Gargantocervas

kormos podi ( "Trunk Leg" )

Physical Biometrics:

Max Leg Span: 9-11.15 feet / 2.7 - 3.4 meters

Length: Around ~4 feet / 1.22 meters

Weight / Mass: ~ around 25-30 pounds / 13 kg

Distribution and Environment:

Resides almost exclusively on Hoxia's beachsides, bordering the ocean. They can also move inland, up to several miles. 

Their juvenile stages are completely aquatic, starting from planktonic to benthic. The juvenile stage resides largely in waters close to the mainland.

Description:

These enormous giants begin their lifespan as eggs released into the ocean, before living as planktonic larval zoeae. Although the crab has virtually no control over its own life during its stage, its juvenile glaucothoes is a bit different. Tiny shrimp like animals, they roam the benthic zones, often risking their lives to obtain a gastropod shell or other object to cover their abdomen. Often times though they are eaten by the various soft bodied molluscs on the seafloor.

As they transition to their adult stage, they develop their branchiostegal lungs, which the crabs keep scrupulously wettened / moist and clean with their reduced hind limbs. They cannot move too far inland as it would risk their gills drying out.  They abandon their old shell as their tergites harden.

The maturation is virtually the same as Coconut Crabs, they differ in that they grow to enormous proportions. They are largely unable to climb trees, rather often times as gregarious groups bludgeon the trunks of coconut trees to dislodge the fruit from the tree, or simply wait / scavenge already fallen ones.

They are apex predators, usually able to hunt megafauna that are close to the beach. Although most prey are too fast, their main targets are occasionally juvenile Elongatitans, Twi-Seraphs that land near the beachside to lay eggs, and wandering Leafback Titans.

Evolution / Anatomy:

They host an increasingly biomineralized armor of calcium carbonate, a handy trait in crustaceans that have allowed the Gargantocervas to have structural support for its large body.  

Their eyestalks can now be noticeably observed to be directed forwards, likely habitually. 2nd antennules are now prenhensile and keeled with each segment developing a ventrally facing spines, and are now much more robust, being raptorial. Gargantocervas use these appendages to grasp smaller prey on the ground that would be too nimble for it to grab with its chelate claws.

Their 3nd - 3rd pair of pereopods have relatively disproportionate in terms of length. They use them alongside their powerful muscle attachments located on it  to rear up and intimidate other macorpredators or members of its own kind. They often engage in a form of interspecific combat, non lethal by avoiding the usage of their chelae.

Their chelate claws, are extremely robust and powerful, able to devastate most animals. The claws are able to deliver a pinching force of around 2,000 - 4,000 newtons, stronger then the grizzly bear's jaws, and rivalling the bite forces of large tigers and polar bears. Although they sometimes use this to tackle large prey, most animals are too fast for them to catch. They primarily use them to pry and rip apart coconuts and other fruits, as well as shearing apart the exoskeleton in carcasses when scavenging.

The most notable feature in this arthropod is the modifications to their propodus and dactyl segments, which have their "cheliform" extensions have a reverse "chin" growth backwards on the horizontal axis away from the limb, forming a sort of "pseudo-plantigrade" false foot-like extension, allowing them to walk with more surface contact on the ground. This allows them to grip the ground steadily when grappling with other animals, an makes it the strongest animal on Hoxia in terms of brute force, albeit having sacrificed nearly all speed in the process.

Known Descendants: 

( N / A, coming soon )