10-14-2019, 07:11 PM
Mammals: Even-toed Ungulates
1.) From the order Artiodactyla — which, for the purposes of this list does not include the Cetaceans (whales & dolphins) even though modern studies now place them within this overall group — the following families and species have members native to this nation:
Erythrohyidae*
This family is endemic to the IDU’s southern continent & some nearby islands. Its name translates as “Red Pigs”, with the first part referring to their generally red-tinted fur, although in fact the most pig-like forms became extinct quite a long time ago due to competition from actual pigs & peccaries. They do have rather pig-like heads, including the presence of tusks, but without the bony plate in the snout that helps real pigs to dig up food items from underground.
Two branches of this family, whose members differ sufficiently from each other that they have been classified as forming two separate sub-families, survive with species still alive today. The existence of fossil forms of a clearly intermediate nature is why they aren’t classified as fully separate families. Both lineages’ surviving members live only in tropical rainforest and the other reasonably dense types of tropical or sub-tropical woodlands. All of their species possess digestive systems that are slightly more advanced than those of most “true” Pigs, although less so than those of Ruminants (c.f. from RL, in the ‘Pig’ family itself, the Babirusa of RL Sulawesi…) : Some zoologists think that slight differences between the two lines’ versions of this feature indicate that they evolved it separately in parallel rather than inherited it from a single common ancestor, but this is still under debate.
The subfamily ‘Erythrohyinae’ consists of relatively small animals (max. head+body length c.24 inches, max. height at shoulder c.18 inches) with two-toed feet and a rather more gracile build than is usual for actual pigs. They are commonly called ‘Piggles’ or ‘Hoggles’, and forage (usually individually or in pairs, except when young offspring are still accompanying their mothers, although larger groups may form temporarily where & when food is particularly plentiful) for a mixed diet that includes not only some of the higher-quality browse but also fallen fruit, fungi, invertebrates, and even the occasional small vertebrate. Thus, they fill basically the same ecological niche here that is occupied in RL Asia & Africa by the chevrotains & some of the smallest antelopes.
The other subfamily is the ‘Ipakoinae’. This contains fewer species (and has fewer individual animals alive at any one time) than does the first one. Its members are distinctly larger than Piggles at “horse-sized”, tend to have — as the species found in this nation does — mottled fur, still have four-toed feet & use all four toes when walking, have proportionately longer necks that are more ‘upright’ in orientation than those of either Piggles or true Pigs, and also have relatively long lips that are muscular enough to be projected forwards together as a short ‘trunk’ [about two-thirds as long as the rest of the head) to help gather food. They are browsers, usually foraging alone (except when young offspring are still accompany their mothers), filling a comparable role to RL Africa’s Okapi (to which they bear some resemblance in size & general shape, too) and in fact are most commonly called ‘Notanokapi’ in English. Their only genus has been given the “Latin” name of [iIpako[/i], which is obviously just ‘Okapi’ spelled backwards.
This nation’s fauna includes members of one Notanokapi species, and of three Piggle species with one of the latter — the ‘’Heights Hoggle or Hairy Hoggle’ (Erythrohus altimontanus), whose range is limited to the belts of ‘cloud forest’ and higher-altitude scrub on the upper slopes of the mountains’ eastern side — actually endemic to this nation alone. The other two species live only in lowland forests, and consist of the ‘Common Red Piggle’ (Erythrohyus erythrohyus (which lives in the ‘tropical evergreen’ forests of this nation’s western coasts, and also in both the same habitat & tropical rainforest in the lands to the west) and the ‘Southern Red Piggle’ (E. notus) (whose range extends from this nation’s tropical rainforests into comparable habitats further east).
The piggles that live in the karst terrain forming the local rainforest’s southern end comprise a distinct and endemic form, distinguishable visually due to having white rather than red fur on their snouts. It is normally classified as a subspecies of the Southern Red Piggle, under the names of ‘Karst Red Pig’ and E. notus albirostris): It may also sometimes be called the ‘White-nosed Piggle, but this is officially disapproved of by zoological authorities in certain other countries on the basis that such a name would look more appropriate for a full species instead (and maybe also on a suspicion that some people using the term are — either consciously or subconsciously — trying to exaggerate this nation’s number of endemic species…). Some researchers suggested at one stage that it was actually a subspecies of the ‘Common Red Piggle instead but a recent DNA-based study of the entire genus found that for those genes which are not common to all of its species the members of this particular population have about eight times as many that are shared with other stocks of the ‘Southern’ species alone as are shared with the ‘Common’ species alone… although it also has almost one-&-a-half times the latter number of genes that are not shared with either of its neighbours (so, around 76% vs. 09.5% vs. 14%) which indicates either a relatively high rate of evolution locally or (or “and”) hybridisation with an older endemic population that no longer exists in a ‘pure’ form. For now, though, the current classification remains the official one as far as international bodies are concerned.
Ikapo arcanus** = Notanokapi
Erythrohyus altimontanus** = Heights, or Hairy, Hoggle
Erythrohyus erythrohyus** = Common Red Piggle
Erythrohyus notus notus*** = Southern Red Piggle
Erythrohyus notus albirostris*** = Karst Red Piggle
Suidae
Sus barbaricus* = Wild Pig
This is closely comparable to its counterpart RL Europe in size and habits. It can be found in the western side’s woodland & scrub.
Notochoerus melanus cikkotoumii*** = Cikkotoumi Black Forest Hog
This is slightly smaller than the ‘Wild Pig’, on average, and lives in the rainforests of the east with its range extending well uphill into the montane rainforest but only rarely into the cloud forest.
