Crystalant

Crystalants are Crystal Desert relatives of the hot climate-dwelling Ant-drake. Their shell grows from purple crystals consumed by the creature, which are then broken down and reconstructed as a protective shell. This leads to the dark grey skinned creatures having a heavy bright purple shell.

Like their Ant-drake cousins, Crystalants have the ability to change size at will to intimidate or fight of predators. Unlike Ant-drakes however, the shell of the Crystalant does not scale with the main body, meaning that a Crystalant that shrinks itself down would be left inside a large empty shell. If a Crystalant grows larger than it's shell would allow, the shell is designed to shatter into thousands of pieces, flying off in all directions like a crystalline shrapnel bomb.

This crystal explosion is usually used to fend off or even kill potential threats to the Crystalant. After this shell has been shattered, the Crystalant has the unexplained ability to reverse the trajectory and momentum of the shards, making them fly back together into a complete shell again. This can only be done if the Crystalant has not moved since shattering it's shell.