Honey Toadtuga

The honey toadtuga split from its ancestor, the thorny toadtuga. After spreading out throughout Dixon-Darwin’s waterways, there were all kinds of opportunities for the toadtugas to further spread throughout the continent. Among these opportunities, the easiest to take on were the rainforests. When some thorny toadtugas started to move further into the rainforests, they found themselves feeding on more terrestrial invertebrates including vermees and xenobees. Though as they fed on Xenobees, they began to follow them up in the trees; in order to do this, they have evolved stronger and more dextrous fingers that allow it to better grip on foliage and climb around. The rearmost eyes also face upwards to look out for flying predators and to follow any of its flying prey,

After doing so, they also started to feed on what gives the honey toadtuga its name, xenobee honey. To help them further with feeding on xenobee honey, the honey toadtuga’s nostrils have moved further back from its snout, allowing it to continue feeding and be able to breathe. Eating this substance gave the honey toadtuga a much better advantage than its ancestor had by providing it with an extra source of energy that allowed it to travel longer distances without direct water sources. However, they are still restricted to the rainforests for their humidity and they must lay their eggs in the various nearby waterways.

In order to secure their rights to mate with females, the male honey toadtuga evolved a helmet plate with a horn on the end of it, while the female only has the helmet plate. This also doubles as a means of giving the honey toadtuga some protection against the stinging xenobees. Once the rival is defeated the male can mate with the female in the water where she deposits her eggs, and they reproduce much like how Earth’s frogs externally fertilize their eggs. Adults play no part in raising young; thus the tadpoles must fend for themselves when they hatch. Unlike its ancestor, the honey toadtuga does not hibernate at all, due to the warmer temperatures of its new rainforest home.