Clade Profile: Thelocauda

Thelocauds are a group of latapod that had lost most of their tails to ensure greater armour coverage, an adaptation useful for defense against the giant myriapod and stylonuran predators of their time - the mandibles and cheliceres of the two are hardly able to pierce bone. In addition to this, they practiced herding behaviour to further obscure their vulnerable hind ends. Much like other latapods, thelocauds were primarily herbivorous, though many were secondarily insectivorous as well. The three pictured were small, pseudo-cursorial plains dwellers that grazed on the plentiful bryophytes and seed-ferns. Though most extant Dome 4 thelocauds have been religated to obscurity, only occupying scant niches on the lost micro-continent, their thermoregulation has allowed them to see considerable success in Dome 5 where they are, to this day, extremely diverse.

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