Cottoncoats
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Cottoncoats are a group of plents derived from gulpers distinguished by their fuzzy integument. They are the only living gulpers.
Biology
Cottoncoats are endothermic obligate bipeds with a full body covering of "plent cotton". They inherit a woody dome upon their head from their ancestors, though it has been lost in some groups.
As tasertongue gulpers, most cottoncoats have the ability to produce electricity from their tongues using modified muscles, similar to an electric eel. Much like many of Earth's electric creatures, this only works if this is moisture—so they use their own saliva. This ability can be used for defense or to stun prey.
Unlike most plents which urinate through their skin, cottoncoats have a dedicated structure resembling a well-formed marsupium with a sphincter on their underside, which functions as a bladder.
Reproduction
As plents, gulpers give live birth through their mouths, limiting how large their offspring can be. Some species will bend and deform their jaws during birth to accommodate larger babies.
Behavior
Intelligence
Cottoncoats are among Sagan IV's smartest fauna, and many species use tools. This makes sense when one considers that they are the sister group to the sagon, which is a sophont species. Fire-starting and cooking behavior is also exhibited by some species, through use of the electric tongue to generate a spark.
History
Cottoncoats first appeared during the early ice age in the Yannickian period, adapting to the growing tundras by gaining their namesake feature. As the only gulpers with insulatory integument, this saved them from the global glaciation which wiped out all of their relatives. Following the end of the ice age, they were dispersed mostly in Drake and Darwin, where they diversified into many new forms.
The rise of shrogs in the bonoian period indirectly caused Darwinian cottoncoats to disperse to other landmasses. This has led to the emergence of a group endemic to Lamarck.