Bristlemouth Dracoworm
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The bristlemouth dracoworm split off from their ancestor, evolving from populations that originally descended from the skies and began to live around the less populated islands around Barlowe. There, the lack of predators and competition allowed them to thrive, and they would transition from a diet of aeroplankton to a diet of flora. Though these populations originally evolved around these islands, they would then spread to other regions, like mainland Barlowe, Manieac, and even Dixon.
The start of a bristlemouth dracoworm's life is similar to how their ancestors live, spending their time high up in the atmosphere. Here, they can use their feeding appendages to strain the air for aeroplankton. The appendages are still thin but are slightly thicker than their ancestor's feeding appendages, which does make them a bit less flexible and thus their filter feeding less efficient, but it still works well enough. The chemoreceptors inherited from their ancestors help these youngsters with finding the densest patches of aeroplankton in the sky. The bristlemouth dracoworms also have an advantage over their ancestor in terms of navigation due to possessing large eyes on their abdomen, compared to the smaller eyes seen in their ancestors and the herbivorous tropoworm's complete lack of eyes. This means the youngsters can watch the skies around them for potential predators such as the soaring phlyer. Because they can see them coming, the youngsters can use their superior agility to avoid them, even if the Soaring Phlyer can easily catch them in a straight chase. Another defense the youngsters have is sheer numbers, gathering together in large groups in a similar fashion to other tropoworms so the chances of a single individual being picked out as a target drops significantly.
After about four months like this, the youngsters will have grown big enough to progress to the next stage in their lives. The young bristlemouth dracoworms will all descend from the skies enmasse, heading down towards the ground as they search for an ideal spot to settle. During this mass migration, many youngsters will fall victim to predators waiting for this feast literally raining down from the sky, but there are so many of them that a good portion survive this descent. A bristlemouth dracoworm will seek out an ideal habitat to settle down in, preferring rainforests, woodlands, and scrub. Once they settle down in a spot, they will spend the majority of their life in that one area, developing into their adult forms.
Unlike the long extinct ramul surfaceworm, bristlemouth dracoworms are still great fliers. This is because flight is a more effective way of getting around than squirming about on the substrate would be. The ability to fly also helps the adults with evading predators since while some adults do settle on islands with no other large fauna and thus have nothing to worry about, plenty more settle down in places with several different kinds of predators which in turn mean they have to remain alert. Since there are very few airborne microbes close to the ground, if there are any at all, adult bristlemouth dracoworms shift their diet towards feeding on flora. This can be seen through the thinner appendages of the youngster becoming much thicker and robust, with the bristles becoming akin to rasping teeth to cut their way into the tissues of flora. The main kinds of flora that are eaten by adult bristlemouth dracoworms are melanophytes and larands, though the fruits and berries of various flora also make up a significant portion of their diet. In areas where the two coexist, the lungflora also makes up a good portion of their diet, with a bristlemouth dracoworm boring their way through the stretchy sack and eating the lungflora from the inside out.
After about one and a half years of this lifestyle, the bristlemouth dracoworms will once again undergo a mass exodus. This time, however, the adults will leave behind the area they had settled in and return to the upper atmosphere. In this reverse migration, many adults will fall prey to predators waiting for their arrival, but their sheer numbers mean a good portion will make it into the sky. Up in the atmosphere, bristlemouth dracoworms will participate in elaborate mating rituals, with individuals performing elaborate dances. In such dances, those that keep up with each other for an extended period of time will then copulate and lay their eggs on eachother. As they lay their eggs, the bristlemouth dracoworms also excrete a sticky secretion at the same time which quickly hardens once exposed to the air, keeping the eggs in place so they aren't blown away. With the eggs laid upon them, the two bristlemouth dracoworms will go their separate ways, but remain in the general swarm. This is due to the fact that once the bristlemouth dracoworms return to the skies to breed, they will remain up there for the rest of their lives. Having the eggs stick onto the abdomen of adult bristlemouth dracoworms who in turn stay in the sky for their entire development came with some major advantages; since there are no large areal flora to lay eggs upon and laying eggs upon the ground like their ancestors and relatives have been forced to would massively increase the rise of the eggs being eaten by predators.
While staying in the air greatly benefits the eggs, for the adults it marks the beginning of the end due to the fact they are no longer adapted to live up there full time. The feeding appendages and chemoreceptive feelers can strain the air for aeroplankton to a small degree, but it's nowhere near as efficient as typical tropoworms or even young members of their species which in turn means the adult will be primarily relying upon the energy reserves they built up from their time living close to the ground. For the whole duration of the egg's development, which is about two weeks, the adults carrying will gradually weaken in condition since they are not getting enough food. Once their incubation is complete, the young Bristlemouth Dracoworms will hatch out of their eggs and cling to their parent. Holding on for around an hour or two while they get their bearings. During this time, they will beat their wrinkled up wings so they can unfold and thus be usable for flight. After the wings are fully primed for flight, the youngsters will detach from their parent and fly off, being fully independent from then on. For the adult bristlemouth dracoworms, meanwhile, they will begin to descend to the ground once more. This time, however, there is relatively little control on where they go since at this point they are in the process of dying. Indeed, their end destination does not end with them gradually slowing their descent to gently land on a branch but instead smacking into the earth at high speed and dying on impact if they aren't dead already.
The spores of the megalarand and lungflora were quite prone to getting caught in the bristles and antennae of adult bristlemouth dracoworms as they fed on the adult flora. Some of these do get eaten, but more often than not they will remain stuck on the antennae or bristles for quite some time. These spores can sometimes remain attached even when the bristlemouth dracoworms return to the skies to breed, only to then sometimes be caught on the bristles of newly hatched bristlemouth dracoworms as they spend about an hour or two getting their bearings. Once again, a fair amount of the spores that get caught will get eaten, but a small portion of them will remain unnoticed even when the individual begins to descend towards the surface so it can settle down. If the spores are lucky, they might get detached and land in an ideal habitat, germinating into a new flora. This in turn has allowed the megalarand and lungflora to massively expand their range.
Species Spread
- Megalarand is spread into Martyk Chaparral, Barlowe Chaparral, and Maineiac Volcanic.