Arid Shrubland/Grassland biome

Ancient reddit post that I'm bringing back with some newer ideas. The arid shrub-land is kind of a cross between the savanna and the desert, with it's own unique ideas.

Let's start with some crude example textures/builds I made: https://imgur.com/a/H1KFe. 1st block is the salt block - these would be found in medium-sized completely flat areas in the biome. Salt blocks could be harvested for salt, a cooking ingredient maybe, a way to bleach blocks back to their white variant, and maybe even an ingredient in creating clay/terracotta tiles, a new building block that would come in different colours + slabs and stairs (I think it has already been suggested, I'm just adding in a crafting recipe). Near salt blocks could be found springs, small bodies of water that would contain life such as tall grass/flowers and living trees (see later). The rest of the biome would be made of a combination of grass, coarse dirt, sand and 'sandy grass'. Foliage in these areas would consist of mainly 2 plants (along with tall/double tall grass) - the yucca plant, a minor source of food but with good saturation and ability to grow on sandy grass/sand like cacti. There would also be small cacti, a plant-block version of the cacti capable of harming mobs/players but also harvesting for 'prickly pears' another minor food source.

Trees can be found, but often dead and without leaves. those with leaves will likely be a new species - the baobab - thick, acacia like trees which have water-sources inside them. Baobab logs will have a dark black-brown bark but planks will be a quite light brown. There could also be the odd shrub as well, like those that can be found in the jungle biome. Trees and shrubs will be consecrated around springs.

The terrain would have large areas of flat land, with the odd large hill. Through these hills we could get 'cliff valleys' - rivers that have eroded steep cliffs down to the ground level. A bit like wider ravines with water flowing through. At the top of hills rock/stained clay can often also show through the grass. another terrain feature would be the 'stacks' or 'arches' of sandstone. essentially layers of sandstone that have resisted erosion and stick out of the earth, sometimes with grass on top. a bit like tors if you know what one of those is :/

Structures would include the biome's own type of village, which would have a sort of Mediterranean theme to it. Roofs would be made out of the above mentioned clay tiles and walls out of bricks and stained clay. there's another style house that can be seen through the imgur link.

Finally unique mobs, which I've kind of struggled on since I'm not the best with coming up with them. A quick idea I had was the 'dune beetle' a passive mob unless attacked, dune beetles have the ability to 'bury' themselves like silverfish but into nearby sand/dirt blocks. A possible mechanic could be that, if fed prickly pears/yucca fruit, the dune beetle could bury down and bring up resources, usually junk but sometimes useful. That or burying down into the nearest cave making it easier for miners.

That's all my ideas for now, may come back and edit this post later, here's the original reddit post if anyone's interested:  https://www.reddit.com/r/minecraftsuggestions/comments/88dboo/arid_shrubland_biome_with_unique_plantsblocks/