Indigallop

In Vivus, bubbleskins such as the bubblewraptor were the main threats. Being large pack hunters, these particular predatory shrews put large evolutionary pressures on the frilled greenscales. Since they lacked any real weapons to fight off these bubbleskins, the only real option for these verdanidermids was to flee. To better run from these carnivores, some populations of frilled greenscales became smaller and developed longer legs to move more quickly. Among other changes, this would lead to the evolution of the indigallop, who would split off from their ancestors to become fleet-footed herbivores.

Though it shares its range with the argeiphlock in the Vivus Rocky biome, it avoids competition by being less selective on what the species consumes. So while the argeiphlock feeds more selectively on flora parts that are more nutritious, an indigallop will just consume the whole thing. Their powerful wooden beaks allow the indigallop to crush tough flora so they can be more easily digested. The indigallop also still gets some of their energy from the photosynthetic scales that cover their whole bodies, though the scales have incorporated a large amount of anthocyanin within their tissues which allows them to blend in with the abundant purpleflora which helps them avoid being detected by potential predators.

The legs of the indigallop are noticeably longer and the whole body is leaner overall. This helps save weight and so they can move faster, while the longer legs mean a larger stride for their body size so they cover more ground compared to their ancestor. The two hooves on each foot help with both navigating rocky terrain and providing better traction as they run. The Indigallop has also, however, developed additional defenses that aid it when running away doesn't work. This includes large wooden spurs on their hind legs so which can deliver powerful kicks at anything behind them while the thorns around the tip of their butt-nostril have become larger and more robust and are used to smack attackers.

Much like their ancestors, the indigallop has a frill on both sexes, with males having bright colors on said frill to help attract mates. Males also not only have a larger cheek spike than females, but also have developed a second cheek spike. Unlike their ancestors, however, males do not use these spikes to fight each other and instead only use the four cheek spikes to show their health, age, and overall fitness to mates or rivals. While females lack the second pair of cheek spikes and their only pair of cheek spikes are slightly smaller, both sexes do occasionally use these spikes to gore an attacker from the side so it has become larger overall than their ancestor.

As the indigallop travels in herds that wander around the landscape as they spend most of their time feeding and watching out for danger, youngsters need to be able to keep up from the beginning. Because of this, female indigallops only typically give birth to one youngster at a time. Though they occasionally give birth to twins, one often is underdeveloped and so only one of them usually survives to adulthood. By having less young overall, the indigallop can give the calf more time and resources to develop, so they can run with the mother within a few minutes after being born. Male indigallops spend less time caring for one individual female and her calf since the baby is more developed and thus needs less intensive care and so they now spend more of their time guarding a small group of females overall. The herds of an indigallop can be relatively defined as an aggregation of small groups which in turn consist of a sexually mature male guarding his group of females and their young. Male indigallops will tolerate one another in these herds as long as none of them try to make a move on the other’s females, with any caught doing so often getting attacked by the male guarding that specific group of females. Any male indigallop will try to obtain more breeding females in their group when possible, and will try to do this either by challenging a male guarding a different group or sneaking into the group and trying to woo a female into mating with them. Males who do not guard any groups of females often come together into bachelor groups, which travel separately from the large herds. The males in these bachelor groups are often much less on guard with one another since there are no females in these groups for them to steal/guard. Once a young indigallop becomes around 1 and a half years old, they will leave their family group to join other ones or make their own.

Due to their adaptations for speed, better defenses like weapons and camouflage, and their more generalistic diet, the indigallop has caused the frilled greenscale to decline in the areas they coexist until they eventually died out. Now the frilled greenscale only persists in the High Deserts of Vivus, where the indigallop does not live due to the arid landscape not providing enough flora for them to make a living. The indigallop also travels into the Vivus Alpine during the warm summer months to take advantage of abundant flora growth such as pioneeroots and crystal swordgrass, but they must head back down into neighboring biomes when the alpine winter arrives since they would not survive the bitter cold it brings with it.