Annoying neighbors

Archaic agricrows shaped almost every environment in Antarctica and the world thanks to their voluntary introduction of alien species for food. After a near collapse during the END,  agricrows recovered their previous distribution and diversity of species.  Aside from Aves ex Machina, other non-ipersocial/eusocial agricrows have made their way to Antarctica and some of them have even speciated in several forms. Now, at least 9 species of agricrows are known in the antarctic continent.

All agricrows are highly aggressive birds to strangers and often compete with other similar species. Interspecific looting of resources is a well-established behavior in various agricrows and reaches a peak in the elaborate society of Aves ex Machina. Outside the range of Aves ex Machina, the dominance of a species of agricrow in an environment is usually dictated by large size.  Smaller species, therefore, had to become extremely generalists to draw energy from any cultivated food source or develop a highly specialized diet to reduce the risk of looting. In Antarctica, there are two excellent examples of these "evolutionary segregations".

Among the highly generalist species, we can find the painted agricrow (Neoagricorvus pictatus), which has maintained a society and anatomy very similar to their first ancestor. They differ only in the type of plants collected for food, favoring herbaceous plants within the families of the Solanaceae and the Brassicaceae. The caste of the farmers is divided into two subgroups, one specialized in plant agriculture and the other specialized in the breeding of invertebrates (mainly caterpillars and snails). Thanks to its plastic diet, this species is among the most successful in Antarctica, but has a lower density than more selective or dominant species.

Among the most specialized species we find the heavy agricrow (Rizomiornis solidus), a robust corvid widespread only in the humid subtropical zones of the Antarctic peninsula. The species has adapted to feed and cultivate roots and tubers, a food rarely consumed by the Aves ex Machina (with whom they are sympatric). They have a large beak and large legs, perfect for digging and collecting food from underground. Some populations are known to also cultivate truffles, becoming the first farmer adapted to eat mushrooms. 

Heavy agricrows are also the only agricrows (excluding some ecotypes of Aves ex Machina) that nest underground, exploiting abandoned dens of rodents and land tyrants. Because of their very specialized diet, heavy farmers possess a longer intestine to better digest cellulose and rarely breed invertebrates.