Dwarf Trailblazers
| Dwarf Trailblazers | ||
|---|---|---|
| (Neocurcumeuntibus spp.) | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
| Information | ||
| Creator | Colddigger Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Wallace, Kosemen | |
| Size | 18-20 cm diameter (Queen), 1-2 cm long (King, Forager, Nurse), 4-7 cm long (Rickshaw), 8-16 cm long (Quill), 5-8 cm long (Warrior) | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Cellulose (Jointed Wood Endoskeleton) | |
| Diet | Scavenger, Omnivore (Fruits, Seeds, Small Fauna) | |
| Respiration | Active (Lungs) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual, 2 Sexes, Live Birth, Hive (1 Queen) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Superkingdom Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Class Subclass Superorder Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Viridisagania Mancerxa Phytozoa (info) Chloropodia (info) Phyllauria (info) Xylodonta (info) Formicomures Megadelphiformes Curcumeuntibidae Neocurcumeuntibus Neocurcumeuntibus spp. | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
Dwarf trailblazers split from their ancestor the trailblazer and rapidly speciated, spreading across Wallace and Koseman. This rapid speciation was aided by the fact that their reproductive caste may be produced within the first year of the life of a colony, and in mature colonies clutches of virgin queens and kings may be created multiple times a year. Many characteristics and behaviors between dwarf trailblazers and their ancestor are comparable.
The colony is based around a breeding pair, a large rotund, upside down, and immobile queen and a small king that hides in her mouth. Brood are live-birthed from her mouth and scooted to the edges of her lips and snout. There they instinctively clasp onto their mother to hang and be fed by the colony. As they age they are moved across her sides and back, with the oldest larvae maturing near her buttnostril tail. Both worker and soldier larvae perform the role of food and water processing and storage for the colony.
Though the queen herself is immobile a rickshaw caste exists to carry her and the large portion of the colony directly associated with her. Two other members are perched atop of the queen. First the nurse caste who watch over the brood, feeding them and moving them, meticulously crawl all over their queen making sure she is clean and fed herself. They divvy up stored rations for any members who need it and regularly clean any colony members within reach. Second the quill caste, also immobile, they are stuck to the queens belly facing up and out. They are placed as a larva by a nurse and hold tight to that spot for the rest of their lives. Their long thin limbs and snouts act as sharp deterrents to any would-be predators. If stuck to a predator they will invert their digestive system and spill caustic acid over the pucture wounds.
Beyond this cluster of bodies, all clasped together, are the free moving members of the colony, the foragers and the soldiers. The foragers are tiny, fast, and expendable. At only 1 centimeter with their legs stretched they are truly small, and very quick to develop. Though like in their ancestor much of their time is spend individually gathering morsels of food to bring back to the brood for processing and storage, dwarf trailblazer foragers will work together to tear apart or dismantle food sources into more manageable sizes. The soldier caste is armored, their head and front limbs forming a three pointed pincer for puncturing larger attackers, and the ends of their front limbs often are reinforced and sharp for attacking foreign colonies.
Communication between members of The colony is primarily through sound, clicking from the mouth, which has no real air-based vocalization, and whistling or tooting from the buttnostril. Foragers will use these sounds to dictate where they are relative to one another, as well as coordinating how to take apart or move a piece of food that an individual cannot deal with. Soldiers will perform similarly, although tend to remain silent during warring between colonies in order to prevent their enemy from responding to their movements. The king is able to beckon to the nurse cast that new brood has been born and needs to be cared for or moved. These are just a few examples of the many different ways that the casts will communicate among themselves or between each other.
The cast that has the most sway on the behavior of the colony, outside of responding to dangers, are the brood. Being the storage cast essentially makes them the determining Factor for how much food supply or water supply is actually available for immediate use to the colony. Their squeaking can trigger foragers to more aggressively seek out food sources, water sources, or even trigger the rickshaw to prematurely move the colony to a new location if there needs cannot be met.
Typical movement of the colony by the rickshaw is periodic. Rest often lasts two maybe three days, however some species will get up and move multiple times a day, others may rest for much longer. The direction the rickshaws take is normally dictated by forager signaling, as the foragers act as scouts for new areas abundance in whatever resource they need. They will respond to calls by the king or queen, most often dictating dangers in the area and may result in hunkering down or faster attempts to escape, and may as well respond to soldier calls to determine where dangers are located around them beyond their own senses of the world.
For those species found in seasonal environments with winters cold enough to pose an issue the most common approach is to find an abandoned burrow that can fit the queen. If an abandoned burrow cannot be found then the next best thing is to oust the resident of a hole that has been found. It is of course is more dangerous and often will result in a few lost soldiers. During the winter the majority of members will huddle around the queen in this burrow and use muscle produced heat to raise the temperature of the group. During this time brewed production is halted and those that do exist on the queen are gradually drained of their food and then consumed themselves until spring. During breaks from the cold foragers may venture out to find morsels to bring back, but as winter continues on and they're brood lessons in number this process is not as profitable.
Life for virgin queens and kings start out fairly similar as wanderers. The virgin queen being accompanied by a handful of foragers that will bring her food, the virgin king being alone. Once a forager finds a king it will guide him to the accompanied queen and they'll form a new colony. One difference is that the king participate in brood care early on in the life of the colony prior to the establishment of nurses. During this early period The colony may be hidden in hollows found within logs, under rocks, or in abandoned burrows. Prior to the rapid growth of the queen, brood that the king cares for is simply placed near her where they will hold on but not necessarily hang off of their mother. The various hormonal triggers found in the trailblazer still occur in this group, so the first batch of workers become nurses and lift that job away from the king who then focuses on care for the queen to help in her rapid growth.
