Caves
Underneath Ancient Island's mountain range were crisscrossing caves that went underground several miles. The animals under the surface of the island had to eat, not plants, but fungus, insects, or each other, mainly living in near-total darkness. The caves were rarely explored, but in the dark depths of the earth, man certainly knew that vertebrates didn't rule the roost here...
Hydra
Terrahydrus umbra (Dark Earth-Snake)
20 feet long, 4 feet high
A true oddity from the Ancient Island tunnels was a long, serpentine monster of sorts. The Hydra lurked in stolen tunnels made by other animals, waiting to spring on any unsuspecting prey that might be unfortunate to step too close.
The Hydra, despite its name, was NOT a snake, but a strange lizard relative that seemed to be going down the road to leglessness. The Hydra only had two powerful hindlimbs, but it seemed to be enough for it to survive in the dark, dank environment of the caves. Another feature was a long, flexible neck and a powerful tail resembling a python's, often used to help scope for prey in small tunnels.
In order to adapt to cave life, the Hydra evolved another way to "see" in the dark. Its large eyes may have helped slightly, but light was not always available in the networking caves. To make up for it, the Hydra evolved a snakelike tongue and lost the use of its ears. The tongue would flick in and out of its mouth to sense warm-blooded prey like bats, mammals, or the unique cave reptiles. And, also like a snake, the Hydra could "hear" by placing its jaw to the ground and picking up vibrations through the ground.
The Hydra may have been a successful predator and excellent opportunist, but it wasn't the top predator. It still lived in the shadows of bigger, deadlier animals.
Cave Tarantula
Arachnea noocula (Blind Spider)
6-inch legspan
A hardy little arthropod, the Cave Tarantula was a common sight in the caves of Ancient Island. Adapted for living in darkness, Cave Tarantulas were completely blind: losing their eyes completely and using their other senses to check on the world around them.
Cave Tarantulas, like their namesakes were covered in several bristly hairs used mainly in defense. If it sensed a potential threat, the Cave Tarantula would unleash a spray of these hairs that caused severe irritation to soft spots like the nose, eyes, and throat.
To adapt to cave life, these spiders evolved longer palps, turning them into something analagous to something to an insect's antennae. With these sensory limbs, the Cave Tarantulas can feel the world around them and sense vibrations in the ground or the cave walls. Interesting enough, it can even tell the size and weight of whatever is approaching. The predator would have to move fast to catch the tarantula, for the bugs often saw them coming before the predators saw them.
Demonwig
Mephistocimex axicis (Scissor Devil-Bug)
6 feet long
A hardy little opportunist, the Demonwig was a giant earwig relative but far from as harmless. Due to the predators of the darkness, the Demonwigs had to get big, fast. Armed with powerful jaws, claws, and a flexible tail pincer, the Demonwig could take on all kinds of prey.
Demonwigs had tails that could pinch together like a pair of pliers and it had grown a strong, muscular abdomen that was analagous to a scorpion's tail. The tail pincer would help to hold the prey still while the Demonwig got a good hold with their powerful jaws.
Demonwigs were excellent hunters, though they were more often to eat the carcass of a dead animal; one from the cave's depths or one from the surface that got too careless and wandered in. Another reason for carrion was so that females could lay their eggs in it. Those eggs that didn't get eaten by other predators lived on to be one of the most notorious cave-dwellers the world has ever known.
King Scorpionfly
Scorpiopteris basilis (King Scorpion-wing)
3-foot wingspan
On the mainland today, scorpionflies are small, flying insects. On Ancient Island, they had evolved to an extreme: becoming fast, deadly, and venomous: a far cry from their inland cousins.
King Scorpionflies differed from their inland cousins in many ways. The first notable thing was their size, as they were enormous compared to their cousins. Another notable difference was that their front limbs had turned into a pair of small pincers to hold their prey still.
The real change from these giants and their inland cousins were their tails. The sting-like projection on the Ancient Island species was now as venomous as their namesakes, unlike their relatives which used them for mating. The venom would affect the nervous system, paralyzing the prey while its jaws tore at its flesh, exoskeleton, or anything edible that was there.
Flesh Carver
Homovorocimex (Man-Eating Bug)
5 feet long
Crawling around the walls of the Ancient Island Caves was a miniature monster that had really begun to make it big. The flesh-carver was an enlarged insect distantly related to modern-day cockroaches with adaptability to match. They were easily the most numerous creatures in Ancient Island Caves, but were confined there due to their large eyes.
The flesh carver skittered over cave walls, often seeming to defy gravity at times. An opportunistic insect, the flesh carver often didn't live up to its name of man-eating bug, eating mushrooms, fecal matter, and carrion alike.
