Loafspear
| Loafspear | ||
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| (Panemvermis doryognathus) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | OviraptorFan Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Yokto Subpolar Riparian, Yokto Montane Riparian, Yokto Subpolar Stream, Yokto Montane River, Bono Flood Caves (Photic) (Photic) (seasonal visitors) | |
| Size | 1.3 meters long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Endoskeleton (Chitin) | |
| Diet | Adult: Carnivore (Sailmail tadpoles, Pierced-Snout Feef, Wriggletail Chromoleoxus, Mud Slayer juveniles and subadults, Gloom Slayer, Two-Eyed Volox, Bono Glowogg, Sloshbelly, Hammerhead Shocker, Seashellsnapper tadpoles and juveniles, Migrating Glowsnapper tadpoles and juveniles, Larvaback, Scuttlers (larger species), Grabbyswarmers (larger species), Miniswarmers (larger species), Cavepedes (larger species), Dimorphic Grabswarmer); Larva: Scavenger | |
| Respiration | Active (Microlungs) | |
| Thermoregulation | Endotherm (Feathers) | |
| Reproduction | Sexual (Two Sexes, Ovoviviparous) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Clade Subphylum Superclass Class Clade Subclass Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Binucleozoa Symbiovermes (info) Thoracocephalia Coluripoda Vermitheria (info) Cephalischia (info) Dromeodonta Eudromeodonta Neodromeodonta Panemverma Panivermidae Panemvermis Panemvermis doryognathus | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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While the loafshell did associate with bodies of water and hunted a fair amount of aquatic prey, one population would split off to specialize for this lifestyle, eventually giving rise to the loafspear. This species of sauceback is a specialized hunter for aquatic prey, mostly wading around in shallow water and waiting for the right moment to strike. Since the loafspear is blind, like the vast majority of both living and extinct saucebacks, the species can't really watch for prey so it relies on a different tactic. While the dense coat of feathers that provides insulation does not extend to the final leg segment of the loafspear like other varieties of loafshells, feathers are still present on this segment in the form of long wiry whiskers. The follicles these whiskers grow in are packed with nerves, allowing the loafspear to pick up tiny vibrations within the water they stand in, which the loafspear then uses to determine where something might be in the water and whether it is in the right size range to be worth attacking.
If something in the water is indeed worth hunting, the loafspear calculates the direction it is heading and aims to where it predicts the target will go, before then rapidly lunging forwards with their mandibles. The neck muscles of the loafspear are larger than in their ancestor, giving them more power in their lunge, while the mandibles have become more resistant to high impact stresses and are straighter than in most loafshells. This all culminates in the loafspear using their mandibles to impale the target, often going right through the victim and killing it very quickly. Having made their catch, the loafspear will head onto land to process the meal, using their claw-like hooves to pin down the meal and rip it off their mandibles. Since these mandibles are not designed for processing a kill, the loafspear mostly uses their hooves to crudely tear it apart before swallowing the chunks whole. The larger size of the loafspear compared to its ancestor allows it to consume larger chunks of meat as well as hunting larger game than a loafshell ever could tackle.
While the species may be an effective hunter, the loafspear can also find itself becoming potential prey to other predators in the area. Baron signaltails, bannertails, and drakeshrog all opportunistically hunt the loafspear, which has caused a few notable changes in the species. As their spear-like mandibles and powerful strikes are more than enough to deal with prey, the venom of a loafspear is now almost exclusively used as an anti-predator mechanism. This in turn resulted in the composition of the venom changing, becoming primarily a cytotoxin with only small amounts of hemotoxins. Such a dangerous cocktail is expensive to make, so the loafspear would rather fend off threats through intimidation when it can, using their brightly colored face as visual warning. On land, the sauceback can utilize echolocation very well, meaning it can keep its "eyes" upon a threat and respond if it ignores the warnings and attacks. If a predator does attack, the mandibles normally used to impale smaller game can be used to jab into the hide of the predator with great force, before the sauceback secretes the venom into the wound and backing off. The cytotoxin causes immediate pain and cell death, which when combined with the stab wound is usually enough to drive away a threat. The hemotoxins still stop the clotting of blood, which in turn makes the wound susceptible to infection since the concentrations of the hemotoxins aren't enough to actually cause the predator to bleed out. All of this together means that predatory snappers and shrogs usually avoid a loafspear when they can help it, as they are particularly dangerous prey.
While a loafspear has such dangerous weapons against predators, the saucebacks do not use these on each other. Being primarily solitary, loafshells will typically have their own section of the river that they guard from intruders, who they will try to intimidate with loud clicks and growls. If food is particularly abundant however, usually during the wet season, these territories break down since there is plenty to go around. This also coincides with the species' mating season, with males trying to win the attention of a female by elaborate and noisy dances. If two males want to mate with the same female, they will often settle the score by fighting each other, using the spurs on their limbs to deal nasty lacerations into their opponent. Like other loafshells, female loafspears are ovoviviparous, retaining the eggs inside their bodies until they hatch internally, though development will actually not begin until the wet season ends. This in turn results in the larvae being born at around the end of the dry season, where the mother will seek out a carcass to give birth into. The larvae possess fully developed pinnae and a segmented carapace like the adults, but they will spend the first part of their lives within a carcass slowly devouring it. When a month old, they will leave whatever remains of the carcass and bury themselves into the dirt, promptly beginning to undergo metamorphosis. Relying on the fat reserves they built up from eating the carcass, the larvae take about two months of additional development to emerge out of the soil as miniature versions of the adults.
While the loafspear spends the majority of their time around rivers, they also regularly travel into the Bono Flood Caves during the dry season. Here, there is a fair abundance of prey and no predators to speak of, which allow the loafspears to thrive as the dominant predators of the photic zone. Once the wet season arrives and water levels rise, however, the loafspears are forced out of the caves and return to living around the rivers.