Autovenaria

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

## Evolution and taxonomy

Autovenarians are the basalmost clade of alcyoneudontians. Alcyoneudontians are characterized for being a sister clade to the crucispascensians. Crucispascensians are highly developed specially for the abbility of internal fertilization, while alcyoneudontians are, basally, external fertilizers. Alcyoneudontians evolved 210 million years ago during the late Accomodatian. Autovenarians are the sister clade to spinocaputians. Spinocaputians are known for having evolved proper jaws, while autovenarians do not. The first spinocaputians evolved 181 million years ago in the Scelusian. The first autovenarians were estuary, shallow water and even river dwellers, that evolved 158 million years ago in the late Scelusian. The first autovenarians possessed the traditional "one eye", that is the fusion of the two compound eyes into one single ocular orb, a characteristic that has been transmitted to the entire clade. Eventually, after the Scelusian-Variagene extinction event, they started to conquer and spread into the ocean and became relevant creatures in the oceanic ecosystem. The brachiosquilloids are fully marine and have evolved, for the first time, 106 million years ago in the late Variagene. Eventually, slow swimmers with reduced tails and large orb-eyes started to evolve and the celerpecorians arrived 54 million years ago in the late Compsogene.

Alcyoneudontia (210-0)

* Autovenaria (158-0)
	+ Autovenari potamos
	+ Brachiosquilloidea (106-0)
		- Brachiosidae
		- Celerpecoria (54-0)
			* Celernantida squilla
			* Sac grazer
* Spinocaputia (181-0)

## Characteristics

Autovenarians have very derived features that place them as pretty unique creatures, but at the same time, they are also fairly basal. In comparison to spinocaputians, the distinction is obvious: autovenarians do not have jaws, or anything resembling those, apart from their superficially traditional proboscises. One of the most striking characteristics is their eyes. Autovenarians only have one compound eye, that is likely the product of the fusion of the two ancestral compound eyes of their ancestors, though there have been proposals that it might just be one compound eye, that migrated to the front of the head once the other disappeared. Brachiosid eye structure is specially suggestive of the second hypothesis, with a localized and centralized lens that helps it focus on the surroundings, mixing itself with the typical compound eye attributes, with little indications for any eye fusion as well. The number of limbs in autovenarians is variable. Brachiosquilloids are all known for having eight limbs, that are usually small and are only used for slight propulsion and orientation while swimming. Autovenari potamos lacks limbs altogether, instead having small plates of external armour poking out that help this creature move along the current. The way the proboscis are organized are also variable. Autovenari has three very reduced proboscis that are hidden below their soft rugosities in the face, that extend very little when feeding. All the proboscis are used for feeding and all of them have sharp bony projections to shred their food. Brachiosquilloids are also basally capable of feeding with all of their proboscis, and their main difference from Autovenari is that they actually have visible proboscis that extend very much into the exterior. Despite being basal of feeding with all three proboscis, extant brachiosquilloids differ in the number of proboscis they use to feed. Brachiosids feed from the two lateral proboscis, while the Celernantida squilla feeds from the central proboscis, and the sac grazer feeds through all of them. Sac grazers have sharp bony structures in their proboscis to slice the vegetation it feeds on. Celernantida squilla uses the two lateral proboscis, that have sharp and serrated bony tips to slice the meat it feeds, while the frontal proboscis procceeds to swallow. The central proboscis has teeth surrounding the edges, as well, to aid in that task. Brachiosids, by far, use their proboscis at a far greater extent. The side proboscis have small teeth that it uses to eat the varied food it feeds on. The central proboscis is more used as a prehensile organ, used to grab objects, even using them as tools. They also have the abbility to store food and material inside the proboscis, and they are even able to store stones that they can use as projectiles, spitting them like bullets in a pistol, although with far lesser damage being used. Extinct brachiosids have been known to even have bifurcated proboscises. Their locomotion is mostly focused on their tail, though sac grazers are unique for not swimming as adults, instead having a large sac, where air is stored and they stay buoyant in the surface of the water, using their orifices and small fin-like limbs to move around. They lack a proper tail to swim around, even babies, which use their transparent dorsal fin and the limbs to awkwardly swim around. All other autovenarians swim thanks to their vertical tail fluke. Autovenari have different phenotypes however, one is a largely stationary beta form, without proper fins, living in the bottom and feeding in polyspeculates, while the alpha form has a full tail fluke, with two small fins in the dorsal part of the tail, and bigger armoured fins at the sides, to hunt prey. The orifices are very useful for locomotion, propelling water jets to orientate the body of the creatures, as well as for breathing under water. This characteristic is a common trend in crucissymbioticans, using their orifices to help in locomotion. Brachiosids even use their orifices to create complex sounds to communicate with each other, aiding them in the creation of a complex vocabulary. Sac grazers have their orifices located very further down the body to breath underwater while still floating in the surface. The orifices are places for their babies to hide, and their babies keep the orifices clean from parasites. One interesting thing to note is that their skeleton is cartilaginous. This is a basal condition for all celernantids actually, but one that has been lost in celeramontians, for example, which have a bony endoskeleton. Just like crucispascensians, autovenarians have a cartilaginous endoskeleton, but their fins are actually hardened bone. Crucissymbioticans have a branched and complex endoskeleton, albeit carilaginous, but this seems to have evolved independently from the simillarly, yet a bit more complex, celeramontians bony endoskeleton. Other celernantids, such as the basal phytovorans do not have a defined endoskeleton, other than the rudimentary skull, and the exceptionally bony fins.

