Myththal

Myththal are carnivorous reptilian creatures that thrive in the dry and barren wastelands of the deserts. Unlike typical lizards, Myththal have significantly larger hind legs and long, serrated frontal nails. Due to this evolution, they have become bipedal and learned to use their claws to hunt insects that hide under the sand.

Appearance
Myththal range from 1 to up to 4 feet long from snout to tail, with their tail compromising for 40% of that length. Their entire body is covered in beige scales, which gradually change to a more grey colour near their neck and stomach. They have long, sleek heads with hardened scales above their eyes, which they can move down to almost completely cover their eyes during sandstorms and when digging, and have sharp, short teeth able to crush and pierce the carapaces of insects they hunt.

Their hind legs are large and muscular, allowing an adult Myththal to run at 30 miles an hour, while their front legs have evolved into short, yet strong, arms with one short, thick nail on their inner claw and two long, serrated ones on the other two, specialised in harpooning prey and moving sand out of the way.

Myththal shed once every two weeks while still growing, until it reaches adulthood at around 24 years. After that point, it only sheds once every five months. While shedding, most Myththal remain in their burrow, as the soft scales that have grown underneath the old skin is highly sensitive to heat and could fracture and crumble when it hardens during the desert day.

Female Myththal grow a unique trait; during shedding part of the shed scales are repurposed into small nubs that loosely hand on the tail-end of the female. Over time, these nubs become interlocked with one another, turning into a rattle-like structure that the female can use to scare off predators looking to kill Myththal eggs and young.

Behaviour
Myththal mostly hunt alone, in search for subterranean insects to eat or feed to their families. However, Myththal also thrive in packs, able to take down foes many times their own size. Due to the lack of big game in their natural habitat, though, this is a rare event.

Myththal live in large, underground burrows together with anywhere between a pair to several dozen families. These burrows are often strategically designed, with the family leaders, the nursery and the females located in the centre-chambers while hunters and the sick reside in the outer rooms.

Myththal are polygamous and have a high tolerance for inbreeding, meaning even a single, isolated family can spawn several healthy generations. Often the females impress the males using their rattles and hissing while grinding their large nails on the ground.

Origin
Myththal likely evolved from small, fish-like creatures that inhabited the Trench Oasis in the western desert. However, the only observer of this species was Terrys the Dreameater, who during the transitional period was otherwise invested by a spatial anomaly, so the credibility of Myththal origin remains unconfirmed.