Vexilliamelia

**Vexilliamelians** are a clade of celernantids that are alive today.

## Evolution and taxonomy

Vexilliamelians are a very old group of terrestrial celernantids, being the fastest to really conquer and show themselves as worthy of land-dwelling domination. They diverged from their closest relatives, the dunatibians (which together form the Patelladromea clade), some 297 million years ago, in the early Tenerian, but the extant vexilliamelians didn't diverged much later, in fact the first vexilliamelian is estimated to have existed 295 million years ago. Many of the modern lineages have diverged in the early Tenerian as well, with the Patellia clade originating 293 million years ago, already with developed hyoid jaws. Within the Patellia, there are two groups, the dilitiriodromeans and the saltumelians. Despite dilitiriodromeans separating from saltumelians in the Tenerian, the extant ones have diverged from each other some 146 million years ago, in the early Variagene. The extant saltumelians, on the other hand, have diverged very, very early in the early Tenerian some 291 million years ago. Back in the Tenerian, vexilliamelians high early diversification granted them a relevant place in the ecosystem, but the Tenerian-Accomodatian extinction event was ultimately responsible for their decline. The modern species are the last remnants of long lost lineages, that evolved various ways of avoiding extinction. *Patella draconi* is a weird example, known for having changed virtually nothing since its ancestors back in the Tenerian, some 289 million years ago.

Just like every celeramontian, the vexilliamelians were believed to have been ambulospeculids, up until genetic evidence proved their celernantid nature.

Patelladromea (297-0)

* Dunatibia (201-0)
* Vexilliamelia (295-0)
	+ Flag fox
	+ Patellia (293-0)
		- Dilitiriodromea (146-0)
			* Dilitirion dente
			* Mountain runner
		- Saltumelia (291-0)
			* Jungle badger
			* Patella draconi

