Burrowed Snatching Boble

The Burrowed Snatching Boble split from it's ancestor the Needlewing to take on a somewhat different lifestyle becoming a true biennial organism. It's two stages in life are highly distinct from each other.

Similar to it's ancestor it begins life in it's mother's pouch, where it is crammed face up among it's 100+ siblings and will feed on anything dropped into its waiting mouth. After about 4 weeks the infant Boble and it's kin reach a leg length of about 2 cm and are expelled at once from their mother as a single unit. Once exposed this puck writhes apart as the young begin to move their gangly limbs freely for the first time.

At this point the infant Boble has a body less than 1 cm in length, with disproportionately long legs it scampers away from the group to hide from open spaces and search for things smaller than it to eat. Rooting through debris and underbrush for Minikrugg and Vermees, chasing down Teacup Saucebacks and Dartirs, their selection of prey increases in size alongside their own growth. Over the next year it gains a body length of 20 – 30 cm and reaches sexual maturity, at which point it seeks a mate. Females store the sperm for a short period after this.

After mating both males and females switch behavior from actively seeking prey or a mate to finding a secure spot in a sunny location safe from immediate flooding. Once found the spot is dug into and the Boble hunkers down, continuing to excavate often until buried nearly to its eyes. It will not leave this spot again.

It's legs shift position becoming lifted out from underneath. The segments lengthen and the limbs are transformed into precise grasping and striking weapons. Their nobby wings begin growing in size and complexity, allowing them to become developed organs meant for photosynthesis. At full size these wings can bring the length of a Burrowed Snatching Boble to 80 cm from wing tip to belly.

Predation behavior of course has changed as they now wait for prey to wander into their vicinity. Once this has happened it becomes a simple matter of either piercing the hapless beast, or scooping it directly into the Bobles waiting maw. After about 2 weeks if the Boble is female it's young will be done gestating and be transferred into the ribbed pouch. Much of the food captured will be mashed up and fed to them as their growing bodies demand it.

The large number of offspring becomes a very tight wad over time. The mass exerting pressure on the walls of the pouch, eventually the female has enough and shoves then out to start the process again. Often females have enough sperm stored for a second smaller batch of young to be attempted. Often successful, and yielding over all smaller numbers of smaller young, it's still common for a Boble to have begun their second batch too late and peter out before completion.

Their nostril tail has developed longer defensive needles that cover it's length in clumps. Alongside this physical defense the skin and wings of the Boble contain various poisons that trigger major digestive evacuation in many adventurous predators. Their insides however lack it, leaving them rather defenseless if skinned. If one were captured to be eaten, and their skin managed to be removed, the inner tissue would have the texture of a rambutan, and the flavor of pig fat soaked in kale juice.

Their eyes are perched atop their flat head to allow comfortable sight and focus on objects of interest while staying flat to the ground. When blinking their eyes can be seen to shift somewhat into their skull. Males transform during their second year like the females, rather than simply dying or continuing on in a neotenous state, due to two selections; removal from competing with juveniles, and more importantly to be decoys and dilute the female ratio in potential predators hunting grounds. By replicating the practice of burying themselves like females they decrease the likelihood of a predator biting into and damaging a female, while still learning avoidance of the distasteful organism when munching on a male. Though they do compete somewhat with their sisters males lack a large clutch to rear and so rely far more heavily on their photosynthesis, granting much of the passing potential prey peace.