Pohono Flora and Fauna

[zeis]

Alright! This thread is for ideas that people have about native plants and animals that exist on Pohono. This can be anything from a species of animal to a type of plant or fruit, or even setting on names for things that already exist. Like the names of the big Chydyn nuts, or the trees that bear them. I know some people have already referrenced some critters in their posts so put some info about them here, or make suggestions about things you'd like to see. That way everyone can get involved in world building.

Feel free to be creative, and have fun with it. You can even offer info ICly if you want. For example, you could have a description or even drawings of the character done by a zoologist or botanist from Spiderland!

Things to keep in mind. Simourv and Koxi are currently the largest known species on Pohono. Most of the native non-introduced wildlife is much smaller, and insectoid in appearance. Also, ideas for creatures will need to be approved by staff before they're accepted officially into the game, but once they are they're here to stay.

So go nuts, and be creative.

[Kilnarak]

The lizards Niraan hunts in the "hunting lessons" thread with Kenii, based on the critters in SotC~ Is okay? All I had before was what they looked like, pretty much...

---

Common Name: White-Tail Lizard (Tetridiagnathus Caudophalarus)


Size: Usually between 6 in and 12 in


Physical Characteristics: White-Tail Lizards are small reptilian creatures, primarily a glossy black in coloration, only acquiring their namesake white tails upon adulthood. Juveniles are entirely black in color, their tails paling slowly over time until they reach a creamy white color at full maturity. They usually have six spindly limbs, however mutations have been seen with only vestigial limbs in more aquatic environments - these mutations may constitute an entirely new subspecies. Their eyes are very large in proportion to their head, bulbous and faceted like those of an insect. While it is difficult to see when they are resting, when the lizards yawn or open their mouth wide one will see that their jaws divide into four segments - a top, a bottom, and two mandible-like sides. Their teeth are found on the side-portions, small sharp exposed ridges fused to the bone of the jaw. Females are generally larger than males, although not by more than an inch or so. There is very little sexual dimorphism between males and females.


Behavior: White-Tail Lizards are generally non-aggressive and would prefer to flee from threats than fight. If captured, however, they will bite - their teeth are so small that they are not able to cause much damage to anything human-sized. They will attack 'prey' animals - smaller reptiles, insects, mammals, etc. - that get close to them, however they usually will not actively hunt anything other than insects. They are often found sunning on warm rocks or tree branches, and will generally hold still and wait for food to come to them. In motion, however, they can move startlingly quickly - their small clawed limbs are particularly adept at scaling sheer rock faces or tree trunks. They are sometimes seen as pests to humans, particularly in orchards and to those that raise poultry - the lizards will eat fruits if they can get at them, and will also break open and eat the eggs of most birds.

-Diet: They are primarily insectivores, however they will also other small animals (anything that will fit in their mouth), eggs, and fallen fruit when available.

-Reproduction: White-Tail Lizards are ovoviviparous, hatching their eggs internally at giving birth to live young. Newborns are roughly a centimeter in length, however they grow fairly quickly and can reach adult size in a little over a year. Females will generally birth small clutches of between three to five young. A mated pair will remain together until the eggs hatch, creating a den together. The female will usually remain stationary in the den after it is made, with the male bringing back food for her. After the young are born, however, the female will chase the male away and care for her young on her own. Males are known to sometimes eat their own young, viewing the much smaller lizards as prey. Young will leave their mother's den - either of their own accord, or by being chased away - when they are roughly 1/4 of their adult size. A female can bear roughly four clutches over the course of a year, and will generally choose a new mate each time. Courtship usually involves a sort of 'dance' and the display of the lizards' namesake, their tails - both partners seem to prefer bulkier tails, likely as signs of good health. Males will also bring small food-gifts to the female during courtship, although these gifts would hardly be more than a morsel.

-Social Structure: While the White-Tail Lizards tend to form colonies, they are not particularly social animals. They do not hunt or scavenge together, and do not generally remain in close contact outside of courtship and mating. They are not aggressive toward others of their species, however, and when crowded together will simply move apart. They do not appear to have any sort of hierarchy.


