Elongatitan

Elongatitan

synchonevméno agmen ( "Amalgamated Train" )

The largest terrestrial arthropod on Hoxia 11 million yrs P.D.

Physical Biometrics:

Length: ~ 11 feet / 3.35 m

Weight / Mass :  70 - 80 pounds / ~34 kilograms

Height: can rear up to ~91.44 cm / 36 inches tall

Distribution and Environment:

Forest floor, grassy plains, anywhere with vast quantities of alive or dead vegetation.

Description:

These enormous armored trains generally take up a varied diet, being primarily herbivorous, although they can also scavenge various rotting fruit and other dead biomass. They spend most of their time in the tropical forested areas, although they commonly also travel to grasslands and plains. Almost all their lives comprises of eating vast quantities of vegetation, usually dead leaves from the forest floor. 

They employ a strategy of hosting an enormous amount of young, with hundreds of eggs, ensuring that at least a few make it to adulthood despite perhaps many others dying before reaching adult hood.

Unlike its older brethren however, juvenile Elongatitans are capable of rolling into a ball and employing a defense similar trademark of millipedes and rolly polies / pill bugs. 

Throughout these lives, these voracious giants mentality is simple:

 Keep eating more, and don't get eaten yourself.

Evolution / Anatomy:

Its 7- 9 th segment bears modified legs, with each leg's second to last segment being modified into a flattened "plantigrade" like ends of its limbs, distal segments being modified into a single claw. These appendages also possess much greater strength and muscle mass, and serve primarily to allow the Elongatitan to rear up on these legs, lifting all preceding body segments. It uses this for both intimidation and to access higher foliage without having to waste energy climbing.

Unlike Arthropleura, a similarly sized Carboniferous megafauna, its tergites are not widely built, with its body being circular. This makes it quite difficult for any pincers to grasp.

Their postcranial segment tergite, the collum has been extremely exaggerated, with its exocuticle heavily sclerotized to shield its head when its feeding, with the head itself being tucked inwards facing the ground. Its antennae point towards the ground, in a constant state of picking up olfactory and chemical cues for more food. It also uses these antennae to detect predators. Although arthropods generally trend towards gaining better vision, this animals eyes have stagnated with a mediocre level of vision. Earlier in their lineage eyes would've been great for detecting foes, but after a certain size its difficulty to tackle such a large animal rendered its eyes viability not as much of a priority.

Its antennae's segments also keel into a spikelike spine, creating for hazards for animals targeting its head, as well as these spines simply making it difficult to swallow. 

They also possess a row of ozopores / repognatorial glands along its broadside, these serve to irritate the faces of its potential predators, mostly eyes, as most predatorial arthropods have trended towards a more vision oriented way of hunting. These chemicals mostly aid the juvenile Elongatitans in surviving, since most adults simply rely on size to avoid predations, only deploying the spray when absolutely necessary.

Known Descendants: 

( N / A, coming soon )