#terranserae

Avititan is adapted for browsing from tall conifers, using complexly serrated pseudoteeth on its beak to strip leaves and needles from trees. Although not the apex of nutrition, this food is efficiently digested via an extensive gizzard and strong digestive acids. This acid and the contents of the stomach and gizzard can be regurgitated as a last-ditch anti-predator defense. Avititan lives in small groups consisting of 5-10 individuals on average. Larger groups tend to have more immature individuals, presumably as a means of mutual protection.

Dromaianser can grow up to two meters in height. Already their wings have atrophied, and are now useless for flight, but still implemented in brooding and visual display. They are swift-footed and adapted for grazing, with toothlike serrations on the bill that assist with snipping plant matter. Dromaianser lives in open grasslands, aggregating in flocks that generally contain up to 50 individuals. Males and females are the same size, but males are darker in color and have iridescent wing and tail feathers.

Is this a properly ridiculous-looking mating display?

The same genetic mechanism behind the development of pseudoteeth in pelagornithids has resurfaced in the herbivorous terranserans. These are simple in early forms like Dromaianser, but later species will bear far more complex pseudoteeth.

Naishornis has more complex pseudodentition relative to Dromaianser, with pseudoteeth forming “tricuspid” clusters. The lineage Naishornis belongs to will evolve even more elaborate pseudodentition, more finely-tuned for cropping and chewing leaves. Its slightly larger size is also a sign of things to come: for the next hundred million years, through the Pluman period (104-180 myh), this lineage of Terranserae will grow larger and larger...