Tongueroot

The tongueroot has split from the snowmelt wormoss and now inhabits the better drained and comparatively drier regions of southern Fermi. Unlike their ancestor, they no longer spawn; instead the mobile juveniles produce packages of sperm cells known as spermatophores, which they exchange by rubbing against each other or an adult. These spermatophores can be stored for years and are used by the adults to fertilize their eggs. Unlike their ancestor the adults are fully female. All sperm production takes place in the juvenile stage. Fertilized eggs develop into millimetre-long larva which are shed from pores between the adults segments.

The most obvious feature of the tongueroot is the way the adults plant themselves headfirst into the ground during metamorphosis. This both provides them with greater stability and allows them to make use of the feature they are named for. The tongueroot's root is not actually a tongue, rather it is derived from the tissue of the pharynx. It is much like a root, however: It has a branching structure that extends into the soil, and it helps the tongueroot absorb water and nutrients. Tongueroots have also adapted the head horns of their ancestors to both make planting themselves easier and to help hook the adult form into the ground.

Like their ancestor, tongueroots are able to move slightly even as adults. They use this ability to track the sun, twisting and bending to keep their leaf thorns well positioned. They are also able to lie nearly flat to the ground during the winter and get back up again in the spring, a talent that helps them survive the heavy seasonal snow cover. Tongueroots live three to four years and spend the first four to six months as juveniles with warmer temperatures and higher food availability leading to faster metamorphosis.