Like an African relative, female flesh carvers carried their egg sacs with them rather than deposit them like most roaches. This gave the larvae a better chance at survival against the world around them.
Despite their nature as predators and scavengers, flesh carvers were more often a prey item for bigger, nastier animals. Their sensitive antennae and large eyes gave them a fighting chance to avoid predators, but they were more often caught by either Scorpionflies, Hydras, or the infamous cave-dragons.
Pitfall Spider
Subterrachne (Underground Spider)
6-foot legspan
In the caves of Ancient Island, animals had to watch their step. Should part of the ground feel softer than the rest, most animals were dead the next five seconds thanks to a notorious predator.
Subterrachne was a massive spider that dwarfed all the others. It was large enough to kill a human and many of the other cave dwellers that haunted the depths of Ancient Island.
Subterrachne may have been large and powerful, but it came at the cost of its ability to move lightning-fast. To make up for it, the arachnid lived up to its other name of "Pitfall Spider". The Pitfall Spider would find a hole in the ground and turn it into a hunter's lair: lining it with webs that acted as tripwires.
Any prey unfortunate enough to stumble upon the trap would be seized by the spider, dragged underground and injected with paralyzing venom to be drained of juices.
Subterrachne had only a handful of competitors and enemies, but the giant spider was more than smart enough to avoid those it couldn't take down.
Claw Scorpion
Nychocimex (Claw Bug)
10 feet long
A bizarre relative of spiders and scorpions, Nychocimex was an apex predator amongst the cave's arthropod predators. Often stalking in crevices in cave walls, the giant scorpion was an effective predator.
Nychocimex was an ambush predator, as it was too slow to chase its prey. Special pores on the front of its body detected changes in air current, and if any prey got too close, it would spring.
Nychocimex also lacked a feature of most other scorpions: the tail. It didn't need venom to kill its prey, because its massive pincers could easily crush it. These pincers were easily half the bug's body length and had to be held at the front of the body in order to be able to move without tripping.
Frog-Newt
Ranisaurus (Frog Lizard)
13 feet long, 4 feet at shoulder
The dampness of the cave proved quite effective with some species. Such was the case with Ranisaurus, possibly the most curious vertebrate in the caverns.
Ranisaurus was not a lizard or a dinosaur, but a giant amphibian descended from giant salamanders. Lurking in cave pools, the massive amphibian didn't have to deal with the competition of giant fish or crocodiles. Therefore, Ranisaurus could thrive in the caves without any threat, save the massive predators above water.
Ranisaurus' method of attacking was similar to modern crocodiles: ambushing prey from underwater and dragging prey down into the water to drown it. This method of attack heralded of an age when amphibians were the lords of the river.
Panther Shark
Pardicthys megoptha (Big-eyed Leopard fish)
16 feet long
Amphibians weren't the only giants that lived in the cave springs. Also lurking in the tempting pools was a massive predator of the water.
Panther sharks weren't really sharks, but an elephantine relative of modern piranhas. No longer the small pack hunters, the panther shark grew more streamlined and turned the color of darkness. It had truly turned into a lone wolf hunter.
Panther sharks laid hundreds of eggs, but only a few would make it to adulthood, ending up eaten by either water bugs or by the tadpoles of the infamous frog-newts. Panther shark young, oddly enough, were filter feeders: feeding on small plants and animals that lived in the water.
Panther sharks also had methods of seeing in the dark: strange whiskers analogous to a catfish. Should these whiskers sense the right vibrations in water, it could pinpoint exactly where prey was. Then the panther shark would use its shark-esque teeth to tear the prey to shreds.
Cave Squid
Deinokraken (Terrible Kraken)
10-foot tentacle-span
One of the most disgusting creatures to thrive in the caves was the notorious cave squid: a bizarre cephalopod that had given up sea life completely. The cave squid had come inland to hunt prey, just as most people feared.
Cave squids were not true squids, but were more of an amphibious octopus. Rather than gills, the cave squid had simple lungs that could absorb oxygen from both water and air. The results were uncanny.
Cave squids, used their tentacles to walk around the cave's rock walls and floor. Now that it had dragged itself from the water, its tentacles could help support its weight a bit. And their ink, which used to be used as a smokescreen, could be sprayed at a predator's eyes to cause extreme pain.
Being carnivores, cave squids would scavenge a carcass or catch prey from pools. Once caught by a cave squid, the prey would be dragged to the mouth and get crushed by a horny beak. For larger prey, the cave squid also had venom glands that would be injected and cause paralysis to its unfortunate victim.
Like their marine cousins, cave squids laid hundreds of eggs, which the mothers would usually ended up dying when they hatched. Cave squids grew fast, but were still prey to water-dwelling beetles, fish, and amphibians.
