"Sprogophidians"

The widespread presence of sprog; a spongy, hole-ridden,
landscape-blanketing vegetative growth has given rise to a frustratingly large
diversity of limbless or reduced-limbed snake-like creatures on Snaiad. Such
creatures spend parts, if not all of their lives in sprog, sometimes also
venturing to burrow in the soil lying beneath. This motley collection of
burrowing creatures are thought to be related to each other and the grazing
Lophophids, although the exact nature of these relationships is far from clear.
They are loosely grouped together in the clade Sprogophidia, which might turn
out to be paraphyletic. Notice that the Sprogophidian groups are far from being
the only snake-like creatures on Snaiad; many other groups have independently
evolved the same body plan.

Species: Chasmostomos vulgaris
Common Names: Common
Pitmouth, Sausagetail.
Size: Females up to 25 centimeters including tail,
males are smaller.
Habitat: Isternian coast-jungles, extending into
mountain-forests along the Great Isternians.

Retaining all four feet, a clearly defined tail, head and eyes,
the Chasmostomes are the most basal among all Sprogophidian clades.
Nevertheless, they have some specialized features such as the fatty food
reservoirs in their tails and their tentacle-rimmed second heads, which cannot
be retracted back into the body. In the females of some species such as C.
vulgaris, this structure has become a huge trap. While both sexes start out
as ambulatory burrowing predators in leaf litter, sprog or soil, the females
soon settle down in burrows and develop their mouths into their distended sizes.
After settling down they feed entirely on Trikes, Picozoans, Softies and other
animals they entice into their traps by the smell of rotting flesh. During lean
times the females depend on fats stored in their equally distended tails,
although they will still starve to death in a few weeks if no prey is captured.
Because of this reason, these trapdoor Chasmostomes live only in jungles or
forests, where a wealth of invertebrate prey is available year-round.

The males of this species are pretty “normal” looking with a
mobile life style; their first heads conceal worm-like cranial genitals they use
to burrow down to their mates’ concealed wombs.

Species: Chasmostomos erythrocephalus
Common Name:
Sausagetail.
Size: About 20 centimeters with tail.
Habitat: Sprogland
along the Eastern Plains to Pansavannah

This is a more “regular” species of Chasmostomos that
is common in sprogland habitats rather than jungles. There are many (more than a
hundred) related species like this one, they all live simple lives chasing small
animals in sprog or other undergrowth, some species such as C.
ammophilus also burrow under desert sand. They can shed their fatty tails
when attacked, but it does not grow back once it is shed. Chasmostomes are
important prey items for many small to medium sized predators in their
respective habitats.

Species: Vangaspis smyrnatica
Common Names: V-Snake,
Spadehead, Zilzal.
Size: Up to 30 centimeters in length.
Habitat:
Neomediterranean maquis along the northern Neomediterranean shores.

Although this pale, snake-like creature is bland to the first
look, its mysterious relationships make it highly interesting to Snaiadi
biologists. Found only in the characteristic red maquis environment along the
northern shores of the Neomediterranean, Vangaspis feeds on small
animals it catches with its hose-like secondary head. Its first head bears a
spade-shaped beak that seems to be used mainly for digging. Its body is
serpentine and bears no trace of legs. Quite interestingly it has black blood, a
characteristic unseen in other Snaiadi land animals.

What makes Vangaspis so interesting is that except
from the two very similar species located under this genus, its lineage seems to
have no close relatives. It is impossible to tell its closest relatives, but
current consensus is that it forms a sister clade to all other Sprogophidians by
itself. However, even this position might be revised as further research probes
its identity, or fossils of related forms are discovered. Its taxonomically
unique status and very limited distribution make Vangaspis one of the
most precious of all Snaiadi animals.

Species: Emmi notoriensis
Common Names: Notorian Emmi, Red
Emmi, Notorian Faggot.
Size: About 30 centimeters long.
Habitat: Soil
beneath sprogland and forest floor in the Notorian subcontinent.

The Emmiformes, with their tail-less, spike bearing backbones,
bare, scissor-like beaks, and burrowing predatory habits form a group on their
own within the Sprogophidia. Relatives of these creatures can be found in the
Glacia-Notorian landmass as well as the main continents. This suggests that they
are an old group that colonized these landmasses before they split apart. Emmis
are vicious predators that burrow through earth, mud and sprog to capture their
prey, which can be any of the numerous serpentine, burrowing creatures like
themselves. Prey is dispatched and cut apart with the long, serrated beaks and
then consumed by the prehensile second heads that normally lie concealed in
their chests. Their backbones have a protruding spike, which not only gives them
leverage when tunneling, but also helps them dig burrows backwards in substrate.
This feature was used to suggest a relationship between the Emmiformes and the
famed Fuckers, which also bear pelvic spikes. However, later discoveries have
thoroughly discredited this theory.

While some Emmis are tame when handled, the red Notorian
Emmi is truly a vicious beast that bites, scratches, stabs and
defecates explosively when picked up. Its bright color is thought to help it
startle potential predators that might accidentally unearth it when digging
around.

Species: Baroemmi insignai
Common Name: Megafag.
Size:
More than 1 meter long.
Habitat: Pansavannah

The Megafag is the largest of all Emmiformes, almost three
times larger and ten times heavier than its nearest competitor in size and mass.
Not able to dig underground like its smaller relatives, this fat beast lives
mostly as an ambush predator, hiding in a burrow carefully camouflaged under
sprog and other growth. When a smaller animal walks by, it launches itself out
of its hiding place, killing its prey with sledgehammer-like blows of its
massive head. When larger animals such as Pneumagazelles (or people) pass by its
nest, it might also seize a chance to suddenly grab their legs. While it has
next to no chance of actually killing a Pneumagazelle, the Megafag’s fearless
attacks usually reward it with hefty mouthfuls of ripped flesh. Finally, at
nights, it does not pass up the opportunity to crawl out of its nest and gorge
itself on Fucker and Kahydron kills. In fact, it is not uncommon to find these
animals nesting under fresh carcasses. Megafags spend the desiccating
Pansavannan summers in torpor, holed up in their burrows.

Baroemmi insignai is named after Jonas Insigna, the
legendary Snaiadi zoologist who devoted his life to Snaiadi invertebrates, but
also had plenty of time to study larger creatures on his field trips.

Back

Copyright laws protect all
intellectual property associated with Snaiad.
All artwork, concepts and names
associated with this project belong to Nemo Ramjet, unless otherwise stated.