Tyrannical Shrimpug
When the ecosystems of the Megalomagnus watershed collapsed, predators like Respirare simplex and Naukis dinklebergii were brought to near extinction. Naukis dinklebergii survived in isolated populations by remaining generalist. Overtime, the ecosystems around it recovered and changed, and these sukopods would become a completely new species with it.
45 centimeters long(females), 40 centimeters long(males)
The Tyrannical Shrimpug (Naukis adtriticaris) have feathery gills for respiration in the water. The muscular abdomen with the paddle-like terminal segment allows the Tyrannical Shrimpug to swim at a decent speed in short bursts, but the species mostly spends their time crawling along the substrate. One noticeable change is the shorter and stockier walking legs, which better suit the Tyrannical Shrimpug’s lifestyle since it looks around the sediment for its prey. While it does feed upon tarates, the Tyrannical Shrimpug mostly consumes hard-shelled prey like Ossurans and Sukopods. When on the hunt, the Tyrannical Shrimpug will frequently stop and tap their antennae on the riverbed, feeling for vibrations caused by potential prey moving just above or along the substrate. They start head towards any vibration they detect, using their sharp vision and their chemoreceptive setae on the palps to get a complete picture of where their prey is. The mixtures of browns on greys on the body and the light brown gills means the Tyrannical Shrimpug can camouflage. Once it gets close, the Tyrannical Shrimpug will launch itself from the sediment and swim towards the target, grabbing them with their palps and first pair legs. When the victim is subdued, the powerful mandibles can then crush the shells of tough prey or shear soft bodied prey into pieces that the newly developed mouthparts can get to work. These new mouthparts are made up of six individual segments, and are used to grab pieces of food after it has been crushed by their mandibles and bring it to their mouth. The third segment is about two centimeters wide.
Females grow slightly larger than males, being about 5 centimeters longer on average. Since nothing preys on adults, the Tyrannical Shrimpug has a breeding season, with females laying batches of 20-30 eggs within large clumps of foliage like Eodeaceae during the winter which males then fertilize externally. Once the eggs hatch, the youngsters are independent and feed on the various young crablets that hatch around the same time, while also avoiding cannibalistic adult Tyrannical Shrimpugs.
