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Description

Snagglefingers are a group of odd-looking, elongate tentaculopods that inhabit plants or ground litter. They are exclusively carnivorous, mostly capturing prey as camouflaged ambush predators, with an offshoot being specialized for searching hidden prey in bark crevices. Snagglefingers will sit motionlessly in a place, anchored with their two hind leg pairs and a front body either extended or curled. If they notice any small enough animal moving by, they will use their front legs armed with long, hooked claws and sucker-bearing pads to capture it, their strong jaws set on a slender rostrum allowing them to get in between the armour plates of other tentaculopods. Their eyesight is well-developed and the forward-facing eyes allow them to gauge distances well; some species are fast enough to catch pneumonopteres in flight. Some species will produce scents to attract prey or visually imitate a food source.

When not waiting for prey to move by, snagglefingers move in a fashion similar to inchworms, due to their elongate middle segments having lost their limbs not allowing for a normal walking method. Males are smaller than females and will visually court them well out of striking distance. Eggs are laid in crevices; the juveniles of generalist species resemble adults in appearance and lifestyle, while specialists can look very different throughout their life cycle.

Northern probeworm: A mostly nocturnal species that searches bark crevices for hidden prey rather than being an ambush predator. Accordingly, the front body is slender and flexible, eyesight is not as good while the sensory tentacles have become longer to feel and smell their way ahead in the darkness. The front legs are long and flexible, with tiny claws but strong suckers to pull prey from crevices their heads cannot reach into.

Description

Snagglefingers are a group of odd-looking, elongate tentaculopods that inhabit plants or ground litter. They are exclusively carnivorous, mostly capturing prey as camouflaged ambush predators, with an offshoot being specialized for searching hidden prey in bark crevices. Snagglefingers will sit motionlessly in a place, anchored with their two hind leg pairs and a front body either extended or curled. If they notice any small enough animal moving by, they will use their front legs armed with long, hooked claws and sucker-bearing pads to capture it, their strong jaws set on a slender rostrum allowing them to get in between the armour plates of other tentaculopods. Their eyesight is well-developed and the forward-facing eyes allow them to gauge distances well; some species are fast enough to catch pneumonopteres in flight. Some species will produce scents to attract prey or visually imitate a food source.

When not waiting for prey to move by, snagglefingers move in a fashion similar to inchworms, due to their elongate middle segments having lost their limbs not allowing for a normal walking method. Males are smaller than females and will visually court them well out of striking distance. Eggs are laid in crevices; the juveniles of generalist species resemble adults in appearance and lifestyle, while specialists can look very different throughout their life cycle.

Northern probeworm: A mostly nocturnal species that searches bark crevices for hidden prey rather than being an ambush predator. Accordingly, the front body is slender and flexible, eyesight is not as good while the sensory tentacles have become longer to feel and smell their way ahead in the darkness. The front legs are long and flexible, with tiny claws but strong suckers to pull prey from crevices their heads cannot reach into.