Tayassuiidae
Notiopeccari striata** = Striped Pecccary
This occurs mainly west of the mountains, where its range extends across the more open areas of woodland, scrub, and wooded savannah, into parts of the open grassland. There is also, however, a separate population in the ‘scrub belt’ (maybe sometimes ranging into the ‘cloud forest’) on the mountains’ eastern slopes as well. Peccaries arrived on this continent from among the stocks that lived prehistorically in RL Asia, rather than from those of the RL Americas, although North America was the source of those on the IDU’s northern continent. They can compete with the Wild Pig well enough, although individually smaller, because — in addition to usually being more successful than it in the more open areas where there is less cover and less suitable food, anyway — they typically go around in larger groups.
Cervidae
“True” Deer; members of a continent-endemic “parvfamily” (a level of classification that is three steps down from ‘family’) called the Australocervirae*, whose closest RL relatives would be a parvfamily that contains the diminutive Muntjacs of RL southern & south-eastern Asia.; Austalocervire deer are generally a bit larger than muntjacs, with more complex antlers (although they’ve lost their cousins’ tusks), but are still nowhere near the Deer family’s upper limits for either of those aspects. Five species, all of which are purely browsers, have populations native to this country _
Australocervus (Torbocervus) maculatus *** = Spotted Torbeck
Australocervus (Australocervus) reevei *** = Reeve’s Torbeck
Australocervus (Australocervus) parvus notus **** = (Southern) Pygmy Torbeck
Australocervus (Amazamu) amazamu *** = Jungle Deer
Palustricervus amazamu ** = Marsh Deer
The names ‘Torbeck’ and ‘Amazamu’ are referred to by the IC taxonomist who assigned them to species as “old names, traditional on that continent”, although it is not clear who the people that he thought used those “traditional” names actually were. (OOC, assume these names to have originated in the language of a people living there whose home nation has since CTEd, with this minor detail having somehow survived the retcon that removed those nations not only from the region’s history but also IC from [almost] everybody’s memories. In fact, I really derived them from names of some RL deer that live in South America — genus Mazama, the ‘Brockets’ — which are a reasonably good comparison to these IDU species in form & lifestyle…)
Spotted Torbecks have medium-brown or reddish-brown pelts with off-white spots. They are larger in size than any of the other deer that occur here, roughly comparable to RL ‘Fallow Deer’. Their main home is ‘Tropical Evergreen’ forest along the western coast, but they extend their range into the ‘Tropical Seasonal’ forest beyond this as well when vegetation there is at its lushest after the rains have come and may also occupy parts of the ‘gallery forest’ that lines the larger rivers if these provide sufficient food & cover for their needs.
Reeve’s Torbeck (whose first name commemorates a naturalist by the surname of ‘Reeve’… not the ‘Reeves’ after whom one species of RL ‘Muntjac’ deer is named…) reaches around maximum heights & lengths approximately two-thirds those of the ‘Spotted’ species. It occupies the same habitats at this does, typically feeding at a slightly lower level, but also remains in the ‘Tropical Seasonal’ forests all through the year and may venture into the less dense areas of scrub as well. A separate population, typically slightly smaller in size than its western relatives but not classified as a distinct sub-species, occurs in the ‘scrub belt and upper edge of the ‘cloud forest’ along the mountains’ eastern slopes.
Pygmy Torbeck prefer the denser areas of either ‘Tropical Evergreen’ forest or scrub for shelter, but will also venture out of these to feed. They are relatively common in the western foothills of the mountains, but apparently have not yet spread into the eastern slopes’ ‘scrub belt’ as well. Reported sightings from the ‘Tropical Montane Rainforest’ further down those slopes remain unconfirmed by photographs or material evidence but, if correct, would probably involve members of a population that had entered this area separately from the north-east.
Jungle Deer and Marsh Deer are both residents of the rainforests in this nation’s eastern portion, preferring drier ground (including the less-steep sections of the ‘Montane’ rainforest) and the wettest areas respectively. Both are basically comparable in size to Reeve’s Torbeck, but have less complex antlers than any of the non-rainforest species.
Bovidae
This is the family that includes not only cattle but also sheep & goats, and antelopes & gazelles. It is the most recently arrived here of the Artiodactyl families.
Heliobos longicornis**, ‘Sun Ox’ or ‘Longhorn’.
This belongs to the subfamily Bovinae and the tribe Bovini. It resembles the ‘Cape Buffalo’ of RL Arica in form & habits, but has an ochre-coloured pelt rather than a black one and is probably more closely related to the now-extinct ‘Aurochs’ (the ancestor of domestic cattle) instead. It grazes, in herds, in open grassland (even on some of the less-steep sections of the mountains’ western slopes) and wooded savannah. It is endemic to this continent, but not to this nation alone.
