Chupamusaraña

On the small continent of Drake, various species of bubbleskin have evolved in relative isolation from the rest of their kin over the course of countless generations. As one might expect, they have diversified and spread throughout the landmass, each species tending to specialize on gorging themselves upon the blood of their own particular prey. In general, this has typically consisted of the various plent species that flourish upon the island, as well as the offspring of some of the smaller signaltail species. However, rather recently on the evolutionary timescale, a distant family of shrews have come to call the island home, and already their impact on the local ecosystems can be felt throughout the continent. Descendants of the globally spanning seashrogs, these shrogs possess greater intelligence, high adaptability, and a penchant for rapidly diversifying, shaping and dominating every habitat they encounter. And unlike the bubble-wrapped scales of the blood shrew descendants known as bubbleskins, the fur of these shrews allows them to better handle the cooler climes and colder winters of Drake with a much greater efficiency. It would seem that, outside of the solitary giants like the polar baron and its kin, these shrew newcomers would displace the hemophagous bubbleskins as some of the top predators, or at least so it had seemed up until relatively recently.

Anatomy
Having split from its ancestor over the course of several thousand years, the chupamusaraña has, in comparison to most of its kin, evolved a larger, more robust form in response to the various large shrogs now native throughout Drake. Their foreclaws have become larger, and their forelimbs have become thicker and muscular in order to provide greater force when the claws are used to pierce into the hides of their prey. Their rear legs have become stockier which supports their weight, while the bubble scales that adorn them have shrunken in size in order to provide greater flexibility in the toes. The heads also possess this reduced size in scales, though to a much greater extent, as an evolutionary adaptation to their messy diets - smaller, smoother scales are easier to keep clean than larger, bulker ones, especially given how bloody their meals are.

The numerous bubble-wrapped scales that adorn the skin of this species are slightly iridescent. This occurs due to, while under the right light conditions, the minute amounts of oil that coat these bubble-wrapped scales causing them to take on a wide hue of colors. Because the concentrations of these oils and the size of the bubble-wrapped scales differ between individuals, no two chupamusarañas may bear the same pattern. In addition, the bubble-wrapped "feathers", which are larger, more specialized types of bubble-wrapped scales, tend to have the most vibrant colors due to greater presence of oils on them due to the glands that secrete them being found in greater numbers near their "roots". The primary function of this oil is to keep the scales of all kind clean as well as make it more difficult for parasites to attach themselves.

While newborns and juveniles possess relatively smooth, if still somewhat bumpy, domes upon their heads, it is the adults, who upon reaching sexual maturity, come to bear an impressive pair of bony crests. Serving as attachment points for several powerful jaw muscles, the primary purpose of this structure is for both communication and as a form of sexual display. Numerous blood vessels located just below the skin can be expanded as excess blood is pumped into them, causing the skin to turn a deep crimson and, more importantly, become a hotspot for the infrared vision that all bubbleskins possess. As most non-bubbleskins are incapable of detecting this, it serves as an effective means of communication, especially when it comes to attracting a mate - healthy individuals can afford to expend this excess heat, while sicklier ones cannot.

Of interest is the reemergence of a nipple-like structure - though more akin to a patch of skin - within the pouches of females. While not directly related to those their distant ancestors, having in this case evolved from a modified oil gland found within the lining of the pouch, it produces a rich, if fatty, milk-like substance that their young can lap from. It will keep them nourished for the first month of their life, after which they will begin to turn to blood-based meals. Typically large enough to allow up to three offspring to feed from, any more than that would be unsustainable, and in such cases one of the offspring will likely be bullied off and eventually die starvation or exposure if pushed out of the pouch.

Unlike other bubbleskins, the chupamusaraña have evolved ocular structures not unlike the tapeta lucida of many carnivorous earth vertebrates. As a retroreflector, these surfaces are quite capable at reflecting light, giving this species eyeshine at night as well as significantly improved low-light vision, a useful adaptation to hunting at either dusk or dawn.

Vision
The eyesight of the chupamusaraña is, like that of all bubbleskins, quite a remarkable thing. Besides the typical color vision that they share with most other shrews - now enhanced by the presence of tapeta lucida-like retroreflectors - they also possess two pairs of more specialized, sensitive eyes capable of seeing what others cannot. This is most apparent with the first pair of specialized eyes, which are capable of detecting infrared. This capacity to detect thermal energy has been refined over countless generations, and is sensitive enough to detect the body heat produced by most fauna, though it has some difficulty detecting small ectothermic life. As long as there is not too much in the way to interfere, such as dense foliage, a chupamusaraña can see nearly as far away at night as it can during the day. This is especially effective when hunting on the night of a full moon, a time when the light of Mason isn't present and thus even normal low-light vision cannot effectively function, especially if it is during the dead of night.

The second set of specialized eyes, however, do not detect infrared, but something else entirely. While it is said that the original bubbleskins could detect bioelectric signals and even see the nervous system of their prey if close enough, this is nowhere near as refined or as potent within this lineage. Instead, they are able to detect very faint electric fields, and even make out the faint patterns produced by all life. While this is not sufficient for hunting, it can, on occasion, help them find prey hidden from normal sight, such as something buried under loose soil. This however only works if they are within a meter or less of them. It would seem that this form of vision may be on its way out, though evolutionary there are no major pressures being placed upon it.

