Dragonworms

Dragonworms split from their ancestor and diversified. They have taken up carnivory, using a hunting strategy similar to that of both a dragonfly and a centipede where they catch their prey in mid-air by wrapping their many-legged abdomen around it. Unlike their ancestor, they are very strong fliers, and their wing segment is quite bulky in proportion to the rest of their body to fit large wing muscles. Their leech-like three jaws are fully external and modified for biting and tearing flesh, and their mouths can no longer create significant suction. A mutation has placed an eye on the wing segment, allowing them to detect when their prey makes an evasive maneuver and adjust accordingly.

To hunt, dragonworms perch on some kind of flora using their many legs and watch the sky with their many eyes. When they see a potential prey item, they let go of their perch and take off. They aim to fly above their prey, and they swing their abdomen forwards to snatch it from the air. Still in flight, they wrap their body around their prey and drop to the ground, hidden from their own predators so that they may consume their catch in peace.

Dragonworms breed several times a year. Like nearly all flight-capable wingworms, they have wings as hatchlings and can fly all throughout their lives. Juveniles usually hunt even smaller wingworms, but the smallest species have few food options at such a young age and will also scavenge.

Dragonworms lack the ability to spray odor. The odor glands are tiny and instead secrete pheromones. However, the “nozzle” structure remains quite large. On close inspection, the pheromone gland is off to one side while a membrane of skin stretches over the inside of the tube. Part of the respiratory system runs under here, and the membrane is sensitive to vibration. The dragonworms have transformed their odor-spewing nozzle into a primitive ear, complete with a mobile ear canal.

There are many species of dragonworm. They vary mostly in size and color, but some species have more robust jaws for crushing shell-winged worms and others have longer jaws for more effectively grappling with smaller prey. Temperate species are migratory and those in Koseman and the temperate islands are capable of soaring over short stretches of ocean. They cannot survive in alpine or subpolar conditions; otherwise, they are present anywhere in Wallace or Koseman and the surrounding islands where other kinds of wingworm can be found.