Fuscious Rombler
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Descending from populations of needlewings that left behind the frigid tundras of Drake to colonize warmer areas, the fuscious rombler has split off and became a unique taxon of its own. While the fuscious rombler is still omnivorous like its ancestor, the vast majority of its diet is composed of meat. This meat primarily comes from things like minikruggs, scalescooters, and other small game, which are usually run down and then dispatched with a well-placed kick. Alternatively, prey may also get pinned down by the foot, with the sideways facing digits maintaining a firm grip while the fuscious rombler uses their slightly hooked bill to rip out chunks of flesh from its prey. Not all of its prey lives on the ground, however, with prey like xenobees and cloudswarmers requiring different tactics. For such game, the fuscious rombler will use their hind limbs in a similar fashion to the long extinct bipedal baghopper, leaping into the air to snap up their target. Of course, these adaptations are only suited for small game, so species like adult lizalopes or gulpers are off the menu.
While most of the meat the fuscious romblers obtains originates from small prey it catches itself, they will supplement their diet with carrion if the opportunity presents itself. Additionally, fuscious romblers will also feed upon fruits and berries of flora when such resources are abundant, with such foods sometimes making up a good portion of their diet at certain times of year. When these berries and fruits are unavailable, however, the phlyers become almost exclusively carnivorous.
While the fuscious rombler feeds on a wide range of food, it itself is also potential prey for creatures such as the purotora, sprawlaclaw, and ringtail loafshell. The long legs that help the fuscious rombler run down prey also help it evade predators, while the general coloration and patterns of the fuscious rombler provide basic camouflage so it can remain hidden from both prey and threats. If it is backed into a corner, however, the fuscious rombler will turn from flight to fight. This is where the ancestral wings come into play, with the "needles" of their ancestor having turned into sharp woody spines that have calcified to be better capable of enduring large amounts of stress. These all work into the phlyer's main ways of defending itself, charging at an opponent and using their wings as clubs, smacking them into the threat. The sharp thorns around the butt-nostril have become larger and more extensive, providing better protection from a threat trying to bite the butt-nostril. The beak of the fuscious rombler, meanwhile, has developed a crest-like extension that provides some protection for the head from bites and scrapes.
Since the ancestral "needles" have become adapted for defense, photosynthesis is now done through the fuscious rombler's skin, redeveloping usable chloroplasts to gather sunlight for energy. While photosynthesis only provides a small part of the fuscious rombler's energy requirements, it does help them get by during the harsher winter months when prey can be harder to find than during the summer. Anthocyanin pigments give the species its purple coloration, helping provide camouflage while not getting in the way of photosynthesis. Male fuscious romblers also possess carotenoids that are expressed as golden bands around their arms. This does impede their camouflage somewhat, as these bright bands cause them to stand out, but it comes with the benefit of being more attractive to mates. This is because during early autumn, males gather together in large groups and begin to lek. In these leks, males will scrape out a sort of ring around them with their toes claws as well as removing any sort of debris within the ring. This gives the females the ideal viewing point to observe the elaborate dancing rituals the males perform. These dances consist of the males hopping in certain patterns while waving their two pairs of non-walking limbs in alternating patterns, all the while whistling a sort of song from their butt nostril. If the female likes the display given by the male, she will accept him as her mate and breed through "kissing".
Once winter arrives, however, the leks end and the fuscious romblers will seek out shelter in the form of small caves. Being unable to really dig out burrows to rest in, these small caves are the best form of shelter the phlyers can use. Oftentimes the cave gets filled up by several different fuscious romblers, including solo individuals and mated pairs, all of whom use it to go into torpor. By lowering their metabolism, utilizing trehalose inherited from their ancestors to help keep their tissues from freezing, and partially sharing body warmth with other individuals, the fuscious romblers are able to wait out the winter. During this time, any female fuscious romblers will have young gestating in their throat pouch.
Much like their direct ancestor and relatives, fuscious romblers possess a large throat pouch where their offspring are retained for their development and a good portion of their growth. Unlike their ancestors, however, females only keep the young in their pouch for their gestation, birthing them into the mouth of the male when they exit brumation in the spring and the young are ready to be transferred. As such, males also possess a large throat pouch similar to the females, since they are the ones who keep the young protected for their first few months. During this time, the male will try to remain hidden within dense foliage while the female hunts for food to feed the one or two chick dwelling inside the male's pouch. During this period of time, as well as during the leks, the male relies on fat reserves he had built up over the course of the year to sustain him since he is either too preoccupied with trying to find a mate to hunt or is unable to feed himself due to housing chicks. The throat pouch of the male provides the chicks with oxygen so they can breathe, much like what is seen in the females of other thylacorhyncan species. Once the young start to become too big and unwieldy to safely carry, the father will essentially vomit up the chicks, his jaw being able to unhinge to make the task easier.