Nodent
Nodents are a type of plent. Most of them bear a pair of large incisors protruding from the top jaw.
Anatomy
Nodents typically have four limbs. They have large wooden incisors, which have been modified into beaks in some species. Like other members of Phylaura, they have four eyes, as well as pinnae derived from the leaves which are ancestral to plents. Unlike most plents, the tail and butt nostril of most nodents are separated, with the nostril rising from the rump as a snorkel-like structure. They generally have multiple clawed toes.
Similar to other plents, nodent teeth, claws, and bones are all made of wood. Their muscles and skin also contain significant amounts of cellulose. Their reproductive organs are on the throat, though in some eusocial species the womb is extended along the chest and underbelly. They have a blind gut, meaning they have no anus and must regurgitate their waste.
Behavior
The earliest nodents were small and quick herbivores and omnivores which laid low and reproduced quickly in the face of predation. Many nodents are social and vocal, producing squeaking sounds from their butt nostril.
One line of nodents descended from the noants, sometimes called "gundis", began to form colonies and become eusocial like Earth ants. They often have complex social structures with multiple castes, and they are capable of farming shrooms.
Breathing & Blood
Like all mobile land plents, nodents breathe out their "butt-nostril". They breathe in carbon dioxide just like plants on Earth. Nodents have green blood from the chlorophyll that remains in it.
Diet & Energy
Many nodents tend to be herbivores or omnivores, but some branches, such as the nizzards, became totally carnivorous. Herbivores use the large incisors nodents are known for to clip or crunch plants, while the nizzards and the pillnibble use them for cutting or slicing.
Evolution
All Nodents are descended from the Notooth, which first appeared in week 10. Though the earliest nodents were very small, they are actually descended from megafauna—only two grades behind in their evolution lies the Nobomaton, which is nearly 2 meters tall at the shoulder. Their ancestors were preyed on by large carnivores such as early saucebacks; becoming smaller allowed the nodents to evade these more easily as well as reproduce more quickly, but at the cost of exposing them to smaller predators such as early shrews.
Early Forms
Early on, nodents produced a diverse radiation of forms, such as nice, neavers, nizzards, noggers, geistrats, gundis, pillnibbles, and grasschompers. These spread all over eastern Glicker, and some even made their way to Huggs and Yokto islands.
This gallery shows early nodent diversity:
Post-Gammaray Nodents
Unlike most other fauna of the time, nodents got through the gamma-ray burst disaster in week 15 with proportionally few losses. Although neavers, grasschompers, and pillnibbles were wiped out, the other morphological types of nodent all had surviving representatives. In the time that followed, beginning in week 16, nodents began to diversify again, soon producing the pipents.
In week 17, nodents exploded in diversity, particularly gundis and pipents. Megafaunal forms such as totoros appeared. Fully aquatic pipents, the nailfins, evolved and rapidly conquered the oceans using flippers derived from the wooden claws of their extremely polydactyl feet. The first true wargrats also appeared. Pollinating nodents, the nectarlings, also appeared. Nearly every habitat in Glicker had at least one species of nodent. They continued to diversify and spread into week 18, producing fantastic forms such as monopods, nizzards that walked with their ears, and giant hadrosaur-like pipents. Some smaller nodents, such as the notox, became poisonous.
This gallery shows the diversity of nodents from this time period:
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Corpse-Bearing Pipent, which was also the first pipent.
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Nodents After the Ice Comet
When the ice comet impact event occurred in week 19, megafaunal nodents as well as the nectarlings were wiped out. However, like with the gamma-ray burst beforehand, most groups had smaller forms that easily survived and bounced back from this setback. In fact, noggers in particular diversified rapidly into new "nogbarrel" forms. In week 20, as Glicker split into Darwin and Drake, nailfins reclaimed the entire ocean and terrestrial nodents were found nearly all over both landmasses. The largest nodent to ever live, the Striped Nailfin, appeared. Some nailfins, descended from the Leatherback Pipent, even returned to land, converting their flippers back into legs by only walking on the first few toes and using their wrists and ankles as elbows and knees.
At the start of the ice age in Week 21, marine nodents—the nailfins—took a hit. However, despite habitat loss, nodents as a group persisted with minimal losses. They even produced warm-blooded forms with downy pelts. Their post-glaciation future seemed bright. Or, at the very least, it did until the snowball event occurred.
This gallery shows the diversity of nodents during this period:
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Striped Nailfin, the biggest nodent to ever live.
