Blood Tropofly

The blood tropofly split from its ancestor. It has claimed the untaken niche of feasting on the blood of sky-dwelling phlyers. As this requires exposing itself more to travel between food sources, it has become considerably smaller so that it can grow quickly and spend more energy on reproducing as much as possible. It still feeds on cloudgrass, but it gets much of the same nutrients and more from eating the trichomes of hairy sky phlyers. Like its ancestor it can rest on cloudgrass, but it will also rest among hairy sky phlyer trichomes, holding on using its antennae and tails.

Unlike its ancestor, the blood tropofly lays its eggs on fauna as well as flora. Its favorite host is the hairy sky phlyer, as its trichomes prevent the eggs from falling out. Larvae feed on blood, skin, and trichomes. They reach full size in just a few weeks and fly off to mate and lay eggs of their own, continuing to feed on blood all the while.

The blood tropofly is a necessary component to the sky ecosystem. This is because it brings nutrients from flying creatures to sky flora which consume the fly. Though the phlyers eat other sky organisms and don't bring much nutrients into the sky themselves, much of the nutrients are ultimately lost when they defecate; the blood tropofly slows this process. As a result of its contribution, the sky ecosystem has become more stable, though it has a long way to go before it can become as lush and diverse as its predecessors.