits of Eusymmetrodactyls and Parasymmetrodactyls look superficially very similar, being three toed on all front limbs, the Effingodactyls are clearly different, possessing four toes on all front limbs. Other Anisospondyl groups have achieved front-limb-digit-symmetry by reducing digits like the other "Symmetrodactyl" Cryptognaths did or by fusing digits as Brachiostomes and Liomedactyl Trapezostomes have done. 

Effingodactyls are different. 

Instead, Effingodactyls appear to have grown a new digit on their neural front limbs. Studies on the embryonic development of their front limbs have shown that this extra digit is the result of a "domesticated" form of polydactyly whereby the third digit of the neural limbs duplicates to form a new "fourth" digit. While birth defects like this usually tend to get weeded out over time, it is theorized that this particular case of polydactyly was so advantageous to early Effingodactyls that it gave those with it an evolutionary edge over those without, ensuring that the condition became anchored in the gene pool. 

Genetic evidence and the molecular clock point to modern Effingodactyls having appeared and differentiated between 110 and 90 million years ago, during the Recrescian stage of the Anaktisian period. Fragmentary fossils from this period in time suggests that these early Effingodactyls were small and often arboreal creatures. Yet, the most basal members of the group that still live to this day are neither. The Perucatheriidae is a family of a handful of species of quite primitive Effingodactyls native exclusively to the tropical island of Boncorm, west of Miesjeta. Rather odd looking creatures, most agree that Perucatheriids were already present in Borncorm before it became an island, where it became a refuge for them while their kin died out elsewhere as time went on. They are easily recognizable by their often extravagant and vividly coloured crests made of fleshy and inflatable tissue. These structures grow from the visendal spiracle and are much more developed in males than in females.

Another family of very basal Effingodactyls is the Gnathoglossidae. Similarly to the Perucatheriids, Gnathoglossids appear to be relics left alive only because of isolation. The island continent of Hatèmica has been largely isolated for an estimated 70 to 50 million years, which makes it a last stronghold for many lifeforms that have gone extinct elsewhere, so it should be little surprise that it is here where Gnathoglossids can be found. These creatures bear some resemblance to echidnas and anteaters from Earth and in similar fashion, Gnathoglossids have been recorded feeding predominantly on eusocial, often colony building, arthropods. These creatures permanently keep their visendal front limbs off the ground. This is likely done to protect the large claws of these limbs from becoming dull. They use these claws for intraspecific combat, defense and most importantly for breaking into colonies and tree bark to access their food. The "tongue" that Gnathoglossids possess is in actuality an extremely long and extendable pharynx, for at the end of the tongue there is a tiny set of jaws, which are of course the linguo-palatal jaws that Cryptognaths are known for. How exactly Gnathoglossids feed has yet to be properly studied, but most agree that they use their pharynx akin to how an anteater would use its tongue, sticking it into a hole where it would lap up arthropods with adhesive saliva before retreating it back into the mouth. It is likely that Gnathoglossids filter their prey from their pharynx with insides of their lips so they can be lined up for the small mouth to swallow.

In addition to large claws, Gnathoglossids are also quite well armored, possessing multiple rows of large osteoderms all over their body which, combined with their sometimes surprisingly large sizes, makes them formidable foes for anything that dares to tackle them.

With the exception of the two aforementioned families, almost all other living Effingodactyls fall into the supergroup called Gharibotheria. The members of this group are typically seen as the most mammal-like of all Eryobian creatures. They are all endothermic, viviparous, are covered in filament that can best be described as fur and possess pinnae on their shoulder-ears made of flesh, cartilage and muscle, much like those of mammals. At the very base of Gharibotheria, or perhaps even outside it, are the Archaeojanoridae. A family of generally small and shrew like creatures, Archaeojanorids differ from all other Gharibotheres in the anatomy of their inner ears, underdeveloped ear pinnae, lower metabolism, sprawling hind limbs and the fact that they seem to be ovoviviparous, still developing eggs but hatching them while still inside the body. 

They can be found all over Guralta, with a handful of species also being found in Lachoba and Tlèëa. They are typically nocturnal and mostly feed on small invertebrates. Some species of Archaeojanorids possess long caniniform teeth lined with deep grooves, leading some biologists to suspect they might be venomous. No studies have been conducted to confirm this however.

