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Description
"THE SHELLED NEWT"

One very large herp-species is a monster predator of the grasslands, this one reaching lengths of over 35 feet!

This is the Shelled Newt.

The Shelled Newt looks like a massive newt with a shell on its back.

Many thought it was a reptile, and actually when first categorized, in the Gothalebra bestiary, it was mistaken as just that.

However, it is not a lizard, but in fact a huge newt.

It seems to have a sort of convergent evolutionary design to the once-lived prehistoric reptile Armidillosuchus.

It has developed huge size, by leaving the burrowing marsh-life of its ancestors to pursue prey in the open grasslands.

There, it adopted the odd spotted color scheme of Gothalebrian grass to camouflage itself.

Then, it grew to huge size, as it needed to grow larger to hunt and ambush the ever-growing herbivores of vast moist grasslands.

"It's a True Amphibian, not a lizard"

The Shelled Newt is the largest newt to ever exist, at roughly 37-feet-long.
It is only secondarily smaller to the massive Whale Frog, as far as amphibians go.

As said before, this huge newt has a sort of parallel convergent evolution to an ancient crocodilian called Armodillosuchus, which it also has its oddball protective shell and shovel-tusk teeth.

But that's where the similarity ends, as this voracious newt has very long thin legs that it uses to race across the grasslands like a Cheetah.

Having such long legs enables it to look over the high grass and stalk sizable prey, like leaf gophers and lichen dogs, which make up most of its diet.

It uses its shovel-like teeth as pincers, and unlike carnivores with their canine teeth, the massive newt followed the evolutionary example of the marsupial lion Thylacoleo, as it evolved a totally different dentition for its carnivorous diet

Description
"THE SHELLED NEWT"

One very large herp-species is a monster predator of the grasslands, this one reaching lengths of over 35 feet!

This is the Shelled Newt.

The Shelled Newt looks like a massive newt with a shell on its back.

Many thought it was a reptile, and actually when first categorized, in the Gothalebra bestiary, it was mistaken as just that.

However, it is not a lizard, but in fact a huge newt.

It seems to have a sort of convergent evolutionary design to the once-lived prehistoric reptile Armidillosuchus.

It has developed huge size, by leaving the burrowing marsh-life of its ancestors to pursue prey in the open grasslands.

There, it adopted the odd spotted color scheme of Gothalebrian grass to camouflage itself.

Then, it grew to huge size, as it needed to grow larger to hunt and ambush the ever-growing herbivores of vast moist grasslands.

"It's a True Amphibian, not a lizard"

The Shelled Newt is the largest newt to ever exist, at roughly 37-feet-long.
It is only secondarily smaller to the massive Whale Frog, as far as amphibians go.

As said before, this huge newt has a sort of parallel convergent evolution to an ancient crocodilian called Armodillosuchus, which it also has its oddball protective shell and shovel-tusk teeth.

But that's where the similarity ends, as this voracious newt has very long thin legs that it uses to race across the grasslands like a Cheetah.

Having such long legs enables it to look over the high grass and stalk sizable prey, like leaf gophers and lichen dogs, which make up most of its diet.

It uses its shovel-like teeth as pincers, and unlike carnivores with their canine teeth, the massive newt followed the evolutionary example of the marsupial lion Thylacoleo, as it evolved a totally different dentition for its carnivorous diet