## Characteristics

Vexilliamelians have some distinguishing features from their dunatibian relatives, but not many that are particularly arrowing. Just like them, they are known to have four or six limbs, depending on the species. Their hyoid bones are very well developed and developed into jaws, at least in the patellians, as the basal flag fox has them too atrophied to form any particular sort of function. Their forms of detecting the surroundings are very variable. The saltumelians, basally, have the typical compound eyes of their celernantid ancestors. In the case of the jungle badger, the compound eyes have fused into one single orb. In the case of *Patella draconi*, the eyes are very closely placed together, but they are too small, so these creatures have poor sight. Instead *Patella draconi* has sensory pads in its upper and lower jaws for detecting sound, sensory pas in its back feet to detect vibrations and proboscis adapted to sense smell in the surroundings. This adaptation is weirdly also present in the unrelated mountain runner, whose eyes are very small and placed in a cavity under its keratinous skull, where small holes poke out to receive light. In contrast, the mountain runner's proboscises do the job of sensing the smell around, and they also have a good sense of hearing. Its possible these adaptations allowed the small dilitiriodromeans from surviving the extinction events, while other larger ones died in the proccess. *Dilitirion* and the flag fox eyes are peculiar for being developed and targeted to sense threats or to see predators, resembling those of a typical tetrapod. The evolution of the eyes of vexilliamelians has, for many times, been a matter of debate, but lots of convergent and divergent evolution might have been responsible to the various simillarities between the various different groups. Unlike dunatibians, vexilliamelians don't have eyelids, and that is likely a reason why many vexilliamelians have small or atrophied eyes, as they are more prone to damage. Flag foxes have the benefit of cleaning their eyes with their proboscises and *Dilitirion* has "four" eyes, which are just two eyes with two separate focal points, split by a strip of external skin. This strip of skin can expand to direct the wind and the sand away from its eyes, as an alternative for the lack of eyelids. Its eyes are binocular, and the two focal points can move independently, allowing this creature to target their prey with efficiency, however its eyes are small, precisely to avoid a larger surface to damage. The proboscises of the vexilliamelians are also very variable, and the way their mouths are organized. The basal vexilliamelians are known to have had complex hyoid jaws. The basal flag fox lacks these. The central proboscis of the flag fox has bony projections that work as teeth to proccess its food. The other two proboscises serve basically no purpose in feeding and are instead used as "flags" for social communication, or appendages to grab and manufacture objects. These "flags" also have "fingerprints" that are used to create a proper surface to grab stuff, but also as a means of individual identification that the scientists use to keep track of the population. Patellians, on the other hand, have hyoid jaws. Dilitiriodromeans have long developed hyoid jaws. The mountain runner has the hyoid jaws still split, but the *Dilitirion* has them together to work as one unified lower jaw. The mountain runner jaws even have orifices for its two olfactory proboscises to poke out, even when the mouth is closed. The central proboscis works as a large central "tongue" like organ that crushes the plant material. *Dilitirion* jaws are fused, as said before, and armoured with "keratinous" teeth that can break up, but only serve to do superficial damage or hold small prey. Just like the mountain runner, the central proboscis is a thick chorizo-like "tongue" that does the job of feeding, while two proboscis poke out to sense the smell of the surroundings, like a snake's tongue. In saltumelians, the basal condition of vexilliamelians, that have one central proboscis for feeding, and two other for sensory purposes, is retained in *Patella draconi*. The *Patella draconi* has one central proboscis that is a sensory "tongue", that also has a pointy bony tip, used as somekind of spear or arrow, while the two others have an olfactory purpose. The hyoid jaws work together with the rostrum to form jaws. The rostrum forms the upper jaw, but the hyoid bones work as a movable lower jaw, while a non-movable lower extension of the "skull" grows below it, allowing the central proboscis to be harboured and to be directed forward to the prey. The olfactory proboscis fall behind this immobile lower jaw. The jungle badgers have a reduced remnant of this immobile lower jaw that serves no purpose. The jungle badgers have a short face, with the hyoid jaws well developed and covered in flesh, and harbouring teeth. The hyoid jaws are still separated, and linked by skin for the most part. The proboscises have grown more obsolete than any other vexilliamelian, as they are small blue and flat flaps, that absorb and suck the nutrients left in the mouth. To sense smell, they tend to open their mouth to sense their surroundings. The limbs of the vexilliamelians vary from four to six limbs. Saltumelians are known to have six limbs. Jungle badgers use theirs to grab themselves onto the trees and also grab their young, and they also harbour venomous spurs for defense. Although prehensile, and full of claws, they are very limited and are often inflated to give new purposes. *Patella draconi* serves as a drawing board for how this began. They have an atrophied frontal pair of legs, that seems to have been retained in the jungle badgers. The back legs have sensory pads, and that is likely why the jungle badgers have their prehensile legs as the back legs. All other vexilliamelians are four-legged, and they likely evolved that way independently, loosing their frontal pair of legs. Mountain runners are bipedal, with the back legs touching the ground while the pair of legs right in front are fused. These feet are highly adesive to rock surfaces, allowing them to climb mountains. Vexilliamelians, just like dunatibians, are basally "hairy", in the sense they had filaments, and many modern vexilliamelians retain this. Flag foxes have them covered in the dorso and the tail. Mountain runners have them across their body, to keep them warm in the mountainous cliffs, though they avoid the snowy tops, migrating to lower altitudes if so. Dilitirion dente retains quill like structures, that are used as rattles to drive away rivals or predators. Saltumelians have limited amount of filaments though. Young *Patella draconi* use filamentous gills to collect oxygen, which are also present in baby jungle badgers, but these disappear in adults. The body armour has been lost in vexilliamelian ancestors, though *Patella* has re-evolved it, unless it maintained it, and the other vexilliamelians eventually got rid of the external armor. Their respiratory orifices have changed their arrangement between the species. Dilitiriodromeans, for example, breath primarily from their olfactory orifices in their heads, even from their main oral orifice, which allows them to better cover their entire body in fur or to burrow under the sand, therefore having atrophied lateral respiratory orificed. Saltumelians have very large lateral orifices, in the case of *Patella draconi*, located in the "shoulders" and the neck. The jungle badgers have evolved large complex lung sacks that are even used to create bag-pipe like sounds.

Their size is variable, but the times of large ancient vexilliamelians has come to an end a long time ago. Now the largest are around two meters in length, like the *Patella draconi* and the mountain runner.

