Lamarckian Dracoworm
From Sagan 4 Alpha Wiki
| Lamarckian Dracoworm | ||
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| (Caelivermis lamarckii) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | OviraptorFan Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Sagan 4 Troposphere, Maineiac Volcanic, Lamarck Rocky, Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Highboreal, Lamarck Temperate Woodland | |
| Size | 40 centimeters long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Exoskeleton (Chitin) | |
| Diet | Young; Filter-Feeder, Adult; Herbivore (Baebula seed bubbles, Maineiac Glasstower fruit, Prutabula seed bubbles, Prutarbor seed bubbles and fruit, Fuzzpile berries, Koddembula seed bubbles, Sappy Pinknose, Mainestalk, Pilunoroot fruit, Supershrooms, Sapshrooms, Larands, Megalarand, Cryobowls fruit), Fliter-Feeder (breeding stage) | |
| Respiration | Semi-Active (Unidirectional Tracheae) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm (Basking) | |
| Reproduction | Sexual (Hermaphrodite, Eggs) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Class Subclass Order Superfamily Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Binucleozoa Symbiovermes (info) Thoracocephalia Optidorsalia Polyptera (info) Criniptera Aeolovermoidea Aeolovermidae Caelivermis Caelivermis lamarckii | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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On the continent of Lamarck, the local population of Bristlemouth Dracoworms had become genetically isolated from other populations. As the continent developed an ecosystem extremely different from Wallace or Barlowe, the local Bristlemouth Dracoworms would change with it, eventually being replaced by their descendant. Known as the Lamarckian Dracoworm, the species lives much like their direct ancestor, and as such is very similar in terms of anatomy.
The lifecycle of the Lamarckian Dracoworm is indeed identical to their ancestor, with the species still starting their lives high up in the atmosphere. The young Lamarckian Dracoworms can still use their feeding appendages to strain the air for aeroplankton, though like their ancestor its less efficient compared to other tropoworms due to the appendages being slightly thicker and less flexible. Despite this, it's still thin enough in the youngsters that they can still live off this kind of diet. Like their ancestors, Lamarckian Dracoworms possess chemoreceptors which help the youngsters with finding the densest patches of aeroplankton in the sky.
Similarly to their ancestor, Lamarckian Dracoworms still possess large eyes along their abdomen which helps with both navigating their environment and detecting predators. The youngsters also still rely on sheer numbers for protection, traveling in massive swarms to decrease the chances of an individual getting singled out by something like an opportunistic Hairy Sky Phlyer. This behavior also suits the young Lamarckian Dracoworms when they begin to descend, having grown large enough after five months in the sky to make the journey. As they descend, the great swarms break up as individual Lamarckian Dracoworms search for an ideal spot to settle down in, though this does mean a good amount of them fall prey to local predators taking advantage of this semi-regular feast. Despite this, the sheer number of youngsters means a good portion of them survive to transition into their adult lives, who stay in one single area for the majority of their lives.
Like the Bristlemouth Dracoworms they evolved from, adult Lamarckian Dracoworms are superb fliers, which allows them to evade the various kinds of predators in the region such as skysnappers and shrogs. Another way they avoid predators is simply by utilizing camouflage, with adult Lamarckian Dracoworms having colors that resemble the abundant orbion trees. While their colors are meant to resemble the leaves and trunks of the orbions, these trees do not make up the diet of the Lamarckian Dracoworms, who instead primarily feed upon the seed bubbles of various terrestrial bubbleweeds. The mouthparts of the adult Lamarckian Dracoworms are well suited for this diet, being robust and armed with rasping teeth to cut their way into the tissues of flora. While the seed bubbles of terrestrial bubbleweeds do make up the majority of their diet, adult Lamarckian Dracoworms will also happily feed on the fruit of various spherophyte species as well as the fruit of cryobowls, larands, and the Mainestalk.