Quadricornus major major*** = Greater Quadricorn
Quadricornus major medius*** = (Common) Quadricorn
Quadricornus minor** = Lesser, or Dwarf, Quadricorn
Taurelaphus silviitragus** = Jungle Oxelope
These antelopes belong to the subfamily Bovinae and the tribe Boselaphini, sharing the latter with RL Asia’s ‘Chousingha’ (or ‘Four-horned Antelope’) and ‘Nilgai’, In these Quadricorns, as in the Chousingha, adult males have four horns each — rather than just the two that are normal for Antelopes & Gazelles from all the other tribes — while females remain hornless. Quadricorns are “mixed feeders”, meaning that they both browse and graze depending on the opportunities available. In this nation they are most numerous in the seasonal forest and scrub inland from the western coast, including that in the foothills of the mountains which they can reach through the ‘gallery forests’ along certain rivers, (although the ‘Greater’ form rarely goes that far), but also venture into both the denser ‘tropical evergeeen’ forests nearer to the sea and the wooded savannah further inland. A separate population of the Lesser Quadricorn also lives in the ‘scrub belt’ along the mountains’ eastern slopes, from which its members sometimes venture forth to feed either on the grassy heights above or in the ‘cloud forest’ below. The two larger forms were originally thought to be separate species, but recent studies using DNA indicate that this to be incorrect. Hybrids between the two types are rare, however, probably mainly because most inter-subspecies matings involve ‘Greater’ males with ‘Common’ females, and the latter tend to have problems with bearing the embryos (which are normally larger than purebred ‘Common’ ones) to term and giving birth: Hybrids may also be lesser fertile or more prone to some other health problems than purebreds of either kind, but these possibilities have not yet been studied thoroughly. An approximate ratio of relative average heights & [head+body] lengths for the three types would be 8:6:3.
The ‘Oxelope’ is purely a browser, and occurs not only in the western forests — primarily in the lusher sections of those, which tend to be nearer to the coast — but in the less swampy sections of the east’s lowland rainforest as well. Compared to the various types of Quadricorn its average values would be around ‘7’ for height but ‘9’ for [head+body] length. Both sexes have bluish-grey pelts. The DNA-based studies already mentioned suggest that it is more closely related to the RL ‘Nilgai’ than to any other member of this tribe, with that pair of species then slightly more closely related to the RL ‘Chousingha’ than to the Quadricorns. However, it is closer in its general proportions to the RL ’tragelaphine’ browsing antelopes of Africa (such as the ‘Bongo) — apart from the fact that its horns do not share the ‘spiral’ structure of theirs — than to the rather “cattle-like” Nilgai.
Tragotaurus argenteus ** = Silver, or Plains, Oxelope
This is another “Boselaphine” antelope, related to both the ‘Jungle Oxelope’ (which is its closest living relative in this land) and the ‘Quadricorns’: Like the latter, it is a “mixed feeder” (i.e. it both grazes and browses), but unlike them it spends little time inside the woods (where its pale grey colouring would make it conspicuous to predators). Instead, it does most of its browsing in the wooded savannah or along the outer edges of the woods and of patches of scrub. Additionally, like some of RL Africa’s ‘Tragelaphine’ antelopes, it uses its hooves to dig up bulbs & tubers as a further source of food. Migration in search of fresh food supplies occurs. It reaches comparable lengths to its ‘Jungle’ relative, and even greater heights than that species, but is normally a bit less heavily built so that their weights are fairly comparable. Because it cannot shelter in dense vegetation to escape predators, as most other Boselaphines do, it typically forms larger herds for mutual protection than is usual in those other species.
Parantilope magnifica** = Giant Ebon Antelope
Parantilope nigra** = Ebon Antelope
Neogazella (Neogazella) thompsonii *** = Thompson’s Gazelle, or the 'Tompi'
(This species is named after a certain ‘Thompson’ who spelled their surname with a ‘p’, whereas the similar gazelle that exists in RL Africa is named after a different ‘Thomson’ who spelled their name without a ‘p’ instead. There is an OOC literary reference involved here…)
Neogazella (Neogazella) fulva** = Sandy, or Plains, tTan Gazelle
Neogazella (Sylivgazella) brunnea** = Brown, or Bush, Gazelle
Capratragus capratragus** = Goat-gazelle, or Rockjumper
These species are members of the subfamily Antilopinae and the tribe Antilopini, whose current members on RL Earth are the ‘Blackbuck’ (genus = Antilope) of southern Asia and most of the ‘Gazelles’. The names of the first two genera listed here clearly indicate presumed relationships, but some uncertainty still exists and it remains a definite possibility that in fact all of these species — quite possibly even including the Goat-Gazelle, or Rockjumper, as well — actually belong to a single lineage whose members are more closely related to each other than any of them is to any RL stock. The two 'Antelopes' and the 'Sandy Gazelle' are almost purely grazers, and occur mainly in the open grassland west of the mountains but with the the range of the Sandy Gazelle also extending up through the less steep sections of the range’s western slopes. 'Thompson'a Gazelle' is primarily a grazer, but may also browse if & when grazing cannot yield enough food: It ranges from the wooded savanna across the open plains, and up the gentler parts of the mountains' lower of the mountains. 'The 'Brown Gazelle' is a' mixed feeder' (i.e. routinely both grazes and browses), with a range that extends into seasonal forests and the scrubby areas, and may use scrub or woodland as cover from predators: Because of this, its legs are proportionately slightly shorter than those of any of the other 'gazelle' species here. The Goat-Gazelle is also a 'mixed feeder', but occupies the heights & steeper slopes on both sides of the mountains (on both sides of the range) where -- again -- it may use isolated patches of scrub or even woodland for cover.
The two species of Antelope are somewhere between the ‘Blackbuck’ and RL Africa’s “hippotragines” (e.g. ‘Sable Antelope’, ‘Roan Antelope’) in form but with sizes comparable to the latter: In both species the males have black backs but females are all-brown, as in the RL ‘Blackbuck’ itself. Thompson's Gazelle reaches slightly larger sizes than the RL Impala, which it resembles in form, and is primarily tan in colour. The other two 'Neogazella' gazelles are a bit smaller than the Impala, and their usual colouring is actually less different from each other’s -- or form that of Thompson's Gazelle -- than their scientific names might be taken as indicating. The ‘Goat-Gazelle’ is slightly smaller than those two, with shaggier fur and proportionately smaller horns: It has proportionately narrower feet as well, but with a greater ability to move its toes separately in order to get a better grip on sloping footholds, and — as the second of its English names suggests — is quite competent at jumping accurately onto or from fairly small bits of level-enough ground.