Autovenarians are usually small to medium-sized creatures. The largest is a two meter long brachiosid. Celernantida squilla measures just 13 cm in length, and the smallest brachiosids reach up to 10 cm in length, fitting in a human fist.

## Distribution and habitat

Autovenarians are very widespread throughout the oceans of the world, but the proper extant marine clade is somewhat new, having only evolved in the Variagene, and their ancestors most likely were living in estuary and freshwater environments. Currently the basal Autovenari is the only freshwater autovenarian, being found in the riverine regions of Auth. Marine autovenarians are found in tropical and temperate oceans of the globe. Celernantida squilla is exclusive to Vadum Mare. Sac grazers exist in the shallow waters that surround the eastern hemisphere, touching the coasts of Terra Septentrionis, Media Insula, Micha and Auth. Brachiosids are, by far, the most diverse and successful, being spread basically everywhere in tropical oceanic waters.

## Diet

The diet of autovenarians is very variable, with herbivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous species existing. Autovenari is notorious for having two different phenotypes that manifest depending on the harsh circumstances that surround them. When autovenari reach a new environment they are usually all from the beta form, a usually bottom dwelling herbivorous form. However, if the concentration of the autovenari is too high, the new autovenari will be born as a new phenotype, the alfa form. The alfa form is capable of powered swimming and is a carnivore, adapted to hunt down the herbivorous phenotype in case of overpopulation. This seemingly counterproductive strategy seems to have evolved in an attempt to keep other predators from entering in the local ecosystem, in a sense keeping the energy transferred through the ecosystem "in house". Brachiosids are a varied group with multiple species with different diets. 50% of the brachiosid species are herbivorous, while the other half contains omnivorous and carnivorous species. Celernantida squilla is a fully carnivorous creature. It lives on toxic coral-like polyspeculates, toxins which the Celernantida squilla is immune to. The dispeculates that pass by and die due to the toxins the polyspeculates eject are fed by the Celernantida squilla, which uses its lateral proboscis to cut the food and the central proboscis to feed. Sac grazers are herbivores. Adults float in shallow waters where they feed on mangrove-dwelling polyspeculates, namely bone trees, or floating pieces of it in the open ocean, where they use their very small and thin proboscises, which small bony protrusions, to slice and procces the food material.

