Introduction to Extinct Fauna

Sagan 4 is home to many groups of fauna both living and extinct, and for a newcomer just starting to explore its diverse array of biota, knowing where to start can be difficult. Extant groups are introduced in the Introduction to Extant Fauna, however Sagan 4 also has many extinct groups worth covering.

This page includes both natural clades and evolutionary grades.

=Up to GRB= These organisms became extinct either before, during, or shortly after the gamma ray burst in generation 100.

Phants
Phants were a noteworthy offshoot of bearhogs which resembled elephants and tapirs with two trunks. They became extinct as a result of the gamma ray burst, except for the cavehogs, which silently died out only a few million years later.

Basal Eastern Saucebacks
Before relatively recent times, saucebacks were roughly divided between eastern and western saucebacks, with the eastern clade being the ancestors of modern forms. Prior to the gamma ray burst, featherless eastern saucebacks were common apex predators on the Wright supercontinent.

Dromaeocanid Shrews
Dromaeocanids were a branch of shrew which resembled bipedal wolves or hyenas. Though they only existed for a short amount of time, and died out slightly before the gamma ray burst, at the time they evolved they had the longest line of ancestry of any species and they have had a lasting impact on Sagan 4 as a whole.

Non-Capoo Mirageboks
Mirageboks were a grade of herbivorous caudopods which somewhat resembled deer on three legs. Though all basal, three-legged mirageboks died out as a result of the gamma ray burst, they were survived by the bipedal capoos.

Roamers
Roamers were a lineage of tripedal caudopods with long trunks which carried their eggs under their bellies using their hindlimbs. They are notable for having produced a sapient species, the nomad.

All roamers became extinct as a result of the gamma ray burst.

Non-Azelemur Azelaks
Azelaks were a branch of caudopods which didn't walk on their tails and had color-changing fur. Most of them became extinct as a result of the gamma ray burst, but they were survived by the azelemurs.

Many azelaks were herbivorous, but they also produced a branch of raptor-like forms with long hand claws.

=Up to Ice Comet= These organisms were still kicking after the gamma ray burst, but died out before, as a result of, or shortly after the ice comet impact event.

Western Saucebacks
Western saucebacks were the primarily ambush-hunting saucebacks which lived on the Glicker supercontinent. They had naked skin and four toothy jaws, as well as an extra limb segment which is internal in their eastern counterparts. They all became extinct as a result of the ice comet impact event, leaving no descendants.

Azelemurs
The last of the azelaks were the lemur-like azelemurs. They held out for quite some time after the gamma ray burst, but ultimately, their large size and arboreal habits were their undoing when the ice comet struck.

Snowkys and Crymaids
=Through the Ice Age= The ice age was a major geologic period in its own right, lasting 37.5 million years with a whopping 12.5 million year snowball event in its center, resulting in the extinction of countless groups that had made it through the previous extinction events.

Beach Saucebacks
Beach saucebacks were a branch of saucebacks with an infrared sensor upon their forehead. The group is also characterized by the scutes that covered their bodies, having derived from feathers. They consisted of the dagger saucebacks, which had bladed sauce plates, and the scorpion saucebacks, which had arched tails and sharp tail spikes. The scorpion saucebacks remarkably survived the global glaciation, but they did not make it to the end.

Pre-Ice Age Wingworms
Of special note are the wingworms, which left many survivors that live to this day, but still lost most of their diversity as a direct result of the ice age, which was the only mass extinction of wingworms in Sagan 4 history.

=Post-Ice Age= These organisms died out after the ice age for some reason or another, mostly habitat loss from shrinking polar regions and rising sea levels.