(†) Climacoceratidae
Alticlimacoceras clavatus*, Striped Giraffe
This is a distinctly giraffe-like browser, although it uses “broken” stripes (dark brown, on a paler background) rather than more irregularly-shaped blotches for camouflage and — although this probably wouldn’t be obvious except to real experts — its [short] horns develop form a different bone in the skull. It feeds in open woodland and wooded savannah, including the outer edges of ‘gallery forests’ along rivers. It is endemic to this continent, but not to this nation alone.
Allocornus attenboroughi, *, (Attenborough’s) Allocorn
This is a shorter-necked browser, about the size of a RL Okapi, and prefers reasonably heavy woods but not rainforest. It also has striped camouflage, but in darker shades than that of its taller relative.
The genus name means “Different Horn”, and reflects the fact that not only do its adult members have more impressive horns than those of the Okapi but its adult males have noticeably more spectacular horns than do adult females (as in the now-extinct RL Prolibytherium: Take a look!).
This lineage is quite closely related to the Giraffidae, within which its members were previously classified (although usually as a distinct subfamily) for a while in RL. The fact that they survived on this continent, unlike in RL, might actually be because “true” Giraffids never arrived here to compete with them. The RL species seem all to have been relatively short-necked, like the Okapi but with more impressive horns: However, I see no reason why — in the absence of actual giraffes — the ones on this continent couldn’t have evolved in parallel to produce a long-necked species as well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The following extinct families of Artiodactyls might be represented here just by fossils:
Gelocidae
These also existed in RL. They basically resembled Chevrotain or Musk Deer, and might have been ancestral to all of the other Ruminant families apart from (the Chevrotain & its closest [all now extinct] relatives.
Paleomerycidae
These also existed in RL, too. They were larger browsers, some with horns of varying patterns, maybe less good at running than are the modern ruminants. Some taxonomist have split them into two or more separate families, maybe even with one of those endemic to this continent.
Tricorniferidae*
Endemic to this continent; typically more lightly-built than the Paleomerycids; adults had three horns, as their name indicates, with two of these on the forehead and one on the nose.
(Various fairly close relatives of the Erythrohyidae* might also be present as fossils, ranging from the size of a hare to the size of a horse, but more work on that group’s taxonomy is needed before I can list them here…)
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2.) From the order Cetacea, which is actually included within the Artiodactyla ( or ‘Cetartiodactyla’) by many zoologists today but which I prefer to list separately here:
The waters of the IDU’s world are home to populations of most species from this order that still survive (however precariously) in RL, but few endemic types. Missing here from the RL list are the ‘River Dolphins’, except for one species that is included in the “Amazonian” ecosystem acquired by central Malabra at some stage during the last half-million or so year, and most if not all of the Porpoises. Endemic species are limited (as far as I have determined so far) to several species of Porpoise and one single species of Dolphin: The latter is placed in a family of its own, Iapetidelphinidae*, and lives in waters in & around the Iapetus Sea and thence down this continent’s eastern coast — including the lower reaches of some rivers — but does not reach this nation’s waters except perhaps as a very occasional stray that has been swept west by the current…
This particular nation’s waters could have resident or visiting populations of any species that the IDU shares with RL and for which local conditions are suitable, possibly with one or more types of whale having a “breeding ground” in the seas not far to the west. It shares a species of IDU-endemic Porpoise with other nations along the continent’s southern coast.
Phocoenidae
Phocoena subtitlis = Southern Ocean Porpoise
(The name ’subtilis’refers to its “shy” nature.)
3.) From the order Myrmecoryctida*, which is endemic to this continent, the following family and species has members native to this nation:
Myrmecohyidae*
Myrmecohyus myrmecoryctes** = Ant-pig
This is the only known member (barring a few fragmentary fossils) of not just its genus but its entire Order. It is very similar in both form and lifestyle to RL Africa’s ‘Aardvark’, and was formerly classified in the same order as that animal — although already placed in a family of its own — despite its teeth not having the distinctive structure which gave that order the name ‘Tubulidentata’. However, recent studies [in both RL and the IDU] have revealed that the Aardvark is actually most closely related to several other groups of mammals that are of African origins rather than to the “true” Ungulates with which it (and several of those other groups, too) had previously been linked, whereas the ‘Ant-pig’ is indeed a close relative of the “true” Ungulates. Those same studies place the Myrmecohydiae very close to but outside (as they lack a certain “diagnostic” feature of the ankle joint) the modern order ‘Cetartiodactyla’ (i.e. Artiodactyla plus Cetacea; the latter’s last land-dwelling ancestors are now known to have possessed that distinctive ankle joint, fairly and recent DNA tests say that the Hippopotamuses are their closest living relatives). As the family thus does not fit neatly within any other already-recognized order it has been given one of its own, the ‘Myrmecoryctida’.
There are suspicions that it descended from some member of the extinct Mesonychia (the first wave of large mammalian predators, which appeared only a few million years after the [non-avian] dinosaurs became extinct — in RL, as well as the IDU — and had hooves!), as those were definitely present on this continent, but the Ant-pig’s skeleton is too specialized because of its lifestyle for anatomical comparison to be certain and no definitely Mesonychid fossils are “young” enough to yield DNA for comparison.
(In fact, before the Aardvark was reclassified as an ‘Afrotherian’, descent from a Mesonychid was what I myself suspected to have been its origin...)
4.) From the extinct order Mesonychia (formerly also called Acreodi), various species might be represented by here by fossils. Most of the species found, and some of their families, would have been endemic to this continent.