## Distribution and habitat

Despite the filamentous pelts, some species have, they have trouble tolerating the cold, specially their young. Therefore they are restricted to tropical climates. They only exist in Occidentis and Media Insula. The flag fox lives in rainforests and savannas across Media Insula. The *Dilitirion* lives in the deserts and semi-arid regions of Occidentis. The mountain runner lives in the Media Insulan central mountain ranges. The jungle badger lives in the rainforests in southern Occidentis. The *Patella draconi* lives in eastern Media Insula.

## Diet

The diet of vexilliamelians is very variable. Flag foxes are omnivorous and opportunistic. *Dilitirion* is a carnivore, using its teeth, specifically adapted to be pointed forward and to break so that the venom can be injected in the prey. It is an ambush predator adapted for short bursts of speed, indicating the superior metabolism of vexilliamelians in comparison to dunatibians. Its binocular and "four-eyed" vision is helpful in the detection of both prey and predator. The mountain runner is an herbivore, specifically adapted to feed on sidobosians. They like to feed on a determined polyspeculate that secrets a peanut butter like substance. Their large tongue-like proboscis coils to crush the hard material of its supper. The jungle badgers are frugivorous, feeding on young polyspeculate fruit, using its four frontal arms to grab the branches that have that food. *Patella draconi* is a predator, using its spear-like proboscis to hunt a myriad of different prey. They have a particular taste for aquatic prey, but they have also been observed hunting other members of their own kind... authentic cannibals.

## Behaviour, sociality and intelligence

Vexilliamelians have the perks of being particularly well developed, both in terms of sociality and intelligence. The brains of vexilliamelians are considerably more complex than those of dunatibians, useful to perform various functions. This brain complexity does not mean they are particularly very intelligent, as evidenced by the jungle badger, whose intelligence is comparable to that of a Earth's koala. However, the basal flag fox is likely one of the most intelligent terrestrial celernantids alive if not the most intelligent, using their "flag"-like proboscises to grab objects, like sticks, and even modify them to make crude tools. Vexilliamelians are usually not social, in the sense that most species are solitary. The flag fox is the only exception, living in well defined family groups. Mountain runners only gather in groups due to their general abundance but they do not pursue any social hierarchy, though males do fight for mating. *Dilitirion* are also solitary but males use their quills to intimidate each other, avoiding direct fights. *Patella draconi* is also a solitary predator. The jungle badger is also a solitary creature, so much that they are likely the most territorial of vexilliamelians, only tolerating each other in mating season. Males and females are known from creating bag-pipe like sounds out of their lung sacks. The flag foxes are, by far, the most interesting in terms of sociality, living in family groups where the position of the flags dictate the nature of the communication. Their position can vary in meaning, either they mean they found food, that there's a predator nearby or they are used to attract mates.

## Reproduction

Vexilliamelians are oviparous, like almost any other celernantid. Just like dunatibians, they lay their eggs, preferably, in bodies of water, as they are born as water-breathing larvae. *Patella draconi*, for example, lays its eggs on streams, rivers and lakes, where their babies hunt for aquatic fauna. *Dilitirion* lay their eggs in small puddles of nearby water in the wet season. The eggs hatch very quickly and the babies live their brief lives in the mud, before maturing into small land-dwelling counterparts to their parents. The mountain runners also procure bodies of water to lay their eggs. Both *Patella draconi* and dilitiriodromeans abandon their eggs, which is not true for the flag fox or the jungle badger, that practice parental care. Flag foxes lay their eggs in secluded bodies of water that they can monitor, like a small puddle or on a water-collecting polysepculate. The larvae grow up and the flag foxes feed them until they are old enough to become air-breathers and walk on land. The jungle badgers lay two to four eggs in a moist place in the rainforest. The larvae hatch and they stay in the moist surface for a few days, and they quickly become capable of air-breathing. They latch onto the mother's antlers. The back legs have secretions that function as a milk-like substance that keeps the babies hydrated and well fed. After some three months, the mother's antlers fall off, and by that time the babies must be already prepared to live a life away from their mother.