Shovel-Headed Lizardworm

The shovel-headed lizardworm has split from the lizardworm. It spends most of its life tunneling through the soil and sand of Hydro Volcanic. Its head has evolved into a shovel shape, aiding its movement underground. Its main source of food comes from the roots of the cardiograss, which it sniffs out using a highly evolved sense of smell. It uses its front claws (which are the only legs that have survived from its ancestors) to cut into the lush roots, and it then eats the nutrient-rich fibers. A single shovel-head can spend up to two weeks slowly eating the roots of a single plant. When the breeding season comes, individuals each find a cardiograss plant and lay up to 20 eggs inside. The parent protects the plant from others. The plant protects the eggs (which hatch within a week) and provides enough food for the parent to protect its young until they are big enough to leave. This takes around two weeks, by which time the young may only be a couple of centimeters long. The Shovel-Head will also eat anything else it finds, such as carrion or plant matter. Sometimes, like an Earth crocodile, the shovel-head will hide in the sand with only its eyes poking out. It will strike when a suitably sized prey wanders past, but it will only resort to this in desperate times.