10-14-2019, 07:19 PM
Mammals: other ‘Eutheria’
1.) From the order (†) Anagalida, one family could have one or two species native to this nation. This order formerly existed on RL Earth as well, but seems to have become extinct in that ‘Reality’ quite early on during the “Age of Mammals”. Its closest living relatives are the Rodents and the Lagomorphs, although those other two orders are more closely related to each other than they are to this one. It is another group whose arrival or initial evolution in the IDU’s world occurred on the then-isolated ‘Malabra’ and that took advantage of the low level of competition from other Eutherians there to diversify into a wider range of ecological niches than its RL members managed to occupy. Four families still survive in & around Malabra today, although two of those have seen their ranges considerably reduced during the last two million or so years, but only one of these — which happens also to be one of the pair that are still reasonably successful on that side of the sea — has spread onto the southern continent as well.
Erinaceovenatoridae
The name of this family means “Hedgehog-hunters”, but instead of referring to their diet it refers to their form & lifestyle: They quite closely resemble RL’s spiny ‘Hedgehogs’ in general appearance, range of sizes, typical diet, and — except for the fact that they sometimes excavate burrows for shelter — habits. (The IDU’s northern continent has “real” hedgehogs too, with a wider range than these, but they have never entered the southern continent…) From the RL hedgehogs’ traditional alternative name [in England] of ‘Urchins’, I propose that we give these local substitutes for them the common name of ’Urchlings. Those on the southern continent all belong to a specific tribe, which can be distinguished from the others not only genetically but also because the third & fourth toes on each of their feet have fused into a single stronger digit. (Name for this tribe to follow…)
They are probably descended from something very like the RL fossil genus Anagale, which lived in what is now China, whose members were basically rabbit-shaped (although with longer tails) but seem to have fed on worms & insects that they dug up from underground.
(under work)
1.) From the order (†) Anagalida, one family could have one or two species native to this nation. This order formerly existed on RL Earth as well, but seems to have become extinct in that ‘Reality’ quite early on during the “Age of Mammals”. Its closest living relatives are the Rodents and the Lagomorphs, although those other two orders are more closely related to each other than they are to this one. It is another group whose arrival or initial evolution in the IDU’s world occurred on the then-isolated ‘Malabra’ and that took advantage of the low level of competition from other Eutherians there to diversify into a wider range of ecological niches than its RL members managed to occupy. Four families still survive in & around Malabra today, although two of those have seen their ranges considerably reduced during the last two million or so years, but only one of these — which happens also to be one of the pair that are still reasonably successful on that side of the sea — has spread onto the southern continent as well.
Erinaceovenatoridae
The name of this family means “Hedgehog-hunters”, but instead of referring to their diet it refers to their form & lifestyle: They quite closely resemble RL’s spiny ‘Hedgehogs’ in general appearance, range of sizes, typical diet, and — except for the fact that they sometimes excavate burrows for shelter — habits. (The IDU’s northern continent has “real” hedgehogs too, with a wider range than these, but they have never entered the southern continent…) From the RL hedgehogs’ traditional alternative name [in England] of ‘Urchins’, I propose that we give these local substitutes for them the common name of ’Urchlings. Those on the southern continent all belong to a specific tribe, which can be distinguished from the others not only genetically but also because the third & fourth toes on each of their feet have fused into a single stronger digit. (Name for this tribe to follow…)
They are probably descended from something very like the RL fossil genus Anagale, which lived in what is now China, whose members were basically rabbit-shaped (although with longer tails) but seem to have fed on worms & insects that they dug up from underground.
(under work)