1.) From the order Artiodactyla — which, for the purposes of this list does not include the Cetaceans (whales & dolphins) even though modern studies now place them within this overall group — the following families and species have members native to this nation:
Erythrohyidae*
This family is endemic to the IDU’s southern continent & some nearby islands. Its name translates as “Red Pigs”, with the first part referring to their generally red-tinted fur, although in fact the most pig-like forms became extinct quite a long time ago due to competition from actual pigs & peccaries. They do have rather pig-like heads, including the presence of tusks, but without the bony plate in the snout that helps real pigs to dig up food items from underground.
Two branches of this family, whose members differ sufficiently from each other that they have been classified as forming two separate sub-families, survive with species still alive today. The existence of fossil forms of a clearly intermediate nature is why they aren’t classified as fully separate families. Both lineages’ surviving members live only in tropical rainforest and the other reasonably dense types of tropical or sub-tropical woodlands. All of their species possess digestive systems that are slightly more advanced than those of most “true” Pigs, although less so than those of Ruminants (c.f. from RL, in the ‘Pig’ family itself, the Babirusa of RL Sulawesi…) : Some zoologists think that slight differences between the two lines’ versions of this feature indicate that they evolved it separately in parallel rather than inherited it from a single common ancestor, but this is still under debate.
The subfamily ‘Erythrohyinae’ consists of relatively small animals (max. head+body length c.24 inches, max. height at shoulder c.18 inches) with two-toed feet and a rather more gracile build than is usual for actual pigs. They are commonly called ‘Piggles’ or ‘Hoggles’, and forage (usually individually or in pairs, except when young offspring are still accompanying their mothers, although larger groups may form temporarily where & when food is particularly plentiful) for a mixed diet that includes not only some of the higher-quality browse but also fallen fruit, fungi, invertebrates, and even the occasional small vertebrate. Thus, they fill basically the same ecological niche here that is occupied in RL Asia & Africa by the chevrotains & some of the smallest antelopes.
The other subfamily is the ‘Ipakoinae’. This contains fewer species (and has fewer individual animals alive at any one time) than does the first one. Its members are distinctly larger than Piggles at “horse-sized”, tend to have — as the species found in this nation does — mottled fur, still have four-toed feet & use all four toes when walking, have proportionately longer necks that are more ‘upright’ in orientation than those of either Piggles or true Pigs, and also have relatively long lips that are muscular enough to be projected forwards together as a short ‘trunk’ [about two-thirds as long as the rest of the head) to help gather food. They are browsers, usually foraging alone (except when young offspring are still accompany their mothers), filling a comparable role to RL Africa’s Okapi (to which they bear some resemblance in size & general shape, too) and in fact are most commonly called ‘Notanokapi’ in English. Their only genus has been given the “Latin” name of [iIpako[/i], which is obviously just ‘Okapi’ spelled backwards.
This nation’s fauna includes members of one Notanokapi species, and of three Piggle species with one of the latter — the ‘’Heights Hoggle or Hairy Hoggle’ (Erythrohus altimontanus), whose range is limited to the belts of ‘cloud forest’ and higher-altitude scrub on the upper slopes of the mountains’ eastern side — actually endemic to this nation alone. The other two species live only in lowland forests, and consist of the ‘Common Red Piggle’ (Erythrohyus erythrohyus (which lives in the ‘tropical evergreen’ forests of this nation’s western coasts, and also in both the same habitat & tropical rainforest in the lands to the west) and the ‘Southern Red Piggle’ (E. notus) (whose range extends from this nation’s tropical rainforests into comparable habitats further east).
The piggles that live in the karst terrain forming the local rainforest’s southern end comprise a distinct and endemic form, distinguishable visually due to having white rather than red fur on their snouts. It is normally classified as a subspecies of the Southern Red Piggle, under the names of ‘Karst Red Pig’ and E. notus albirostris): It may also sometimes be called the ‘White-nosed Piggle, but this is officially disapproved of by zoological authorities in certain other countries on the basis that such a name would look more appropriate for a full species instead (and maybe also on a suspicion that some people using the term are — either consciously or subconsciously — trying to exaggerate this nation’s number of endemic species…). Some researchers suggested at one stage that it was actually a subspecies of the ‘Common Red Piggle instead but a recent DNA-based study of the entire genus found that for those genes which are not common to all of its species the members of this particular population have about eight times as many that are shared with other stocks of the ‘Southern’ species alone as are shared with the ‘Common’ species alone… although it also has almost one-&-a-half times the latter number of genes that are not shared with either of its neighbours (so, around 76% vs. 09.5% vs. 14%) which indicates either a relatively high rate of evolution locally or (or “and”) hybridisation with an older endemic population that no longer exists in a ‘pure’ form. For now, though, the current classification remains the official one as far as international bodies are concerned.
Ikapo arcanus** = Notanokapi
Erythrohyus altimontanus** = Heights, or Hairy, Hoggle
Erythrohyus erythrohyus** = Common Red Piggle
Erythrohyus notus notus*** = Southern Red Piggle
Erythrohyus notus albirostris*** = Karst Red Piggle
Suidae
Sus barbaricus* = Wild Pig
This is closely comparable to its counterpart RL Europe in size and habits. It can be found in the western side’s woodland & scrub.
Notochoerus melanus cikkotoumii*** = Cikkotoumi Black Forest Hog
This is slightly smaller than the ‘Wild Pig’, on average, and lives in the rainforests of the east with its range extending well uphill into the montane rainforest but only rarely into the cloud forest.