Habitat: White-Tail Lizards can be found in a large variety of locales and seem to be very adaptable. They are most common in arboreal terrain, however they can also be found in more mountainous areas, swamps, or along the shore. While previously they were fairly scarce in the flatlands, since human settlement they can also be found in the farmland about Sayaie and other similar settlements - seeing agricultural produce and poultry as easy game.

[Bre]

Only real issue I have is the name - skinks are a real family of Terran lizards, so it seems incorrect to name an alien reptilianoid (who exhibits mild insectide traits) the same thing. Anyway, a scientific name would be preferable, with some suggested common names, as I find it doubtful that Pohonians would be very aware of the supposed names for the native species, considering we don't even have them straight for our old world.

[Kilnarak]

That's actually why I named it a skink, I'd figure settlers on an alien planet might start naming creatures that look somewhat similar to earth species after those things. I also wasn't sure about adding a Latin scientific name, as I wasn't sure if anyone on the planet would actually know/remember the language. I could make something up for that, but it would be based on the name of a Terran reptile, since that is the only model I can really relate it to. Of course, if anyone has any suggestions as to a name, I'm cool with that. I'd only referred to them as lizards in the one previous post.

[Bre]

Scientific names is not a practice that is going to magically die out in the future. I'd find it more likely that all skinks died out as we slowly killed the planet. >.>

[Kat]

I kind of like Killy's idea of using some Earth terms for alien species. I feel like humans have a habit of giving unrelated creatures names of species which they resemble. Like how we sometimes give animals names of other animals. Like Kangaroo Rats or Cat Fish, etc. Or even how we sometimes name animals things when they don't have any real relation to that thing. The only example I can think of now is that the Maned Wolf is not closely related to wolves at all, despite also being a canine. There are totally other examples, though. Just throwing that concept out there.

If we are going to make Latin names, we are going to have to make consistent taxon names, I think. I mean, I assume some of them would be the same, but the genus and species names would be different, at least, from Earth animals. Perhaps we should make a list? Then people can make closely related animals and such, and reuse some genus and species names. I imagine this would be particularly useful for the insect type creatures, as well as some of the flora--like the Chydyn nuts will all be pretty taxonomically similar. I'm just throwing that out there.


Also, Bre, if someone was to come up with some sort of bird that I like, could I change Hamlet's, Morgana's bird, species to something more local?

And now, my first species, which I will reference in my next post, which I have partially written.

Name: Spasm Moth

Ptersexus neuruberpassis

Ptersexus: A genus which includes any six winged insects which cycle through three distinct stages, a larval stage, a nymph stage, and an adult stage. Most of the insects in the Ptersexus genus lay many eggs at one time. Some species in this genus are venomous.


Size:
Body: between 3-4 inches.
Wingspan: Between 5-6 inches.


Physical Characteristics: Beautifully colored, the Spasm Moth broadcasts its venomous state. The plump body of the insect is a dark blue color, which reflects light in a way which creates a metallic effect to the creature's skin. The moths' six legs are of the same dark blue color. On top of the iridescent blue skin are inch-long pink and red spines which look like tufts of long, thick hair. The spines are urticating hairs, and on contact, inject a mild toxin which causes muscle spasms followed by a short period of paralysis in the damaged area. The spasms are quite painful, but they fade after a few minutes, and rarely cause permanent tissue damage. Exposure to many Spasm Moths at one time can cause permanent muscle death, or in severe cases, brain damage or death. The area around the location of the contact with the hairs turns red, and is inflamed and itchy even after the spasms fade, sometimes over the course of many days. Salves can be used to ease the itching or irritation.

Spasm Moths have three sets of wings, and thus six wings, all of the same length. The wings are iridescent and transparent, and they possess a light pink or light red tint. The wings can be folded vertically, but usually, the moths keep the wings open, as they are heavy and difficult to move. The moth flies surprisingly quickly, due to the power of his large wings, flying more similarly to an Earth dragonfly than an Earth moth.

Since the spines of the moths have to puncture the skin of an animal to cause irritation, animals with heavy coats or many feathers rarely have trouble with the moths. Animals with thick or scaly skin are also immune. While the hairs can sting through lighter fabrics, heavier fabrics like canvas or leather can protect human skin. The spines also become ineffective when wet, as the spines become to limp to penetrate substances. There is very little differentiation between male and female Spasm Moths.

