Patroclimas
The Patroclimas have adapted their hardened slime homes into a flattened cone shape akin to that of a shield volcano. The interior of this shield houses the coiled body of the Patroclima, with its head and first body segments extending from the shields peak. They can set up their shields in a variety of locations including bare soil, sand and the hard supports of other flora. The shield is formed via the secretions of various forms of slime, which will produce differing forms to the fort.
The Patroclimas have developed a new stage in their life cycle; an intermediary stage between juvenile and adulthood. When a juvenile has become ready to transition into an adult, it will find a location which will best benefit its adult self, coil its body and produce a cloak of bubble filled slime. This slime is viscoelastic, and foul tasting, which serves as a deterrent to predators. From this slime cloak the Patroclima will secrete a second form of slime, which will quickly harden, forming the initial interior wall of the fort. The slime cloak itself will slowly lose its bubbles, begin to flow, and match closer to the inner forms shape. This will then harden into the outer layer of the shield, resulting in a lumpy shield shape.
Their reproduction method is much like that of their ancestor as are their juveniles, being born male and transitioning to a female adults. Copulation between males for sperm transfer is also much the same, though when and where this may occur varies between species. All species of Patroclimas have developed greater reproductive yields, as females possess up to 24 reproductive pores located on their first body segment, through which they can release their marble sized eggs. The release of the eggs occurs near monthly for tropical species and seasonally for Subtropical species, usually coinciding with the wet season. Temperate and polar species release their eggs only once per year, and will store a large cache of eggs within their bodies until they are released en masse.
The Patroclimas have spread across the entirety of Wright. This wide range of biomes requires significant regional adaptations. Species in wet climates rely more on direct rainfall collected by their head dish rather than absorption via their root systems, and thus tend to live on less porous surfaces such as rocks and the trunks of other flora. These species also tend towards smaller sizes and shortened adult lives, with tropical rainforest species spending the majority of their lives as juveniles. In dry climates there is a tendency towards larger adult sizes and more equal lifespans of adult and juvenile stages. In temperate and polar regions, lifespans are greatly reduced, with most overwintering as eggs and transitioning to adults within the year before the first snow.
The leaves of each species are the most varied parts of their anatomy, with various forms adapted to different biomes. The general structure is a large leaf adapted from their ancestor's needle-like leaves, which can easily be regrown, and a central stem from which the leaf grows. In some species this is a single broad leaf, while in others it's a single greatly frayed leaf that looks much like multiple leaves. Though there is wide variation in the adults the juveniles are very similar to one another, with the major differentiation between them being size.