Tayassuiidae
Notiopeccari striata** = Striped Pecccary
This occurs mainly west of the mountains, where its range extends across the more open areas of woodland, scrub, and wooded savannah, into parts of the open grassland. There is also, however, a separate population in the ‘scrub belt’ (maybe sometimes ranging into the ‘cloud forest’) on the mountains’ eastern slopes as well. Peccaries arrived on this continent from among the stocks that lived prehistorically in RL Asia, rather than from those of the RL Americas, although North America was the source of those on the IDU’s northern continent. They can compete with the Wild Pig well enough, although individually smaller, because — in addition to usually being more successful than it in the more open areas where there is less cover and less suitable food, anyway — they typically go around in larger groups.
Cervidae
“True” Deer; members of a continent-endemic “parvfamily” (a level of classification that is three steps down from ‘family’) called the Australocervirae*, whose closest RL relatives would be a parvfamily that contains the diminutive Muntjacs of RL southern & south-eastern Asia.; Austalocervire deer are generally a bit larger than muntjacs, with more complex antlers (although they’ve lost their cousins’ tusks), but are still nowhere near the Deer family’s upper limits for either of those aspects. Five species, all of which are purely browsers, have populations native to this country _
Australocervus (Torbocervus) maculatus *** = Spotted Torbeck
Australocervus (Australocervus) reevei *** = Reeve’s Torbeck
Australocervus (Australocervus) parvus notus **** = (Southern) Pygmy Torbeck
Australocervus (Amazamu) amazamu *** = Jungle Deer
Palustricervus amazamu ** = Marsh Deer
The names ‘Torbeck’ and ‘Amazamu’ are referred to by the IC taxonomist who assigned them to species as “old names, traditional on that continent”, although it is not clear who the people that he thought used those “traditional” names actually were. (OOC, assume these names to have originated in the language of a people living there whose home nation has since CTEd, with this minor detail having somehow survived the retcon that removed those nations not only from the region’s history but also IC from [almost] everybody’s memories. In fact, I really derived them from names of some RL deer that live in South America — genus Mazama, the ‘Brockets’ — which are a reasonably good comparison to these IDU species in form & lifestyle…)
Spotted Torbecks have medium-brown or reddish-brown pelts with off-white spots. They are larger in size than any of the other deer that occur here, roughly comparable to RL ‘Fallow Deer’. Their main home is ‘Tropical Evergreen’ forest along the western coast, but they extend their range into the ‘Tropical Seasonal’ forest beyond this as well when vegetation there is at its lushest after the rains have come and may also occupy parts of the ‘gallery forest’ that lines the larger rivers if these provide sufficient food & cover for their needs.
Reeve’s Torbeck (whose first name commemorates a naturalist by the surname of ‘Reeve’… not the ‘Reeves’ after whom one species of RL ‘Muntjac’ deer is named…) reaches around maximum heights & lengths approximately two-thirds those of the ‘Spotted’ species. It occupies the same habitats at this does, typically feeding at a slightly lower level, but also remains in the ‘Tropical Seasonal’ forests all through the year and may venture into the less dense areas of scrub as well. A separate population, typically slightly smaller in size than its western relatives but not classified as a distinct sub-species, occurs in the ‘scrub belt and upper edge of the ‘cloud forest’ along the mountains’ eastern slopes.
Pygmy Torbeck prefer the denser areas of either ‘Tropical Evergreen’ forest or scrub for shelter, but will also venture out of these to feed. They are relatively common in the western foothills of the mountains, but apparently have not yet spread into the eastern slopes’ ‘scrub belt’ as well. Reported sightings from the ‘Tropical Montane Rainforest’ further down those slopes remain unconfirmed by photographs or material evidence but, if correct, would probably involve members of a population that had entered this area separately from the north-east.
Jungle Deer and Marsh Deer are both residents of the rainforests in this nation’s eastern portion, preferring drier ground (including the less-steep sections of the ‘Montane’ rainforest) and the wettest areas respectively. Both are basically comparable in size to Reeve’s Torbeck, but have less complex antlers than any of the non-rainforest species.
Bovidae
This is the family that includes not only cattle but also sheep & goats, and antelopes & gazelles. It is the most recently arrived here of the Artiodactyl families.
Heliobos longicornis**, ‘Sun Ox’ or ‘Longhorn’.
This belongs to the subfamily Bovinae and the tribe Bovini. It resembles the ‘Cape Buffalo’ of RL Arica in form & habits, but has an ochre-coloured pelt rather than a black one and is probably more closely related to the now-extinct ‘Aurochs’ (the ancestor of domestic cattle) instead. It grazes, in herds, in open grassland (even on some of the less-steep sections of the mountains’ western slopes) and wooded savannah. It is endemic to this continent, but not to this nation alone.
Quadricornus major major*** = Greater Quadricorn
Quadricornus major medius*** = (Common) Quadricorn
Quadricornus minor** = Lesser, or Dwarf, Quadricorn
Taurelaphus silviitragus** = Jungle Oxelope
These antelopes belong to the subfamily Bovinae and the tribe Boselaphini, sharing the latter with RL Asia’s ‘Chousingha’ (or ‘Four-horned Antelope’) and ‘Nilgai’, In these Quadricorns, as in the Chousingha, adult males have four horns each — rather than just the two that are normal for Antelopes & Gazelles from all the other tribes — while females remain hornless. Quadricorns are “mixed feeders”, meaning that they both browse and graze depending on the opportunities available. In this nation they are most numerous in the seasonal forest and scrub inland from the western coast, including that in the foothills of the mountains which they can reach through the ‘gallery forests’ along certain rivers, (although the ‘Greater’ form rarely goes that far), but also venture into both the denser ‘tropical evergeeen’ forests nearer to the sea and the wooded savannah further inland. A separate population of the Lesser Quadricorn also lives in the ‘scrub belt’ along the mountains’ eastern slopes, from which its members sometimes venture forth to feed either on the grassy heights above or in the ‘cloud forest’ below. The two larger forms were originally thought to be separate species, but recent studies using DNA indicate that this to be incorrect. Hybrids between the two types are rare, however, probably mainly because most inter-subspecies matings involve ‘Greater’ males with ‘Common’ females, and the latter tend to have problems with bearing the embryos (which are normally larger than purebred ‘Common’ ones) to term and giving birth: Hybrids may also be lesser fertile or more prone to some other health problems than purebreds of either kind, but these possibilities have not yet been studied thoroughly. An approximate ratio of relative average heights & [head+body] lengths for the three types would be 8:6:3.
