Rocky Locrints
Though the basal sandy locrint was small and well-suited for an r-selected lifestyle, its need for some form of meat inhibited its spread. Rocky locrints have adapted for complete herbivory, allowing them to become far more common, diverse, and widespread than their kin. While the rocky locrints do encompass a whole genus, they do not quite rival other large genera like such as flopleaves, usually containing around 200-300 extant species at a time.
While the various species of rocky locrints do differ, they do share many things in common. Their upper tentacles are strong, and end in narrow, scissor-like claws used to cut pieces off of flora. Their lower tentacles are thinner, and used primarily for manipulation. These tentacles sit tightly curled when not in use. Some of the spikes on their tentacles have been modified into grinding ‘molars’, which help them to break up food. A longer intestine allows them to absorb more nutrients from their food.
Rocky locrints also share a flat or saddle-shaped lung plate, which allows for easier respiration. It visibly raises and lowers as the locrint inhales and exhales. This aids their active lifestyle, allowing them to quickly bolt away from predators. Their eyes have also undergone a more peculiar adaptation. Their eyes now sit on short, muscular eyestalks, which they can swivel around to get a full 360 degree view. The muscles that previously tucked their eyes in are retained, now being used to retract their eyestalks in a way somewhat reminiscent of a terran snail. These eyestalks also give them a slight advantage in seeing over obstacles such as rocks and flora. While rocky locrints have good eyesight and a keen sense of smell, their only form of hearing is to sense vibrations through the ground. Their larvae are also better adapted for their environment. While they still look mostly the same, their limbs are shaped like actual flippers, making them more hydrodynamic. In order to avoid their main predator, the snoodceels, larvae will hurriedly burrow deep into the silt or sand in the lakebed, and can stay there for a long time before emerging. Female rocky locrints have large, expandable ovaries that can hold hundreds or even thousands of tiny eggs at a time. While eggs laid in large lakes are susceptible to predation, small ponds with lots of flora or microbial mats provide a perfect nursery to the minuscule larvae.
Rocky locrints most noticeably differ in their color and exoskeleton. While there are some exceptions across different species, most of them are generally brown with a greyish carapace. Some species have an entirely rounded exterior, but many have sharp points on different parts of their exoskeleton. While a few rare species still have a mating season, most simply mate whenever they encounter a suitable partner. Hybridization may occur in species that share a range.
Different species of rocky locrint have adapted slightly for different diets, though most species are able to eat what any other one does. Rocky locrint diets mainly consist of small violet flora (e. g. Shootstems) and small asterplents (e. g. Grassterplents). They occasionally eat other soft flora as well, such as mycostrum. Species that live in areas without shootstems or other violet “grasses” mainly eat asterplents, and have more well-developed cutting claws to snip their feet and leaves off. Species that live in areas with abundant shootstems use their maneuverable grabbing tentacles more often, allowing them to pull in large amounts of plant material.
These small creatures have been able to spread to most of Wright, even beginning to colonize Orpington. They have not been able to reach into Drake due to its cold temperatures, but some coastal species have allowed them to bypass the scorching Ovi-Dixon desert.