The long eared sauceback split from its ancestors in the Alpine to follow the cave capoo into its new environment. The new cave environments passages ranged in size from very large, to impassibly small, so smaller saucebacks were able to hunt in more areas. Eventually the species completely shrank to help them navigate the smaller passages of the cave region. The saucebacks reliance on sound instead of sight is put to good use in the dark places of the Martyk Sandstone Cave. In order to take even more advantage of its hearing advantage, the ears of the sauceback have grown larger.