Diet
Unlike the rest of their kin, the chupamusaraña have evolved a taste for shrew blood, preferring it to that of plents. This does not mean they have abandoned the latter prey entirely, as juveniles will still hunt small phlyers much as their ancestors did. It is only now that, once they are fully grown, they instead prefer larger prey, with shrogs in particular being a common target. They have not developed a taste for other bubbleskins, but have also begun to include other large prey items besides shrogs, such as various species of signaltails and saucebacks. While they primarily feed on just the blood of larger organisms, the vice-like pressure of their jaws is more than capable of liquidating the internal organs of smaller prey. While they have some difficulty digesting more solid foods, this "organ juice" is more than palatable to them, and serves to provide them with essential vitamins and minerals that blood alone cannot provide.

In addition to the typical hemophagous diet which it shares with other members of its group, this species of bubbleskin in particular will also engage in the gnawing and even the outright consumption of the smaller bones of other shrews. They do this in order to acquire the precious calcium within them, a substance that is necessary for supporting their internal bone structures and such. Pregnant females in particular are known for engaging in this behavior as they need the extra calcium for their developing offspring.

Hunting Strategy
Chupamusarañas are nocturnal predators, though distinct populations are also active during the times of early dawn and late dusk. While under the cover of darkness, they are unmatched in their role as predators, with their advanced vision allowing them to stalk prey items that would normally be seen as too large for species of their size. This includes the various shrogs, saucebacks, and other such prey species of Drake upon which these bubbleskins hunt as they, for the most part, are diurnal by nature. As such, at night they are quite vulnerable to predation. Moving slowly and steadily, they can sneak up upon them and then, with a sudden strike, puncture their foreclaws deep into the flesh of their prey as they aim for major blood vessels. Should their aim be true, most prey will bleed out within seconds, making for an easy kill. Should they miss, however, they can also rely upon their vice-like jaws to finish them off. While the enlarged fangs are mostly just a sexual display now, their powerful jaw muscles allow them to crush the bones of shrogs quite efficiently, meaning that should they manage to wrap their jaws around the throat of one, it will not last long at all.

Many shrogs have evolved tool use, such as spears, for both hunting and defense. For most predatory species, this can prove a dangerous proposition to consider hunting them, but not for chupamusarañas. While they would normally hunt them while they sleep, should they come across an awake one, they are more than capable of standing their ground. The wooden spears of most shrogs, sharpened to the point where they can pierce unguarded flesh, have found their foil in the hides of these bubbleskins. A completely unintentional evolutionary defense, but the bubble-wrapped scales, being hard due to their keratinized structure and possessing a smooth, rounded shape, are quite capable at deflecting weaker pokes and instead turning them into glancing blows, though typically at the cost of the scales themselves. Should a shrog or some other clawed species attempt to dig its nails into their hides instead, they will find an excellent grip, though perhaps too much of one. If their claws should penetrate the bubble-wrapped scales, their tough yet flexible nature makes it difficult to free oneself from them. It is not unheard for individual chupamusarañas to be seen bearing the withered, desiccated husk of a forelimb stuck onto their sides, its owner having long since died and rotted off but the limb too well stuck to have become detached on its own. Such events though will come to an end when those scales are inevitably shed so that new ones underneath can grow in.

Mating & Reproduction
The mating process for the chupamusaraña begins with a male specimen building up nests, typically composed of numerous fallen branches and small trees such as those of ferines, arranged into several spires. The materials utilized have been placed tightly against one another, and are subsequently held in place by having been carefully bitten - and thus crushed - until they have been partially pulped and stuck together against one another. These nests can be over three to four meters in height, and are adorned with various bones of shrogs and similarly sized species, with the most prized ones containing the bones of adult baron signaltails or, on very rare occasions, those of very lost polar barons. While rarely are all these bones the results of kills the male has made, they do serve to indicate a capable hunter, since not only is it able to build, guard, and maintain a sizeable nest, but also continue to hunt as well. If a female approaches the nest, the male will begin a mating display involving stomping in place, raising its forelimbs above its head, spinning in place, and flushing its crests with blood. While seemingly a silent affair, in truth a cacophony of low-frequency sounds are present, which primarily only bubbleskins can detect. Should the female be interested, she will replicate his movements, after which the mating will occur over the course of several hours. Following this, both individuals will go their separate ways, with the male in particular returning to his nest so as to attract further mates.

After a gestation period of roughly two months, the females will give birth to one or two underdeveloped offspring. Blind, pink, and with only a thin coating of bubble-wrapped scales, they are essentially helpless and must crawl there ways into the mother's pouch. They will lap from the nipple-patch, growing strong and putting on weight at a rapid pace. The milk is not nearly as nutritious as that of other shrews, primarily due to the mother's primarily sanguineous diet, but it provides a much needed boost for the growing newborns and also helps them develop strong bones from an early age. Within little over a month, they will begin to resemble smaller, leaner versions of the adults, though they are lacking in crests and still retain a pinkish hue. They will begin to leave the pouch at this point for brief periods of time, and will be nourished now by partially digested blood which the mother will regurgitate for them. Within a year the young will have developed a darker coloration and be large enough to go off on their own, and within two or three more they will be large enough to begin mating on their own.