Mirageboks

The original miragebok

Mirageboks were various tripedal, herbivorous, superficially deer- or horse-like caudopodosaurs descended from the Miragebok.

Though capeyes and capiris are descended from mirageboks, they are not traditionally included due to their bipedal gait and divergent morphology. Therefore, mirageboks are an evolutionary grade which excludes the Roaming Capoo and its descendants. Basal mirageboks were wiped out by the gamma ray burst, but their divergent descendants survived all the way to the end of the Bloodian period. Their closest living relatives are dwellers and shrews.

The Browsing Capoo (not a true capoo, despite its name) was the largest of the basal mirageboks.

Description

The Horned Miragebok lived in herds and used its horn to defend itself from predators.

Mirageboks were typically cursorial herbivores. They somewhat resembled roamers, which they are closely related to, though they lacked a long trunk, their hind pair of limbs was far more vestigial (even being lost in some species), and their tail was modified to be far more leg-like than in their relatives. Having never evolved ears, they were deaf and primarily communicated using color-changing displays.

The Crested Miragebok used its hind legs like a pair of tails to keep its balance while running.

Most mirageboks were grazers and all of them lived in herds. They were present in both Glicker and Wright, their common ancestor having evolved before the supercontinent split. Some species evolved horns and crests for communication, intraspecific combat, and defense against predators. The island-dwelling Dwarf Miragebok modified its previously vestigial hind legs into sexual display structures.

The Dwarf Miragebok, native to Ovi Island, is an example of insular dwarfism.

Mirageboks constructed nests and laid hard-shelled eggs.

Arsinoe's Miragebok was the last new species of basal miragebok to ever evolve before they were wiped out by the gamma ray burst.

Extinction and Legacy

All basal mirageboks were wiped out by the gamma ray burst during the Martykian period. However, they left surviving descendants in the form of capeyes and capiris, which had avoided death by radiation through cave-dwelling representatives. While these would ultimately not survive to the present day, with capeyes being wiped out by an impact event and capiris dying at the end of the snowball event, they had a good run and achieved much higher diversity than their tripedal ancestors ever did.