Malice Louse
Dermacavaro (Skin-carver)
5 inches long
Out of all the parasitic creatures, this insect was possibly the worst to get attached to. The Malice Louse, a giant relative of head lice, lived on the skins of giant arthropods, reptiles, and any other cave dwellers.
Malice lice grew large to get help get under the skin of tough-skinned animals from the giant cave dragons to any animal that wandered into the dark tunnels. Their powerful mouthparts helped them chew through the scales of reptiles and get at the succulent blood inside.
Since most of their hosts didn't have any hair, malice lice developed a new way to lay their eggs. Using their jaws, they would open up the skin and deposit eggs in the incision. Several such cuts were necessary in order for young to survive.
The young, after hatching, would chew through the skin and emerge as small versions of the adults, but would seek different hosts to avoid competition. But the amount that did survive was unlikely, because the hosts would often scratch them out or kill them as they emerged from their skin cocoons.
Devil Worm
Hydrucimex subterranea (Underground Snake-Bug)
5-10 feet long
Several weird and disgusting creatures lived in the Ancient Island cave network. But out of all of these creatures, Hydrucimex, the Devil Worm, was the most disgusting of them all.
Although it had a tough outer coating and a nasty mouthful of teeth, Hydrucimex was not an arthropod. It was more closely related to segmented worms such as earthworms or leeches. But unlike its relatives, Hydrucimex did not eat dirt or suck the blood of animals.
Hydrucimex had evolved to an extreme, now that it had made it big, it went from a bottom-feeder to an extreme opportunist. It would wait for prey to wander into the water it called home, and if it sensed any vibrations in the water, it would follow the prey and ambush it, using its powerful jaws to penetrate the hide of almost any creature.
Hydrucimex could also go onto land in search of one of its favorite foods: carrion. It couldn't move as well on land as it could in water, but it did have a unique defense against predators. If it was attacked, its body would secrete a highly acidic complexion and squirt at a predator. Some predators, however, were immune to it, so it didn't always work.
Cave Dragon
Dracocimex subterra (Underground Dragon-Bug)
35 feet long, 10 feet tall at shoulder
Even underground, there were giant reptiles that reigned supreme. The apex predator of the caves, Dracocimex ruled the underground network of tunnels like the tyrannosaurs above ground.
Possibly the most bizarre dragon to have ever existed, Dracocimex had four limbs, but not in the way that all dragons had them. THIS one had lost its wings completely and only had one long digit on its hands. These digits looked like long spears and were used as weapons and feelers. Even though the hands had turned into no more than large pikes, the feet had changed even more dramatically. They were used for both locomotion and as primary manipulators, acting as both feet and hands.
Dracocimex had another adaptation to cave life other than hands-turned-feelers. Special pores on the side of its head detected electrical discharges made by movement. If any prey was moving, it would be able to sense it.
When attacking, Dracocimex would lash out with its long claws, snap with its sharp teeth, and like its mountain-dwelling cousin, it could breath fire to roast its prey.
Male Dracocimex, unlike most dragons, were smaller than the females, but far more aggressive. Come mating season, a male would lash at an uncooperative female, leaving scars down the head or body.
Dracocimex laid several eggs, which the mother would guard fiercely. Only daring creatures would dare try to steal these eggs, but most ended up dead in seconds. Young Dracocimex were guarded by the mother for a few months, but after that, they had to learn to survive quickly. To try and survive, young Dracocimex would climb up cave walls, which was something that adults couldn't do, due to their weight.
Sadly, these strange beasts would be driven to extinction when the island sank, along with all the other organisms of Ancient Island.
Cave Life
Several other creatures lived in the caves, trying to survive in near-total darkness. Some had lost their eyesight completely while others developed other ways to "see" in the nightmarish pits of the island depths. Some were insects, some were mammals, while others were just too odd for the mind.
One of the few mammals in the Ancient Island caves, the Imp Bats (Ictimordax) numbered in their hundreds as they flocked through the skies of Ancient Island, catching insects along the way. These bats were also a prey item for both cave life and the predatory birds of Ancient Island.
Ancient Island was also home to a species of blind cave catfish (Noopthalmicthys). Rather than use eyes to see, these odd, white fish would use their whiskers to feel changes in the water current. If danger is detected, the fish would flee, but if cornered, it could deliver a nasty bite.
Bear Frogs (Ursaranida) were a giant form of bullfrog that had eyes bigger than those of any other species of frog. Named for their powerful forelimbs, the massive frogs would use them to pin down any prey as they crushed them in their powerful jaws.
An oddity among reptiles everywhere, the Skin-wing (Dermoptera) was a species of dragon that had adopted a bat-like appearance and a way of living. It grew bat-like wings analogous to a pterosaur's, large eyes for night vision, and grasping feet to grab prey and walls alike.
