The shortfaced thornback split from its ancestor and has specialized in eating the sapworms and vermees that pray upon and parasitism the macro flora of the island. Because of their ability to raise and lower the front half of their body by bending and unbending their forelegs they can feed at any height. The highly reduced jaw spike from which they derive their name allows them to pick off the sapworms without damaging the host flora.
Living Relatives (click to show/hide)
These are randomly selected, and organized from lowest to highest shared taxon. (This may correspond to similarity more than actual relation)