Life Cycle: Spasm Moths are metamorphic, with three distinct stages of development before they reach adulthood. They begin life in their larval stage, as fat, worm-like creatures. Although the larval Spasm Moths appear to lack legs, they actually have tiny ridges which become their legs in their other stages of life. The larval Spasm Moths are a fleshy color, tinted with a light blue, which begins to darken as they approach their nymph stage. Over the course of four months, the larvae’s skin begins to darken until it is the dark blue color of adult Spasm Moths. The legs also begin to lengthen.

In their larval stage, Spasm Moths are completely vulnerable to attack. They are actually edible, and many other creatures prey on the offspring. Spasm Moths lay their eggs in dark crevasses, however, so the larvae are protected because of their location. After a period of six weeks of living in the cracks of walls, under rocks, or in the depths of caves, the larvae grow their tufts of red spines, and leave their homes on their newly grown legs. Despite the fact that Spasm Moth larvae are difficult to spot due to their locations, many do not make it to adulthood. To compensate for the 80% mortality rate in the larval stage, Spasm Moths lay hundreds of eggs from multiple different sessions of breeding.

The next stage, which begins when the Spasm Moths grow their spines and leave their dark places. The Spasm Moth nymphs have fat, dark blue bodies, long, shaky legs, and clusters of thick, red spines. The buds of the three sets of wings also start to appear. The Spasm nymphs eat constantly; they consume either large amounts of vegetation or other, smaller insects, making them both a blight on agriculture, and a positive force for reduces other pests. The nymphs eat their way through the spring, summer, and early fall months. By this point in time, they possesses the venom in the spines which gives them their name. If the nymphs cannot find enough food, they will often die of starvation. This premature death is especially common in cave-born larvae, or nymphs which are forced to live in areas with less vegetation.

At the end of their Nymph stage, the Spasm Moth grows its wings, and once the wings are fully mature, the Spasm Moth is considered an adult. In the adult stage, all Spasm Moths care about is mating and sleeping. The moths become completely nocturnal, and when they are awake, they spend every possible second mating or looking for a mate. When in their adult life stage, all the Spasm Moth does is mate, as many times as they possibly can. Only active at night, the Spasm Moths spend their six-day life span to produce as many offspring as possible. The female Spasm Moth produces a pheromone which attracts males, and the males hunt out the females, distracted only, sometimes, to light. Spasm Moths do not intentionally harm humans, but they do sometimes crawl it articles of clothing or into shoes to sleep during the day. They also sometimes move locations during the day if they feel threatened, and fall or slip into human clothing. When the sun comes up, they tend to find cracks or other dark places to sleep, only leaving if they feel threatened. As adults, Spasm Moths lose any desire to eat, and they quite literally starve to death over the course of the final days of their lives. They live for six days after they reach full maturity, but in that period of time, they are the most visible to humans, as they flock around lights at night, looking for other members of their species with which to reproduce.

Once they die, their venom is still active, so humans need to use caution when they touch dead moths. If the dead bodies are exposed to the sun for extended periods of time, the spines flush to a light pink color, and the venom loses its toxicity. The same is true of the spines on live Spasm Moths, but since the moths are nocturnal, they rarely deactivate their venom.

Diet: Only the nymph stage eats, but it eats smaller insects or Plants. They have little to no discretion for what they eat, as long as it is in a great quantity.

Danger to Humans: The venom of the Spasm Moth is a mild neurotoxin. It causes muscle spasms at the contact area, followed by muscle stiffness or paralysis which can extend to whole limbs or larger areas than just the point of contact. The stiffness or paralysis only rarely lasts for over an hour, but the contact point remains inflamed and irritated for a period of a few days. The spot is red and it can either hurt or itch depending on a person’s reaction.

The nymphs or moths can cause multiple stings, so it is good to get them off of yourself or someone else immediately. The longer the Spasm Moth remains on the skin, the worse the spasms are and the longer the paralysis and redness lasts. If exposed to multiple Spasm Moths, serious damage can result. The multiple stings can cause brain damage or death, depending on the level of exposure. People who have encountered more than one Spasm Moth on a particular area of the body, have been left with permanently parallelized or stiff body parts. For the most part, when a person has stings from more than one Spasm Moth, it is because that person was around when the nymphs emerged from their crevasses where they spend their larval stage. Since the Spasm Moths lay hundreds of eggs at once, many Spasm larvae grow in the same location, and thus emerge as venomous nymphs at the same time in the same place. People are advised to avoid high risk areas, around stone walls, in unused caves, or around infrequently traveled rocky locations, during the early spring weeks when the nymphs usually emerge.