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Icy Armageddon
Initially, nodents adapted very well to the globally glaciated conditions in week 22, with most groups having surviving representatives, although nizzards did not survive. However, a deadly plague swept through nodent populations, wiping out a significant portion of them in Drake. Many nodents still survived this deadly event and continued to produce new forms, most notably including the Genteel Tuskent, a secondarily terrestrial descendant of nailfins which was domesticated by the unrelated sapient Tripodician. However, when the second solar flare occurred, nearly all remaining nodents were wiped out. The vast majority of surviving nodents by this point were megafauna, which were unable to cope with the intense blast of heat which swept over the planet. Even among those which were not megafauna, such as the Ambush Ghastrett, their former home in the salt flats was also destroyed by the rapidly rising sea levels. In fact, the only nodent living on the surface that survived was the Genteel Tuskent, which outlived its masters and became feral as a result of selective breeding producing smaller forms, though its descendants would proceed to become incredibly rare and elusive for millions of years. The only other nodents which survived this armageddon were small populations of gundis and wargrats which lived in the Ferret and Badger limestone caverns, respectively.
This gallery shows a selection of nodents which appeared during the snowball event:
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Genteel Tuskent, a domesticated species
Recovery and Modern Nodents
As the ice receded in week 23, gundis emerged from Ferret Limestone Caverns and began to diversify. Badger Limestone Caverns were still sealed off, preventing the nodents living there from emerging. However, this changed with the formation of the Envious Eye, which allowed a single species of wargrat—the trogagon—to emerge. The trogagon then produced the cragagon, which became the last common ancestor of what are considered "modern" nodents.
As the glaciers vanished and the tropics returned in week 24, nodents diversified rapidly all over Darwin and Vivus. From the surviving gundis came more advanced eusocial forms, such as the Undergroundi and the Hangerundi which have strong morphological distinctions between queen and worker. They also produced a larger, more traditionally nodent-like forms, especially descended from the Handlicker Dundi. Meanwhile, the cragagon produced such forms as barkbacks and, in week 25, Zirabers. Unlike many other fauna of the time, nodents were hardly affected by the rising sea levels. When the supercontinent formed in week 26, they were even able to spread to Dixon. Today, they are found all over the supercontinent, though relic populations descended from the Genteel Tuskent remain extant in Drake and Fermi. However, nodents as a whole have not yet returned to their former diversity.
This gallery shows the diversity of modern nodents:
Locomotion
The majority of nodents are quadrupeds, but bipedal, tripedal, hexapedal, monopedal, and even arguably octopedal forms have evolved.
Reproduction
Like all other plents, nodents reproduce sexually. They copulate through their mouths, as well as give birth with it. They give live birth, just like mammals.
Senses
Size
Nodents range in size from 1 cm long (Male/Worker/Farmer Megapolidi) to 7.2 m long (Striped Nailfin).
Types of Nodents
- Noteeth: Is perhaps the largest group of nodents. It includes not only the Notooth, but also all descendants of the Desert Notooth, the Beach Notooth, and the Diminutive Notooth. They have relatively large wings used only for photosynthesis, two- or three-clawed feet, and built burrows.
- †Neavers: All descendants of the Neaver. They were amphibious and built homes using logs they prepared by chewing down larger flora. Their butt-nostrils also evolved into snorkels.
- †Sunners: A group with only a single member, the Sunner. It was extremely lazy and rarely moved.
- †Nibblers: Includes the Nonibble, the Grassnibble and its descendant, the Pillnibble, and the Nosqueak. They had small wings to prevent predation, four claws, and a lengthened tail.
- Gundis: All descendants of the Noant. They built nests and displayed obvious sexual dimorphism. Their colonies are ruled by a queen. Some later evolved aquatic habits.
- Nice: The Nouse and all descendants of the Norat including the Noleap, the Windsensor Norat, Dungat, Notox, and the Noroobit and its descendant, the Cauda, and the Nossum and its descendant. Many possess prehensile tails and many have a close family life.
- †Nizzards: All descendants of the Nizzard. Possess ferret-like bodies and are fully carnivorous. Three tusks extend out of the front of their mouth.
- Geistrats: All descendants of the Geistrats. Generally possess pale skin and red eyes. Many are carnivorous.
- †Monopods: All descendants of the Pancakefoot. Hop around salially on a solitary foot.
- Pipents: All descendants of the Corpse-Bearing Pipent, except for the descendants of the River Pipent.
- Nailfins: All descendants of the Nailfin. They are a species of amphibious and aquatic plents with flippers covered in wooden nails.
- †Noggers: All descendants of the Nogger. They were mainly burrowing organisms.
- †Nectarlings: All descendants of the Nectarling. They were small pollinators.