Thorndillo

The thorndillo replaced its ancestor the snapjaw thornback. Due to high predation and increased competition it got smaller to reduce the amount of food it needed to survive. Then it specified to eat the various hard to digest glassflora species. In addition old mutations from its distant ancestor the tileback began to appear again such as its protective back armor and dewlap on its neck. Its back spines now run all long it body to continue to protect it from predators. And its cyan coloration is there to help it blend in amongst the glassflora it eats. Like its ancestor they form large nesting colonies made up of many pairs. They have a species specific cryobowl symbiont in which they lay their eggs and actively spread their symbiont by eating its fruit during the mating and child rearing season. Mating colonies form around naturally occurring patches of this cryobowl and are expanded by generations of thorndillos. They will remain within the mating colonies until the larva reach metamorphosis. Intruders are chased off with snaps from their beaks and swipes of their claws.