Similarly to how it is the last refuge of the Gnathoglossids, the island continent of Hatèmica is home to another basal family of Gharibotheres called the Glossolatiriidae. These odd Gharibotheres have long been the subject of debate among biologists. A combination of primitive and derived traits has made their placement on the Effingodactyl phylogenetic tree rather difficult, though most seem to agree that they form their own branch and aren't particularly related to any other current Gharibotheres. 

Glossolatiriids tend to be omnivores that fill niches we would associate with raccoons, opossums and mustelids on Earth, being opportunistic and highly adaptable to their environments. They can be found in almost every habitat in Hatèmica and some species can even be found on the continent of Lachoba, likely been brought there after heavy storms dragged them out to sea where they would have clung to rafts of driftwood.

Thylacophora

The other Gharibotheres can be placed into one of two major branches. Arguably the most diverse of these branches leads to the Thylacophora, the "pouch bearers". As their name might suggest, these Gharibotheres possess a pouch made of skin and muscle, very much like those of the marsupials from Earth. The likeness to mammals is even more strengthened by the fact that Thylacophorans possess what are essentially mammary glands within their pouches.

An interesting anatomical trait that sets Thylacophorans apart almost all other living Anisospondyls is the shape and configuration of their pectoro-pelvic girdles, which are angled "in reverse", as this placement puts their visendal front limbs anterior to their caecal front limbs. While there are a couple of other groups that also have this trait, such as Machairoplatid and Pseudokadrid Trapezostomes as well as the extinct Syrinchotids, the vast majority of Anisospondyls possess the reverse girdle arrangement; with the caecal front limbs anterior to the visendal front limbs. A side effect of this arrangement is that it caused their external ears to migrate to a position in front of the limbs, instead of between them as is typically the case in Cryptognaths, which likely happened to avoid the pinnae getting in the way of the moving limbs, or vice versa. Because this makes it seem as if the ears sprout from the back of the head, this adaptation contributes even more to the Thylacophorans' likeness to mammals.

Some of the most basal Thylacophorans are the Phascolictoidea, a superfamily of generally small, omnivorous creatures that can be found all over Miesjeta. Many explorers call them rabbits, possums or roos for their superficial similarity to these Earth animals.

In a curious case of evolution having no regard for our laws of convention, the family of the largest Thylacophorans is most closely related to some of the smallest. The Brachiorhinidae are large herbivores that bear a striking resemblance to elephants. Their fleshy spiracular nose has developed into a prehensile trunk and they often possess large ears to dissipate heat, although this last trait is something seen in a number of unrelated large Gharibotheres. While Brachiorhinids may not have tusks, they do keep their visendal front limbs permanently off the ground. These limbs are tipped by large claws are most often used for digging, scratching bark off trees, pulling branches down to feed and for combat. They typically weigh in between 400 kilograms and 5 tons, yet they still carry their young in a pouch. These pouches face backwards and the young tend to leave these pouches while still being quite small so as to not put too much strain on the mother.

The closest relatives of the Brachiorhinids are the Atsidatheroidea, which also have backwards facing pouches. These creatures are typically rodent like in appearance and often fill the niches of small, nocturnal herbivores. Many of them are also fossorial, which would explain why their pouches face backwards, as this prevents dirt from getting in the pouch. It is as of yet unknown how Atsidatheroids avoid competition with Triprotodont Trapezostomes, as both of these groups associated with rodent like niches.

Despite not being particularly related to the previous two groups, another family that shares the backwards facing pouches is the Telomechrhinidae. This is a family of badger or hog like, typically omnivorous, nocturnal creatures native to Tlèëa and northern Guralta. In a curious case of convergent evolution, these creatures evolved an elongated bone above their jaws, something only seen in the extinct Ceratanodirids. The similarity is only superficial however, as the purpose of these bony growths is for completely different between these unrelated groups. In Ceratanodirids it served for combat, in Telomechrhinids it forms a support for the nose, which is extended all the way to the front of the jaws. While this gives Telomechrhinids a superior olfactory sense, it also prevents them from using their jaws to an extent, as they cannot properly hold food as other Anisospondyls can. For this reason, many Telomechrhinids have larger teeth on the caecal side of their jaws than on the visendal side.

