Intusfistula longuscolli

Intusfistula Longuscolli is a large hervivore that roams around the polyspeculate forests of Occidentis. It has evolved a long neck and a long proboscis which allow it to reach the tallest bone trees’ soft parts. Being a member of Ambulospeculida, it’s proboscis actually evolved by fusing together the three originally-distinct proboscises instead of the others having atrophied to nothing. Two of them became a jaw, while the third one became a kind of tongue. This tongue is capable of piercing hard exoskeletons or other hard armor it’s prey might have. An interesting adaptation is the ability for the entire proboscis to telescope back into the neck. This is due to the common ancestor of all members of Intusfistula possessing this ability, although not all intusfistulates have long necks to make full advantage of this.
It not only feeds on celestiphytan polyspeculates but also on sidobosian polyspeculates. It uses it’s frontal claws as means of impaling it’s prey and also for manipulation of said prey. If they get attacked by a predator, they can use their claws for self defense.
It’s eyes are rather unique, as they evolved from an ancestor that had moveable stalk eyes containing a simple eye, not compound eyes as most other dispeculates. This ancestor lost it’s compound eyes in a similar way Earth’s spiders did. Over time, one of the segments of said stalk eye turned into a proper eyeball. Due to this, the eyeball’s walls are made of the same material as the exoskeleton is, although it is in a transitional form towards a soft-walled eye. The highly moveable eye structure allows it to have full 360 degree vision, including vertically.
Adults can grow up to 8 meters tall. Unlike many armored dispeculates, Intusfistula Longuscolli doesn’t molt to grow. Instead, it grows without armor until, after reaching full size at about 2 year of age, it begins fully developing it’s armor. This delayed growth is an example of neoteny, and it allows them to reach their huge sizes without having to deal with molting many times as it grows. Delaying growth of armor was, at some point in the past, advantageous to early intusfistulates, as being born without armor meant they could escape predators with less effort. This trait then spread into all modern intusfistulates, including Intusfistula Longuscolli.
To reproduce, Intusfistula Longuscolli lay eggs that take 3 months of incubation to hatch. The female individual lays only a single egg per clutch, and only once a year during summer. The newborns will, for the most part, be able to hunt small ground polyspeculates. They will however still need to be protected by the adults due to predation.
Intusfistula Longusculli live in small herds, often from 15 to 20 individuals. Once fully formed at around 2 and a half years, they’ll break from their herd in search of another herd to join, as to avoid inbreeding. They are not territorial, although they have very close bonds with their family. Sometimes already fully formed adults will wait another year for their brothers to be fully matured to leave the herd and accompany them. Their lifespan is of around 70 years. Current population sits at around 120,000 individuals.