Densilautus

**Densilautids** (Den-sill-aught-ids), are a clade of small very odd scavengers, ranging from 1mm to 2 meters in length. They are able to leap great distances, atleast in the smaller species, and are part of a large order known as ‘**Caudapes**’ (cod-a-pez), which contain species such as, the Dune Occidentistan Densilautus, Greendeer, and other creatures with their hind legs fused with their tail.

### **Species**

#### **-Dune Occidentistan Densiluatus *(Terped digitoos)***

   **Clade:** Ambulospeculida, Caudapes, Densilautidae

**Habitat:** Hot deserts and steppe of Occidentis

**Size:** 3 mm in length

**Diet:** scavenger

**Reproduction:** sexual, eggs (2 genders)

**The Dune Occidentistan Densiluatus** (pronounced Dy-oon Ocki-dent-ist-i-an Den-sill-aught-us), their binomial name being Terped digitoos (Ter-ped Digi-to-os), is a species of densilautid native to the hot deserts and steppe of Occidentis, normally looking for dead matter to feast on, which they will use their clawed proboscis to scrape off consumable chunks, then swallow them. They are around 3 mm in length, and are very common and prolific breeders. After mating, the female will dig a small hole in the ground and lay up to 30 eggs in it, which will hatch in 3 days.

They have lost their front pair and their second pair has fused into a single leg, which it uses like a spring in combination with its other two to leap up to 20 meters in one direction. They have two, huge, almost connected compound eyes, which they use to get visual information about their environment, and also have a good sense of smell, which allows them to find food, which normally takes the form of rotting corpses or edible matter stuck to a larger creature.
On the males, exists two plates, one on each side of their head, which have patterns that resemble an eye, this is to try and deter predators, and is also used to attract females.

#### **-Phael Giant Densiluatus *(Nesoentomo gigantus)***

**Clade:** Ambulospeculida, Caudapes, Densilautidae

**Habitat:** Phael islands

**Size:** Around a meter long

**Diet:** scavenger, carnivorous, detritivore

**Reproduction:** sexual, eggs (2 genders)

A very large species of Densiluatus, they are natives to the Phael islands nearby Occidentis. They can reach sizes of around a meter, and being much much larger than their Dune Densiluatus relatives, they are incapable of making large jumps as them.

They have much heavier armor than other smaller species, and they are known to steal prey from other predators. Their larger size and heavy armament is probably a result of interacting with more dangerous and bigger species. As they no longer jump due to being so much larger, they instead have a very different gait. They use their third leg mostly for quick sprints instead of actual jumps, these sprints tend to happen in very short bursts instead of longer runs.

Their diet mostly consists of carrion and detritus, and as such their proboscis have changed to be more at grabbing and tearing flesh and other sorts of organic tissue. Another trait that these Densiluatus species have is that they tend to form groups of 3-7 individuals.

#### **-Tesminian Boscilautus *(Anodonto limoalma)***

**Clade:** Ambulospeculida, Caudapes, Densilautidae

**Habitat:** forests of North and South Tesminia

**Size:** 20 cm long

**Diet:** scavenger, detritivore, nectarivore, frugivore, coprophage, exuativore, haematophagy

**Reproduction:** sexual, eggs (2 genders)

   Continuing the exploration of Terra Sepentrionis in general, more new species have been found to inhabit this continent, and I will be describing a few species that I consider notable. First off, is the Tesminian Boscilautus, A distant relative of other known Densilautids, and is the most basal known species yet, and lacks teeth and proboscis claws altogether. Like other Densilautids, they are tripedal Ambulospeculids that have an affinity for dead and decaying matter, even feeding on waste products when available. They have a large phallus present in both genders, which is girthier in females to help with mating and laying eggs, and their forelimbs have been derived into movable plates used for sexual display and hearing, being covered in black, white, and grey in males, and just green and reduced in size in females.
They have three legs, one being speculated to be the product of limb fusion, each possessing three toes with fingernails, and can be used to leap rather far distances for their size to escape predators. Like most members in their Clade, they possess a bulbous tail, which in the case of Densilautids, has been fused with their legs, leaving two nubs in their place, this being used for balance and storing fat. A trait that is unique among their Clade is their third limbs anatomy, which isn't extended and in the back like in other known species, but rather has proportions more akin to their other two legs, and have the foot placed in front of them, which works better with their size overall.

    Tesminian Boscilautus are generalist omnivores, feeding on just about anything they can swallow, and isn't too hard, which this is because they lack teeth of any kind, thus have to rely on their stomach acid to break down food. They have 3 stomachs, as opposed to the one most other species have, which works in their favor to help break down their meals into small enough bits before extracting the nutrients from them in the intestinal tract. Like other Densilautids, they are attracted to the stench of a dead organism, though, will also feed on bodily waste available. With their flexible proboscis, have access to a variety of foods you wouldn't find many other Densilautids feeding on, using it to drink nectar from flowers, swallowing fruit and other things whole, and consuming other extretments from flora. To further separate them from other known species, they are solitary, only coming together during the mating season, where males compete for females with dances involving their forelimbs, like a Jumping Spider. After mating, females will lay a clutch of eggs on the trunk of any sort of large 'flora', which ranges from things like Mosspines to Alsmegalia Scrantrobs. The egg clutches females lay will contain hundreds of thousands of eggs, only a fraction of which are likely to survive to adulthood, and take about 2 wallacian months to fully mature and hatch. Juveniles tend to feed on more dead things than adults, as their bodies are not yet suited well enough for things like fruit, and take only a few weeks to go from barely even a cm long hatchlings, to 20 cm long adults.