Aiodyparxii

Genetic testing has revealed that Telomechrhinids are most closely related to the largest group within the Thylacophora: the Aiodyparxii.

The members of this group can be highly divergent in morphology and lifestyle, but there are a couple of characteristics that almost all share. A majority of their members are at least partially arboreal and it is likely that this has always been the case because it seems that an ancestral trait is the digits on their front limbs being heterodactyl, meaning that the inner two digits are opposable to the outer two. This actually disregards the actual embryonic number of the toes, as it means that the visendal front limbs will have their 1st and 2nd digits opposable while on the caecal limbs it will be the 3rd and 4th digits.

Another ancestral trait that they all have is a specialized and highly complex vocal organ that allows them to make sounds that can match those of Earths songbirds in acoustic complexity. 

Considered by many biologists to be the most basal Aiodyparxians are the Trogailurids, a family of vaguely cat or quoll like, often arboreal carnivores that live in Lachoba and southern Guralta. These creatures are most often solitary, but like the cats of Earth, are also often held as pets by native populations.

It is assumed that it was from Trogailurid like creatures that the most diverse Aiodyparxians of all, and actually Effingodactyls as a whole, evolved: the Chalacheiroptera. When Eryobian explorers are asked about the "birds of this world", chances are they are thinking of a Chalacheiropteran. These flying creatures are some of the most widespread animals on Eryobis, existing from pole to pole and every landscape in between. Many explorers call them "sharos", a likely nod to the fact that many of them fly with their hindlimbs like the Triassic reptile from Earth called Sharovipteryx. Their limb configuration is indeed quite odd, as many of them walk bipedally on their caecal front limbs, while their hind limbs have been turned into large wings for powered flight and with their visendal front limbs being smaller wings used mainly for steering.

While this is the case for the vast majority of Chalacheiropterans, there are a small number of basal members that instead have it reversed; flying mostly with their visendal front limbs while the hindlimbs are used to steer. Curiously, the Chalacheiropterans with this configuration also tend to have heavily reduced caecal front limbs, as the way the muscles of these creatures work apparently cannot empower one without drawing from the other. This phenomenon has also been observed with the other flying Anisospondyls, the Stauropterygia, where instead of just one pair, both pairs of front limbs were turned into wings for powered flight, which apparently is possible with Anisospondyl anatomy. The Chalacheiropterans that fly with their front limbs are often terrible at walking on the ground due to their caecal limbs being reduced and the others being wings.

Another major group within the Aiodyparxii is the Thylacopithecoidea. As their name might suggest, these creatures bear a great resemblance to primates, being very intelligent, often arboreal animals with forward facing eyes. Quite unlike primates however, these creatures tend to have large, movable ears and sport claws on their digits. Almost all members of this group live in tropical and subtropical regions around Miesjeta, most in notably rain- and monsoon forests. There are of course exceptions to this, with certain species living in the savannas or high in the mountains while others live in some colder climates. But the most notable exceptions are a number of members of the Sammelkidae family. While Sammelkids are often the most arboreal of all Thylacopithecoids, with some members never voluntarily touching the ground, this family also contains the most terrestrial of them all. Due to the strange anatomy of Sammelkids, the terrestrial species have evolved to walk bipedally on their visendal front limbs while permanently holding their caecal- and hind limbs off the ground. It is these strange terrestrial Sammelkids that the native sapient species belongs to.

Schistorhinaria

Besides the Thylacophora, there is another major branch of Gharibotheres. The members of this branch are often quite easily distinguishable from other Effingodactyls because of one physical trait: their fleshy spiracle nose splits into two tubes that go in front of the eyes onto the jaw halves. It is this trait where the names of the group derives from: Schistorhinaria. 

Not all of them appear to have these split nostrils though. Recent DNA tests have determined that the family called Stachyopsidae are more closely related to Schistorhinarians than to any other Gharibotheres. These hippopotamus like creatures that grow "antlers" from their cheeks have a typical single opening spiracle like most Effingodactyls. Autopsies have shown however, that there is a septum within the nostril, which is not present in any non-Schitorhinarian Effingodactyls.

Within Schistorhinaria proper, there are several branches. One of the branches most unrelated to any others is the one that leads to the Barropecidae and Imbricatopoda.