The ‘Oxelope’ is purely a browser, and occurs not only in the western forests — primarily in the lusher sections of those, which tend to be nearer to the coast — but in the less swampy sections of the east’s lowland rainforest as well. Compared to the various types of Quadricorn its average values would be around ‘7’ for height but ‘9’ for [head+body] length. Both sexes have bluish-grey pelts. The DNA-based studies already mentioned suggest that it is more closely related to the RL ‘Nilgai’ than to any other member of this tribe, with that pair of species then slightly more closely related to the RL ‘Chousingha’ than to the Quadricorns. However, it is closer in its general proportions to the RL ’tragelaphine’ browsing antelopes of Africa (such as the ‘Bongo) — apart from the fact that its horns do not share the ‘spiral’ structure of theirs — than to the rather “cattle-like” Nilgai.
Tragotaurus argenteus ** = Silver, or Plains, Oxelope
This is another “Boselaphine” antelope, related to both the ‘Jungle Oxelope’ (which is its closest living relative in this land) and the ‘Quadricorns’: Like the latter, it is a “mixed feeder” (i.e. it both grazes and browses), but unlike them it spends little time inside the woods (where its pale grey colouring would make it conspicuous to predators). Instead, it does most of its browsing in the wooded savannah or along the outer edges of the woods and of patches of scrub. Additionally, like some of RL Africa’s ‘Tragelaphine’ antelopes, it uses its hooves to dig up bulbs & tubers as a further source of food. Migration in search of fresh food supplies occurs. It reaches comparable lengths to its ‘Jungle’ relative, and even greater heights than that species, but is normally a bit less heavily built so that their weights are fairly comparable. Because it cannot shelter in dense vegetation to escape predators, as most other Boselaphines do, it typically forms larger herds for mutual protection than is usual in those other species.
Parantilope magnifica** = Giant Ebon Antelope
Parantilope nigra** = Ebon Antelope
Neogazella (Neogazella) thompsonii *** = Thompson’s Gazelle, or the 'Tompi'
(This species is named after a certain ‘Thompson’ who spelled their surname with a ‘p’, whereas the similar gazelle that exists in RL Africa is named after a different ‘Thomson’ who spelled their name without a ‘p’ instead. There is an OOC literary reference involved here…)
Neogazella (Neogazella) fulva** = Sandy, or Plains, tTan Gazelle
Neogazella (Sylivgazella) brunnea** = Brown, or Bush, Gazelle
Capratragus capratragus** = Goat-gazelle, or Rockjumper
These species are members of the subfamily Antilopinae and the tribe Antilopini, whose current members on RL Earth are the ‘Blackbuck’ (genus = Antilope) of southern Asia and most of the ‘Gazelles’. The names of the first two genera listed here clearly indicate presumed relationships, but some uncertainty still exists and it remains a definite possibility that in fact all of these species — quite possibly even including the Goat-Gazelle, or Rockjumper, as well — actually belong to a single lineage whose members are more closely related to each other than any of them is to any RL stock. The two 'Antelopes' and the 'Sandy Gazelle' are almost purely grazers, and occur mainly in the open grassland west of the mountains but with the the range of the Sandy Gazelle also extending up through the less steep sections of the range’s western slopes. 'Thompson'a Gazelle' is primarily a grazer, but may also browse if & when grazing cannot yield enough food: It ranges from the wooded savanna across the open plains, and up the gentler parts of the mountains' lower of the mountains. 'The 'Brown Gazelle' is a' mixed feeder' (i.e. routinely both grazes and browses), with a range that extends into seasonal forests and the scrubby areas, and may use scrub or woodland as cover from predators: Because of this, its legs are proportionately slightly shorter than those of any of the other 'gazelle' species here. The Goat-Gazelle is also a 'mixed feeder', but occupies the heights & steeper slopes on both sides of the mountains (on both sides of the range) where -- again -- it may use isolated patches of scrub or even woodland for cover.
The two species of Antelope are somewhere between the ‘Blackbuck’ and RL Africa’s “hippotragines” (e.g. ‘Sable Antelope’, ‘Roan Antelope’) in form but with sizes comparable to the latter: In both species the males have black backs but females are all-brown, as in the RL ‘Blackbuck’ itself. Thompson's Gazelle reaches slightly larger sizes than the RL Impala, which it resembles in form, and is primarily tan in colour. The other two 'Neogazella' gazelles are a bit smaller than the Impala, and their usual colouring is actually less different from each other’s -- or form that of Thompson's Gazelle -- than their scientific names might be taken as indicating. The ‘Goat-Gazelle’ is slightly smaller than those two, with shaggier fur and proportionately smaller horns: It has proportionately narrower feet as well, but with a greater ability to move its toes separately in order to get a better grip on sloping footholds, and — as the second of its English names suggests — is quite competent at jumping accurately onto or from fairly small bits of level-enough ground.
