Rugged Grovestalker

As the shorelines steadily became more crowded and competition for available niches increased, a population of grovestalkers migrated inland. There they found a drier, harsher environment, much unlike the beaches and coastlines they had once known. While many would die out, either from starvation or desiccation, over the course of thousands of years, some instead managed to survive, eking out an existence. Over the generations they adapted and evolved, become better suited to their new habitats, and eventually severing their ties to ocean for good. The descendants of these survivors eventually managed to thrive, and gave rise to the species known as rugged grovestalkers. Crepuscular hunters, they now stalk the asterplentlands (somewhat similar to the grasslands of earth) and gazebo forests of Ovi.

Desiccation is a major threat for most neosiluro. While their bony, keratin covered exoskeleton were fairly resilient to deterring water loss, the same could not be said for the exposed fleshy portions of their body, such as their tentajaws, heads, and tails. While the golden notback managed to solve this issue by expanding their exoskeletons, the ancestors of what would be the rugged grovestalkers evolved a different solution. Compared to the smooth, slimy skin of the basal grovestalker, this new species has a much more bumpy, drier texture. This is due to numerous bony nodules, composed of a similar material to that of their exoskeletons, that exist just below the skin. Forming an interlocking, almost chainmail-like defense, this serves to limit water loss, in turn allowing this species to exist in drier climates.

This was not the only major evolutionary feature. At the end of each tentajaw is a small barbel loaded with sensitive nerve endings and, unique to the Geletaventria, newly evolved taste receptor cells. As they brush them against a potential food source, they are now able to detect if it is edible or not. If the object is, they will then take it into their tentajaws and, with the aid of the serrated plating within, they will crush and shred it into pieces small enough to swallowed whole. They will also use these barbels to explore their surroundings, as well as determining the health of potential mates.

The respiratory functions of this species have changed compared to that of their ancestors. While in the grovestalker the three pairs of openings near the tentajaws primarily took in oxygen and the rear openings expelled it, in the rugged grovestalker this has been swapped. The rear "nostrils" have evolved a pair of siphon-like openings to help facilitate the inhaling of oxygen and exhaling of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, the three pairs of openings now have evolved a thin membrane over them, which is loaded with olfactory sensors in order to help them detect various scents. The lung itself has expanded in order to better deliver oxygen to the blood. Somewhat interestingly, a more desiccation-resistant strain of corcraonach has begun to infest this structure, growing right on top of the bony plating that covers the lung. Brought forth from the sea unintentionally by their ancestors, this lineage gets all the water it needs to survive from the morning dew that moistens it.

Perhaps the most prominent adaption to a drier environment, however, involves their reproductive habits. No longer do they return to the water to lay their eggs. Instead, their developing eggs are now retained within the bodies of the females, where they are nourished on their own steadily absorbed yolk sacks as they grow and mature safely away from the heat of the sun and potential predators, thus allowing the rugged grovestalker to remain landlocked. Females, once impregnated, will typically "give birth" to them after three to four weeks. The resulting dozen or so offspring are shown no further parental care beyond this, and their mothers will in fact will likely seek out a new mate within a few hours. The young, meanwhile, being tiny, pale, and with soft exoskeletons, will actively attempt to find a cool, shaded spot to rest away from the heat of the midday sun. Once their exoskeletons harden, however, they will instinctively hunt small prey within a few hours, as they are already fairly capable little killers.

Without the presence of landfall grove or crystal gazebo within the drier interior of Ovi, the rugged grovestalkers have instead turned to inhabiting the ovipine dwarf gazebo and shrub gazebos. As their new homes are much smaller, so too has the rugged grovestalker shrunken in size in order to exploit this. They now nest within these crystal flora, sleeping within their many root structures during the day and night, as well as even taking shelter within the cooler shaded regions they produce. At dusk and twilight, they become more active and begin to hunt the various smaller organisms that dwell within their habitats.