Barropecids are a family of large sized herbivores native exclusively to Hatèmica. Where Brachiorhinids got the trunks, the Barropecids got the tusks that make them superficially similar to elephants. That however, is where the similarity ends. Barropecids are known for their bright facial colors in males, four large tusks with two on each side and caecal limbs held off the ground which it uses for digging and combat. 

Their closest relatives, the Imbricatopods, look nothing like them. Imbricatopods are often significantly smaller, more slender and tend to be carnivorous. They are widespread all across Miesjeta, with the majority of their species existing in the subcontinents of Azchèda and Lotharca, which indicates that they seem to prefer more temperate climates over tropical ones. There are a number of families within Imbricatopoda, of which some members are held as pets by native populations.

Imbricatopoda are not the only large group of mainly carnivorous Schistorhinarians. In fact, they are outdone in diversity, range and success by the Eryobiferae. This clade encompasses the majority of carnivorous Gharibotheres, as well as some herbivorous species. Eryobiferae appear to be quite an old clade as they can be found on all the landmasses that once made up the paleocontinent of Kwispuul, namely Guralta, Lachoba, Hatèmica, Bloëca, Azchèda and parts of Tlèëa. Members of Eryobiferae can be quite divergent between these landmasses, but one trait that they all share is their nostrils having moved all the way to the tip of their jaws, which is not seen in any other Schistorhinarians.

Phytojanorida

The clade most closely related to Eryobiferae is is the Phytojanorida. Contrarily to the mainly carnivorous Eryobiferans, the Phytojanoridans are almost exclusively herbivores. Most basal to this clade is the Privojanoridae. This family of small nocturnal creatures are the least herbivorous of the larger branch, often incorporating arthropods, annelids, fish and even carrion in their diet.

The most primitive Phytojanoridans, and a likely what their common ancestors looked like, are the Xenohyracoidea. These creatures are often quite small and can best be compared to large rodents or small ungulates in terms of the niches they fill. Over time, it seems Xenohyracoids have given rise to a number of families of larger herbivores. While not exactly Xenohyracoids, the Parakadridae likely arose in such a way. Parakadrids are, as their name might suggest, quite similar to Kadriomorphs in the sense that they tend to be long legged slender herbivores. The most striking difference between Parakadrids and true Kadrians is the fact that Parakadrids use all six legs for locomotion, while true Kadrians only use four. Generally speaking, Parakadrids get overshadowed by true Kadrians and thus often live in more extreme habitats like mountains and deserts, although most of their species can actually be found in Lotharca, where Kadrians are not well established.

The largest number of Phytojanoridan families are part of the Chipoda. 

This group gets its name from their peculiar front feet, which for some reason are zygodactyl ungulate, with four hooves making an "X" shape. This means that their feet have quite efficient weight distribution, which allows them to attain quite large sizes. Indeed, it is the Chipoda to which some of the largest living terrestrial Anisospondyls belong to, with some species reaching upwards of 25 metric tons in weight.

While not nearly all Chipodans get this large, the median size across their clade is around 300 kilograms, with many of them being comparable to the rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses of Earth, although some more slender and long legged forms also exist.
 

When one observes the distribution of Effingodactyls across Eryobis, it becomes clear that they are a very "western" group, as none of their purely terrestrial members can be found in Rubiëra in the east.

This points to Effingodactyls having evolved in the ancient supercontinent of Kwispuul and rather than spreading across oceans, merely drifted to new locations as tectonics pulled Kwispuul apart. That said, there are a number of Gharibotherian families that have members across different continents, despite genetic research showing they only came to be long after Kwispuul likely broke up. This means that Effingodactyls, seemingly more than any other terrestrial group of Anisospondyls, are very prone to- and capable of surviving ocean voyages on rafts of vegetation.

Why exactly this seems to happen to Effingodactyls more than most creatures is as of yet a mystery. One theory is that they are inherently more tolerant to salt and able to preserve water better than most creatures, but no one has been able to confirm this.

Regardless of how some of them are able to spread across oceans without boats, there is one kind of Effingodactyl that does make boats. And it is for this reason that Effingodactyls are often seen by humans as the most important creatures on Eryobis. Their very mammalian appearance also makes them feel more familiar to us. 

It should therefore be no surprise that of all animals that get smuggled off Eryobis for the illegal pet trade, Effingodactyls are the most common victims.