Embedded Files
Ancestor: Berserker Lizard
A mudslider eating a grassmouse.
Temporal Range:
Temporal Range:
Evolved: By 2 Myh
Extinct: Not yet
Geographical Range:
Geographical Range:
Location: East Catland, South East in wetlands and wet, semi-forested areas, and along forest and grassland rivers outside of the main range.
Viable Habitat: Wetland and river delta habitats in warm temperate to semi-tropical climates. Some species can survive in drier habitats such as savannahs and shrublands that aren't flooded, but have reduced activity in the dry season and stay near water in the wet season. Only the most Southern dwelling can tolerate the rare event of ice and snow in winter by hibernating and even partially freezing, but most species can't deal with freezing cold.
Range showing as river-like threads is an approximated range and doesn't translate to their true locations of rivers.
Size: Largest species grows up to 110 cm, smallest up to 50 cm.
Dietary Needs: Eats a wide range of prey, from fish and water invertebrates to other lizards, birds and small mammals. Prey that can be consumed whole, is, as this is less lossy in a watery environment and competition can arrive quickly on the scene, so there is a pressure to eat quickly. Prey they can consume whole are vertebrates, while they usually tear hard-shelled invertebrates like crayfish apart and bite the pieces repeatedly to fracture the exoskeleton or shell of prey, making it easier to dissolve in the stomach.
The stomach is more acidic than their ancestor's but not all shell or exoskeleton is dissolved, though it can break down sharp edges making it safer. Pieces of shell and chitinous exoskeleton can be found in the stool of these lizards. They don't digest all hair, teeth and beaks of vertebrates either, these are passed also, along with what remains of larger bones.
If there is any indigestible material too big to be passed into the small intestine it is regurgitated in a pellet.
The teeth are more differentiated. Common lizards had double cusps on some back teeth. These back teeth are now wider with more rounded, less pointed double cusps. These teeth are used to crush exoskeletons and sometimes snail shells.
Life Cycle: The wetlands and rivers are not always reliable. In many parts of their range, unusual years can result in poor hydration of the land, resulting in drier grassland that year where there would have been water and aquatic prey for the lizards. Common lizards had three female morphs, determined by maternal inheritance to cope with changes in expected environmental conditions. So, in mudsliders these female morphs now cover extremes of possible climate conditions to be had in a year.
There is a dark green morph with a bluish grey underside that survives best in the wettest conditions a year can present in the productive season (which is supposed to be wet, so this would be wetter than usual), and produces many offspring of the same type but cares for none of them, focusing more on getting pregnant again.
There is a beige morph with a yellowish white underside that survives best in the driest conditions a year can present in the productive season. Like the dark green morph, they take a r-selective strategy to reproduction.
The third middle morph thrives best in optimal conditions, and is a light muddy green with a yellowish white underside. These are the most common morph on most years. They produce fewer offspring, which are born larger than the infants of the other two morphs. What's more, the mother guards the baby lizards for about a week, giving them some time to grasp hunting and finish the last of their yolk before they leave their mother and go on their own.
They are sexually active throughout the productive season. Males are larger than the females, but there is only one morph and that has similar colours to the middle female morph, but more saturated. Females find males by scent, usually finding a lead by locating fresh droppings and tracking the male from there. If the droppings indicate a weak or unhealthy male, she won't bother. Males can find females in a similar manner, and they might track each other simultaneously in some cases.
Males impress females with the colour and health of their scales, as well as through brute force.
Other: Mudsliders are named so because they are often found on the ground, on their stomach in muddy habitats. What's more, they will sometimes move by sliding their stomachs across the mud, using their limbs to paddle themselves forward. They are still capable of walking normally on dry ground and are good swimmers.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse