Mikuks

With fauna in their ant-like size range lacking, Mikuks split from their ancestor and claimed the wide-open small-scale scavenging and detritivore niches. They are so small that they hatch incredibly fast, allowing them to reproduce in practically any standing water at all. This has allowed them to thrive in regions with less water than their ancestors could. With their dietary habits including detritivory, they have easily spread to islands and continents all over Sagan 4 by way of rafting on the very dead flora they consume.

The Mikuks’ tooth is serrated and used to cut through carcasses and detritus so that the food may be more easily stuffed in their small mouth which has moved to the base of the tooth. They can rest on their tail for stability, though usually prefer to walk or hop on two legs, and the hand at the end of the tail makes an effective grasper as needed. Unlike their ancestors, they hatch with mostly adult proportions, though they still offer parental care and will assist their offspring if they get trapped by surface tension and other threats of the small world. Their upper claws are relatively small in many species, mainly being used for climbing and pulling food towards their faces, though some species may make use of longer claws for self-defense

With their small size and fast reproductive rate, Mikuks speciate readily and it would be impossible to describe their thousands of species individually. In general, temperate and polar species will hibernate underground or under leaf litter over winter to avoid freezing to death. Desert species, too, often spend much of their time underground; some are nocturnal or crepuscular to avoid the heat of day, while others spend their whole lives in burrows and only appear during rainstorms. A handful of incredibly specialized species can live on ice, such as snowy peaks, depending heavily on antifreeze proteins to not die. Coloration of a given species usually corresponds to the color of the local soil or leaf litter.