Fairyshell

The fairyshell replaced its ancestor and moved further east towards the Barlowe Chaparral. As they spent more time away from their ancestral caves and surrounded by predators with eyesight, the fairyshell re-evolved its own eyesight. However, it can only see everything in a blurry greyscale form, but it is sufficient enough to tell between light and darkness, which helps with their nocturnal lifestyle. On top of that, its ancestor’s microfilaments have enhanced into bristle-like setae that cover both pairs of its sensory limbs; these setae further enhance its ability to sense vibrations in the air and help it know its surroundings.

Along with regaining its eyes and improving its radar-like detection, the fairyshell has regained its rust-red pigmentation, allowing it to stay camouflaged in the soil, so it does not have to constantly run away from potential predators. In fact, its main means of evading them is to hide, crouch down, stay still, and wait for the danger to pass by, paying close attention to the vibrations around it. Should this fail, the fairyshell bolts as fast as its legs can carry it and will try to run and hide until predators will either give up on chasing it or find themselves unable to reach it. To further help its speed, it has become smaller, evolved a slightly longer tail to help it change trajectory, and stands in a semi-digitigrade stance.

The fairyshell has increased the variety in its diet by including supershrooms, sunstalks, and marbleflora. The fairyshell no longer feeds on the pollen of the regrestoloppy, as this was not exactly sufficient for its size, but it still manages to pollinate it. It does this whenever it bites into regrestoloppies and the spores get caught on the setae of its frontmost sensory limbs. As it travels, the spores fall off and grow into new regrestoloppies. This has allowed the regrestoloppy to spread out into the Barlowe High Desert, Barlowe High Grassland, Barlowe Plains, and Barlowe Chaparral. It also managed to spread the statue piloroot and spiny piloroot by feeding on its berries and defecating its seeds in the Barlowe High Desert, Barlowe High Grassland, Barlowe Plains, and Barlowe Chaparral as well.

The fairyshell reproduces by mating with the couple facing opposite directions in a similar manner as Terran cockroaches, guaranteeing they will both be able to look out for predators while mating. After doing so, the female fairyshell looks for any sort of cover including leaf litter, rocks, or soil; next, it digs a small hole and lays up to 50 eggs per brood and leaves them to fend for themselves when they hatch. The young are born with soft white exoskeletons and they spend most of their time hiding underground or just barely under the leaf litter while they grow into adults. Unfortunately, not all of these eggs make it as the mostly purple snoa finds them to be a tasty snack. This has also allowed the mostly purple snoa to spread out into the Barlowe Plains and Barlowe Chaparral.