Physiological evolution of Niyaki ancestors
1: the cradlefly, an ancient ancestor that has a body plan very similar to other 6 legged arthropods. It's namesake comes from their surprisingly complex parental behaviour, protecting mates as well as young with utmost devotion.
Forelimbs act as arms to hold food and groom other cradleflies, while midlimbs and backlimbs are focused on keeping the fly balanced and secure on the surface it stands on. Their diet mainly consists of smaller invertebrates, pollen, and fruits.
2. The prancefly, named after its curious movement pattern of "prancing" in a whimsical manner using its backlimbs and midlimbs. Forelimbs now are dedicated to holding onto food and prey, taking on a pursuit hunting lifestyle.
3. The branchhopper, with further specialization in its limbs to have a "hopping" lifestyle, springing forwards with its powerful back legs and fluttering its wings to quickly leap from branch to branch. Grows to the size of a frog, and has a pollenating/pursuit hunting lifestyle.
4. The grassflutterer, growing larger and taking on a ground walking lifestyle, its back legs have pivoted towards a digitigrade-like orientation, making its body plan converge similarly to digitigrade vertebrates. Now as large as a dog, these arthropods stride the plains, using their midlimbs to dig into the ground for roots and invertebrates, and pick fruits from trees. It is named after its defense mechanism from pursuing predators, leaping into the air and fluttering its wings to stay airbourne for a short while.
5. The crioblix, a more obvious ancestor to both queblix and niyaki. Its backlimbs and forelimbs have bulked up in size to carry the creature's weight, growing to the size of an ape. Its diet mainly consists of fruits, nuts, roots, and prey that they occasionally hunt.
It still walks on four limbs, though its back legs have grown strong enough for it to be able to stand on its back legs, used for reaching fruits, intimidation, or for complex social interactions, in which groups of crioblix stand up on their back limbs for as long as possible and flash and flutter their wings, often decorated with intricate patterns. This behaviour is known as the standing dance, which is theorized to help naturally select for crioblix with particularly powerful and stable legs.
6A: the modern queblix, a pack hunting close cousin of the Niyaki, with complex social groups, hunting strategies, and developing their own language. Diverged from the Niyaki body plan, taking on a quadrupedal form with powerful limbs and adapting its small limbs into small hands.
6B: the niyaki body plan, taking on an upright position and using its back legs to hold the entire weight of its body. Forelimbs became fully developed arms and hands, and they use both their forelimbs and midlimbs to hold onto and manipulate objects.