As the Lamarckian Dracoworms have become slightly larger than their ancestor, which helps better retain heat in their generally cooler climate, it takes them a little bit longer to grow and their lifespans are slightly longer. As such, Lamarckian Dracoworm adults will only start to migrate back into the higher atmosphere after about two years or so. When they do begin their migration, however, it is still quite a spectacle as the adults form massive swarms that can block out the sky. While a fair few do fall victim to predators in this crossing, most make it to the higher atmosphere where they then commence courtship behavior. Like their ancestors, Lamarckian Dracoworms will participate in elaborate dances with one another, with both partners judging the other on how long they can keep up the dance. If both are satisfied with the other's performance, they will proceed to copulate and immediately lay their eggs on each other. During the process, the Lamarckian 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 Lamarckian Dracoworms will go their separate ways, but remain in the general swarm.
Like their ancestor, the Lamarckian Dracoworm adults remain in the sky for the rest of their lives once they return to it, keeping the eggs safe from ground predators and thus giving their young the best chances of survival they can get. After around three weeks, the eggs hatch and the young immediately cling to their parent, who at this point have run out of energy reserves and are on the verge of death. The young will cling to their parent for about an hour or two while they get their bearings and 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 Lamarckian Dracoworms, meanwhile, they will begin to descend to the ground once more but with very little control in their direction and speed. If they don't die during the fall, the end of a Lamarckian Dracoworm's life is marked by them smacking into the earth and being killed instantly.
As the Lamarckian Dracoworm feeds primarily upon fruits and seed bubbles, they naturally would ingest the seeds. Since the dracoworms naturally excrete waste fairly frequently so they don't get weighed down in flight, the seeds are often expelled before they can be digested. As such, the Lamarckian Dracoworms have become quite important seed dispersers within Lamarck's interior. Due to their influence, various species of flora ended up colonizing the continent's interior with the terrestrial bubbleweeds in particular becoming breakout stars in the region. Like their ancestors, the Lamarckian Dracoworm also caught the spores of the Megalarand in their bristles and antennae fairly frequently while feeding. If the spores got dislodged at some point and landed in an ideal environment, they grew into new Megalarands and settled the area. The influx of flora did influence the spread of fauna as well, specifically three different species who all spread for different reasons. The first, the Aossi, is a pollinator specialized for the Sappy Pinknose, which ended up getting spread about by the dracoworms. The second, the Fruitsnapper, is a specialized frugivore that primarily feeds on the seed bubbles of terrestrial bubbleweeds who all got spread around by the dracoworms. The last species, the Logcrusher, feeds almost exclusively on orbions and terrestrial bubbleweeds. As the orbions were already abundant in the form of the Tetrabrachs and Vingrasions, the spread of the bubbleweeds was the final temptation for the Logcrushers to spread into new habitats.
Species Spread:
- The Baebula is spread to Maineiac Bush and Lamarck Rocky
- The Maineiac Glasstower is spread to Maineiac Bush and Maineiac Temperate Woodland
- The Prutabula is spread to Lamarck Rocky.
- The Prutarbor is spread to Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Highboreal, and Lamarck Rocky.
- The Fuzzpile is spread to Maineiac Bush and Maineiac Temperate Woodland.
- The Koddembula is spread to Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Lamarck Highboreal, and Lamarck Rocky.
- The Sappy Pinknose is spread to Maineiac Temperate Woodland.
- The Pilunoroot is spread to Maineiac Volcanic.
- The Megalarand is spread to Maineiac Bush and Lamarck Rocky.
- The Aossi expands its range into Maineiac Temperate Woodland, following the Sappy Pinknoses they depend on and pollinate.
- The Logcrusher expands its range into Maineiac Bush, Lamarck Rocky, and Maineiac Temperate Woodland due to the spread of various flora in its diet.
- The Fruitsnapper expands its range into Maineiac Bush, Lamarck Rocky, and Maineiac Temperate Woodland due to the spread of all the flora that make up its diet.