#solanan

Sanguiclavus xanthocephalus

This is not a bat; by 200 million years, the great diversity of bats present at the beginning of the Proximozoic is now extinct. Nails are actually primates, descended from a lineage of new world monkeys that took to the air. Nails are distinguished by a “proboscis”, which is actually made from tightly-appressed incisor and canine teeth. The mouth can barely open, but the proboscis is quite effective at sucking fluids. Different species of nail may feed on tree sap, nectar, or, in the case of sanguiclavids, blood.

Avititan major

At up to nine meters tall and around 15 tons in weight, Avititan is the largest terranseran and the largest terrestrial bird to ever live. To remain balanced on two legs, it adopts a more upright posture and concentrates dense bone in the hips and tail. Extensive skeletal pneumatization and complete loss of the forelimbs and pectoral girdle further help reduce weight.

Tyrannosorex ultimus

Killer shrews have persisted as one of the dominant predatory lineages throughout the Proximozoic era, spreading throughout the forming eastern supercontinent. As larger predatory lizard and bird lineages went extinct in the Pluman, these adaptable mammals would steadily grow in size. 200 million years in the future, at the end of the Solanan period, the earth sees the evolution of the largest, and one of the last, of these macropredatory soricomorphs.

Siberogekko progenitor

A second lineage of endothermic geckos has evolved by 200 million years in the future. These have been colloquially nicknamed “neosaurs”. Their filamentous pelage is derived from the epidermal scales present in squamates. This fuzz may be coarse or soft to the touch depending on species. Unlike the eublepharid geckos they are descended from, neosaurs do not eat their shed fuzz; it generally molts on its own, with old filaments being pushed out by new ones growing underneath. So far, they range in size from 20 cm to a little under a meter in length. They may seem humble in the Solanan period, but they are destined for great things to come.

The world is colder in the Solanan period than it was in the Pluman. The rise of new mountain ranges has created a greater area for chemical weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The loss of carbon dioxide has led to a brief cooling before the onset of the early Neozoic hothouse period. Siberia is now home to a temperate rainforest - one of the last coniferous forests the world will ever see.

These forests are home to some of the strangest evolutionary experiments of the Proximozoic. The largest birds to have ever evolved amble through the forests, feasting constantly on the greenery. In the trees leap warm-blooded lizards with fuzzy scales - the first of the neosaurs. Winged primates with beaklike snouts can be found flittering almong the trees, and the largest killer shrews yet stalk the forests.

Inhabitants of the Siberian Forest include:

Avititan major

Sanguiclavus xanthocephalus

Siberogekko primordius