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Description
Another inhabitant of the Laurentian desert. The rockswallower burrows through the sand, occasionally emerging to devour unsuspecting sand striders.

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IX. At the Edge of the World (part 4)

Solenotheria is another typhlotherian clade that deserves a special mention. Closely related or even nested within Entomotheria, these creatures have a long tube-shaped body with reduced limbs and tail. Most species are between 3 and 15 cm long. They burrow through the sand, constantly swallowing and expelling it through the gut, immediately closing the tunnel behind themselves. Their intestine is short, protected by thick mucus, and relatively straightforward to grant sand an easy passage. Meanwhile, the unicellular algae, fungine hyphae and burrowing shorebugs are caught and retained by pharyngal cilia to be digested. Their passage helps air and moisture to circulate through the ground, sustaining what little life is found there.
While most Solenotheria are small, there are exceptions, and the rockswallower (Chthoniothauma darreni) is by far the most impressive one. Up to 4 m long, this animal burrows through loose sand, which is swallowed and stored in a rectal chamber for periodic expulsion. Paddle-like front limbs with broad nails push the body forward as the huge jaws cut through the ground. Of course, such a creature cannot be sustained by the little organic matter found in the sand; rather, it resorts to hunting animals of the surface.
The rockswallower's sense of smell is powerful, but not as much as its hearing. Uncountable small bristles all over its body receive and amplify the vibrations through the sand produced by the movement of sand striders and other wildlife of the surface. Being distributed on all the length of the body, they allow an effective triangulation of the source of the vibrations. The rockswallower can thus spring out of the ground with a movement of its powerful forelimbs.
They tend to be found in the relatively damp northern reaches of the desert, where rain is not so rare, and where scrublands covers the dunes and surrounds shallow ponds. Sand striders frequent these ponds to drink, and then rockswallowers might jump out of the ground to crush their slender body in their monstrous jaws. The teeth are huge, and fused together in a scissor-like structure. The braincase is smaller than one would suppose: most of the volume of the head is taken by the jaws and by the powerful muscles that control them.
Rockswallowers breed all around the year. They release pheromones that facilitate meeting; copulation occurs above the ground (late at night, so that their skin is not burned by sunlight), and pregnancy lasts less than a month, surprising for a being of such a size.
The laurentian desert is not a kind environment, but it offers just enough resources that even its expanses of burning sand can be teeming with life - if one knows where to look for it.

Description
Another inhabitant of the Laurentian desert. The rockswallower burrows through the sand, occasionally emerging to devour unsuspecting sand striders.

___

IX. At the Edge of the World (part 4)

Solenotheria is another typhlotherian clade that deserves a special mention. Closely related or even nested within Entomotheria, these creatures have a long tube-shaped body with reduced limbs and tail. Most species are between 3 and 15 cm long. They burrow through the sand, constantly swallowing and expelling it through the gut, immediately closing the tunnel behind themselves. Their intestine is short, protected by thick mucus, and relatively straightforward to grant sand an easy passage. Meanwhile, the unicellular algae, fungine hyphae and burrowing shorebugs are caught and retained by pharyngal cilia to be digested. Their passage helps air and moisture to circulate through the ground, sustaining what little life is found there.
While most Solenotheria are small, there are exceptions, and the rockswallower (Chthoniothauma darreni) is by far the most impressive one. Up to 4 m long, this animal burrows through loose sand, which is swallowed and stored in a rectal chamber for periodic expulsion. Paddle-like front limbs with broad nails push the body forward as the huge jaws cut through the ground. Of course, such a creature cannot be sustained by the little organic matter found in the sand; rather, it resorts to hunting animals of the surface.
The rockswallower's sense of smell is powerful, but not as much as its hearing. Uncountable small bristles all over its body receive and amplify the vibrations through the sand produced by the movement of sand striders and other wildlife of the surface. Being distributed on all the length of the body, they allow an effective triangulation of the source of the vibrations. The rockswallower can thus spring out of the ground with a movement of its powerful forelimbs.
They tend to be found in the relatively damp northern reaches of the desert, where rain is not so rare, and where scrublands covers the dunes and surrounds shallow ponds. Sand striders frequent these ponds to drink, and then rockswallowers might jump out of the ground to crush their slender body in their monstrous jaws. The teeth are huge, and fused together in a scissor-like structure. The braincase is smaller than one would suppose: most of the volume of the head is taken by the jaws and by the powerful muscles that control them.
Rockswallowers breed all around the year. They release pheromones that facilitate meeting; copulation occurs above the ground (late at night, so that their skin is not burned by sunlight), and pregnancy lasts less than a month, surprising for a being of such a size.
The laurentian desert is not a kind environment, but it offers just enough resources that even its expanses of burning sand can be teeming with life - if one knows where to look for it.