Heptiles of The Slime Forest

The great forests of Lichen Trees and the Slither Suckers that they can’t live without have spread across portions of the open steps. 

In the shadow of the Lichen Tree’s nearly 100 feet tall, many animals live in these forests and nowhere else.  

A variety of songbird and raptorial Blish frequent the forests but some never leave and spend their whole lives there. But it’s Heptiles, ground Blish that walk on seven claws derived from the fin ray-derived struts of the Icthtyopteran wing that have quickly diversified. 

The larger of the two is the Springtile the largest of a group of  Silesaur-like mostly herbivore animals. 

Still largely similar to a more leggy version of their ancestor they are very flighty animals prone to fleeing at the sight of Squakes other Heptiles or Absinthe. 

All flightless Blish have large ears but Springtiles are the only ones where the ears are more than a hole in the skull. A ring in the inner ear is formed by nerves and the ancient epithelial cells of the Lateral line that in volant Blish regulate senses of direction, balance, and changes in pressure curves backward in on itself.

This gives them excellent hearing in the rather gloomy understory of the slime forest more similar to the hearing structure of non-mammalian Cynodonts but with the beak of a herbivorous bird and the body of a much more primitive Ornithidiran. 

This trend of mis-mashing various amniotes together holds over to the Pouncetile looking somewhat like a weasel but also an early Archasauriform like Proterosuchus. 

In contrast to Springtiles, they belong to a family of predominantly predatory Heptiles and commonly hunt their herbivore relatives along with many Squid Rodents and young Stride Raptors. 

Their neck is noticeably shorter and their beak more downturned like all Ichthyopterans it has highly flexible jaws allowing them to swiftly kill by breaking the spin or neck of prey. 

As a relatively new ecosystem, the Pouncetile has very little competition as predators outside of Squakes and Sneasels. 

However, in this shadowy world, all animals must bow to the ecosystem's true apex predator the Absinthe. 

All but one…