Furry dwarfs and scaly giants

Stottmice have never been as widespread in Antarctica since their appearance. While comprising three species, each of them exhibits several subspecies and ecotypes adapted to all microclimates of the continent's habitats. One of the three has maintained a primitive body plan due to its habitat distribution, which has not changed much since the beginning of the Biancocene: the burrowing stottmouse (Cuniculiungulatum criophobus). As the name suggests, this species of stottmouse has maintained a more fossorial behavior compared to the other two species present.

The burrowing stottmouse dwells in the warmest areas of the coldvanna, where the thicket cover is denser. It is an obligate folivorous rodent that feeds on leaves and mosses, which contribute to 80% of its diet. The species was unable to expand into the trample steppe due to the sharp increase in open landscapes, where it rarely dwells, and the thick permafrost layer that prevents the creation of underground shelters. While possessing digitigrade locomotion, limb proportions and robustness are not as suitable for running as the other two stottmouse species, which have followed a trend toward cursoriality and possess strong hoofed digits. The burrowing stottmouse must then rely on stealth and its digging capacity to hide and escape from sympatric predators, like sheardogs, parstrikers, and large reptiles, especially for young individuals.

Unlike its cursorial counterparts, which are more social, the burrowing stottmouse is largely solitary and digs a burrow for itself, with the exception of the breeding period when large groups of even a hundred can be found in large meadows. Males possess a brightly colored air sac on the nose, which can be inflated and is used for courting females to be chosen for reproduction. After copulation, males leave females, which must carry out the entire gestation and weaning of the young on their own. Offspring are born moderately precocial and will stay inside their den for at least 2 weeks before starting to follow their mother.

While adults can fall prey to many large predators, the young are also threatened by a relict species, a large lipidragon lineage once widespread throughout the entire continent during the Cambiocene but now restricted to the warmest areas of the coldvanna. It's called the polar lipidragon (Vivilacerta diffusa), and it's actually the largest land reptile in Antarctica. While not comparable to some reptiles that lived just some millions years ago, this lizard can reach a weight of 10-15 kg (22-33 lbs). 

While its diet is analogous to that of a monitor lizard and tegu, its proportions are completely different.The polar lipidragon has shorter limbs and stockier bodies to reduce the surface area to volume ratio and heat dispersion. Temperature stability is maintained thanks to its size and a somewhat higher metabolism for a reptile. Despite this, polar lipidragons must still bask to regulate their temperature, at least half an hour per day during the peak of summer, while they must hibernate for at least 3 months during winter.
Despite not being very cold-tolerant, polar lipidragons can already be seen basking at the start of spring, driven by hunger, while snow is still melting. Just weeks before fully waking up from hibernation, they undergo a fast molting, turning from their typical brown-orange pattern to a fully dark color, which helps them in the first month to increase heat absorption. Dark scales, however, make them easily recognizable by any herbivore, which is why these lipidragons usually hunt during the night or scavenge on carrion - which becomes more frequent in early spring, thanks to the melting snow, revealing the dead corpses of all the animals that perished during the harsh winter. In late spring, the reptile molts again, returning to its standard soil-colored pattern.