Temnospondyloids are tall, eight-legged, sapient amphibians native to the swamps of Viséan-Asselia. They live alongside two other species the Myrmecosapients and ORBs.
History
Temnospondyloids are a young species, having only evolved 100,000 years ago. Throughout most of this history they have remained relatively unremarkable, being not much more than creatures wandering across the global swamps, occasionally interacting with the Myrmecosapient and ORB civilizations by stealing food or spooking a lone member of these species while they were in the wilderness.
Culture and Ecology
Temnospondyloids are primarily solitary, which aides them in their ambush hunting. Temnospondyloids wait for their prey either by holding themselves above the waterline on their long arms like herons of Earth, or they will wait, fully submerged apart from the very tops of their head like a crocodile
Appearance and Biology
Temnospondyloids are vaguely amphibian-like organisms, with crocodile or frog-like heads, 9 arms, positioned radially around their torsos, and a pair of medium length tails, one on the back, just in front of the skirt of arms and the other on the underside in the center of the arm radius. Underneath the second tail is, depending on the sex, either a long, thin, black ovipositor or, a long, tentacle-like, detachable gonad.
Temnospondyloids can be various shades of green with brown, beige or tan mottled patterns that help break up their outline, making it difficult for prey to spot them until it is too late.
Temnospondyloids are carnivorous, feeding on any small aquatic creatures that they can snatch with their arms or mouth.