## Behaviour, sociality and intelligence

Autovenarians are very variable in terms of sociality. They usually live in groups, what depends is the size. Autovenari live in unorganized shoals in their secluded freshwater environments. Celerpecorians might be solitary, but it is not uncommon for them to gather in small groups, sometimes forming loose hierarchies. By far the most social are the brachiosids. Brachiosids are also, the most intelligent celernantids of all, if not the most intelligent dispeculates or living beings in the entire planet. Their intelligence is hardly near that of humans. Brachiosid intelligence, depending on the species, is variable and has been declared as varying between the same level as with cephalopods and more evolved intelligent tetrapods, like some primates, crows, elephants and even cetaceans. They usually live in communities and tribes, are able to make simple tools and have even been seen using "jewelry" and general adornments. They also have the abbility of communicating and they even have their own vocabulary. Their forms of communication vary from the movement of their fins, the head fan they have behind the eye (often more used for sexual display), movements of their proboscis, and sounds that they create by their lateral jet openings. Their vocabulary is so complex that it is believed they even treat each individual by names given by the community, and are even known to fabricate insults and compliments. Miscommunication has also been recorded in brachiosids, and wars between different communities of brachiosids have occured and the reasons behind the conflicts have been seen as variable as those that provoke our own human conflicts. They are also pretty intelligent in accounts to their idea of storing resources. Some species and communities are known to be agricultural, farming polyspeculates in large shallow sand reefs. The most notorious and game changing farming communities of brachiosids can be found in the shallow waters of the eastern coast of Media Insula.

## Reproduction

Like almost all celernantids, autovenarians lay eggs. Unlike crucispascensians, they do not fertilize internally, instead their fertilization is external. Autovenari females lay their eggs in a secluded spot in the bottom of the river or pond, that are then fertilized by the male. Autovenari are not parental caring and eventually abandon their eggs and offspring. This is not true for brachiosquilloids, which are parental caring, at some extension. Brachiosids use their central proboscis for reproduction. The male and the female "swallow", respectively, the eggs and the sperm of their mating partner. Eventually the male inserts the eggs of the female inside the female's sperm-filled proboscis. There the eggs will be fertilized, and eventually the female lays her eggs in a little nook or nest in the bottom of the sea, where they are carefully protected by the females and the male, both taking turns on the protection of the eggs. When the eggs hatch the babies are welcomed by the entire group and protected mutually by all members of the group, though with more intensity by the mating pair in question. Depending on the species, culture or even individual couple, males and females mate for life or depart to find a new mate. There has been occurances where couples meet, split and unite again, after several mating seasons. Female Celernantida squilla lay 10-20 eggs at the base of polyspeculate tendrils, where they are protected, and the male proceeds to fertilize them. The female does not take an active part in defending the eggs, as they are well protected in the toxic polyspeculates this creature inhabits. The eggs take two weeks to hatch, and eventually the babies will follow their mother. Their growth development is surprisingly slow for a small creature like this one, as babies take one year to fully mature. Sac grazers reproduction strategies are also interesting. Outside of the mating season, sac grazers usually are not sexually dimorphic, possessing a small horn on their forehead. When mating season arrives, hormones start to build up and females shrink their horn, meanwhile males grow large backward facing horns. If their occasional social groups have more than one mature male, the males will fight against each other by headbutting and using their freshly grown horns to attack. Due to being very freshly grown horns, they fall out with some ease, and the male whose horn falls off, is the one that looses the fight and looses the right to mate during that mating season. When winning the fights, the winning males, by consequence, will start to grow their horns stronger and stronger. Female sac grazers eventually lay their eggs at the base of a polyspeculate. The eggs, as long as they are well protected, do not need to be laid eyes by the female (she doesn't really have much other chance, given that she has her head outside of the water). The mother does not swim away for long, however, until the eggs hatch. Once the eggs hatch, the extremelly small babies, that swim with their dorsal fins, will swim around the large body of their mother, that serve them as protection. For refuge, they hide inside their mother's respiratory orifices. For the mother this is not a nuisance, very much by the contrary. The little babies will feed on small algae and keep parasites away from the orifices even. When they become mature, the baby sac grazers will eventually float away from their mother's protection.