(†) Climacoceratidae
Alticlimacoceras clavatus*, Striped Giraffe
This is a distinctly giraffe-like browser, although it uses “broken” stripes (dark brown, on a paler background) rather than more irregularly-shaped blotches for camouflage and — although this probably wouldn’t be obvious except to real experts — its [short] horns develop form a different bone in the skull. It feeds in open woodland and wooded savannah, including the outer edges of ‘gallery forests’ along rivers. It is endemic to this continent, but not to this nation alone.
Allocornus attenboroughi, *, (Attenborough’s) Allocorn
This is a shorter-necked browser, about the size of a RL Okapi, and prefers reasonably heavy woods but not rainforest. It also has striped camouflage, but in darker shades than that of its taller relative.
The genus name means “Different Horn”, and reflects the fact that not only do its adult members have more impressive horns than those of the Okapi but its adult males have noticeably more spectacular horns than do adult females (as in the now-extinct RL Prolibytherium: Take a look!).
This lineage is quite closely related to the Giraffidae, within which its members were previously classified (although usually as a distinct subfamily) for a while in RL. The fact that they survived on this continent, unlike in RL, might actually be because “true” Giraffids never arrived here to compete with them. The RL species seem all to have been relatively short-necked, like the Okapi but with more impressive horns: However, I see no reason why — in the absence of actual giraffes — the ones on this continent couldn’t have evolved in parallel to produce a long-necked species as well.
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The following extinct families of Artiodactyls might be represented here just by fossils:
Gelocidae
These also existed in RL. They basically resembled Chevrotain or Musk Deer, and might have been ancestral to all of the other Ruminant families apart from (the Chevrotain & its closest [all now extinct] relatives.
Paleomerycidae
These also existed in RL, too. They were larger browsers, some with horns of varying patterns, maybe less good at running than are the modern ruminants. Some taxonomist have split them into two or more separate families, maybe even with one of those endemic to this continent.
Tricorniferidae*
Endemic to this continent; typically more lightly-built than the Paleomerycids; adults had three horns, as their name indicates, with two of these on the forehead and one on the nose.
(Various fairly close relatives of the Erythrohyidae* might also be present as fossils, ranging from the size of a hare to the size of a horse, but more work on that group’s taxonomy is needed before I can list them here…)
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2.) From the order Cetacea, which is actually included within the Artiodactyla ( or ‘Cetartiodactyla’) by many zoologists today but which I prefer to list separately here:
The waters of the IDU’s world are home to populations of most species from this order that still survive (however precariously) in RL, but few endemic types. Missing here from the RL list are the ‘River Dolphins’, except for one species that is included in the “Amazonian” ecosystem acquired by central Malabra at some stage during the last half-million or so year, and most if not all of the Porpoises. Endemic species are limited (as far as I have determined so far) to several species of Porpoise and one single species of Dolphin: The latter is placed in a family of its own, Iapetidelphinidae*, and lives in waters in & around the Iapetus Sea and thence down this continent’s eastern coast — including the lower reaches of some rivers — but does not reach this nation’s waters except perhaps as a very occasional stray that has been swept west by the current…
This particular nation’s waters could have resident or visiting populations of any species that the IDU shares with RL and for which local conditions are suitable, possibly with one or more types of whale having a “breeding ground” in the seas not far to the west. It shares a species of IDU-endemic Porpoise with other nations along the continent’s southern coast.
Phocoenidae
Phocoena subtitlis = Southern Ocean Porpoise
(The name ’subtilis’refers to its “shy” nature.)
3.) From the order Myrmecoryctida*, which is endemic to this continent, the following family and species has members native to this nation:
Myrmecohyidae*
Myrmecohyus myrmecoryctes** = Ant-pig
This is the only known member (barring a few fragmentary fossils) of not just its genus but its entire Order. It is very similar in both form and lifestyle to RL Africa’s ‘Aardvark’, and was formerly classified in the same order as that animal — although already placed in a family of its own — despite its teeth not having the distinctive structure which gave that order the name ‘Tubulidentata’. However, recent studies [in both RL and the IDU] have revealed that the Aardvark is actually most closely related to several other groups of mammals that are of African origins rather than to the “true” Ungulates with which it (and several of those other groups, too) had previously been linked, whereas the ‘Ant-pig’ is indeed a close relative of the “true” Ungulates. Those same studies place the Myrmecohydiae very close to but outside (as they lack a certain “diagnostic” feature of the ankle joint) the modern order ‘Cetartiodactyla’ (i.e. Artiodactyla plus Cetacea; the latter’s last land-dwelling ancestors are now known to have possessed that distinctive ankle joint, fairly and recent DNA tests say that the Hippopotamuses are their closest living relatives). As the family thus does not fit neatly within any other already-recognized order it has been given one of its own, the ‘Myrmecoryctida’.
There are suspicions that it descended from some member of the extinct Mesonychia (the first wave of large mammalian predators, which appeared only a few million years after the [non-avian] dinosaurs became extinct — in RL, as well as the IDU — and had hooves!), as those were definitely present on this continent, but the Ant-pig’s skeleton is too specialized because of its lifestyle for anatomical comparison to be certain and no definitely Mesonychid fossils are “young” enough to yield DNA for comparison.
(In fact, before the Aardvark was reclassified as an ‘Afrotherian’, descent from a Mesonychid was what I myself suspected to have been its origin...)
4.) From the extinct order Mesonychia (formerly also called Acreodi), various species might be represented by here by fossils. Most of the species found, and some of their families, would have been endemic to this continent.