Some people possess an allergy to the Spasm Moth toxin, and those people have a dangerous allergic reaction, with hives and throat swelling, when they come in contact with the insects. These people are advised to stay far away from Spasm Moths, as the allergy can be fatal despite the mild nature of the toxin.


Habitat: Found all across the Spiderlands, Spasm Moths are quite common. The larvae are laid in dark, damp places, like cracks in walls, the walls of caves, or under rocks. The less people who bother or exist in an area, the better, if one wishes to appease a group of Spasm Moth larvae. Extremely prolific along the side of the Sayaie wall, most people encounter the Spasm Moths in the walled city. Still, they also live within the cave system of the Eyrie, breeding and egg laying in the depths of the caverns. Nymphs, not the most mobile of the stages, tend to remain near their hatching spots, while they constantly look for food. It is difficult to grow gardens near stone gardens, because the Spasm Moths will eat all the plants in sight. It is possible to deter the moths from eating agricultural plants by planting well growing vegetation near walls so that the nymphs will consume those plants instead of the crop plants.

Adult Spasm Moths can be found just about anywhere. They have the ability to fly very quickly, so they are extremely mobile. They are not even bound by the need to consume, as they do not eat. They are found all over Pohono, in open areas at night, and in dark, damp places during the day.

[Kilnarak]

Edited it to be more generic - just lizard instead of skink. I'm not sure how to go about creating a scientific name, so if someone else wants to help out with that, that would be cool.

[Kat]

Well, not that my scientific name was brilliant or anything, but I just went to a list of Greek and Latin roots and looked for the meanings I thought fit the creature. I decided that I would use the idea of a six winged insect as my genus, as I figure other people could use that idea again, and then used more descriptive terms for the species name. And, I tried to favor Latin roots when I could.
If it helps, here's how I constructed my name.
Ptersexus neuruberpassis
"pter" - "wing" - Greek
"sex" - "six" - Latin

"neur" - "of the nerves" - Greek
"ruber" - "red" - Latin
"pass" - "pain" or "suffering" - Latin

And then I tacked on endings which I thought made the names sound like names and seemed to fit with the words.

And I used Wikipedia's Latin and Greek Roots List.

If any of that is useful to you.

EDIT: So, like, if you wanted a genus name for your lizards, you might go with something like--

Tetridiagnathus

Which is made of

"tetr" - "four" - Greek
"dia" - "apart" - Greek
"gnath" - "of or relating to the jaw" - Greek

Just an example, of course.

[Kilnarak]

Arright, so I am using that genus name, because I like it. >> Thank you lots Kat. <3 *bookmarks that wiki page*

[Kat]

I'm glad I could help! It's kind of fun, actually, making up the names.

[Bre]

Pohono doesn't have native bird species, simourvs aside (and they are most definitely not exactly birds). Also, a Pohonian bird is not going to cost the same amount or be as available as any introduced Terran species.

The problem with the moths is their survival rates. Coho salmon will lay around 1,800 eggs once a year, but there is only a 15% survival rate or lower for even those eggs. At the smolt stage, 2% survival in an area is very good. That means around 5 salmon make it out of the river for each pairing. That's once a year. If 40% of larvae in the moths survive and they are constantly reproducing once they reach adulthood, laying even more eggs than any said salmon, they would kill the ecosystem very, very quickly.

[Kat]

Okay, then Hamlet can remain a raven.

Oh, they aren't reproducing that much. I was thinking maybe 100 per pairing, and maybe the moths can reproduce three times before they die--if they are lucky. They only live six days, after all. The survival rate, though, is still a bit high now that I think about it, and I have changed it to 80 % mortality rate at the larval stage. I'm also assuming that there are predators for both the nymphs and the moths. And I've added in a bit about nymphs dying of starvation.

I also assume that they have some sort of predator which can eat them as nymphs or moths, which means we can assume that enough moths die before reproducing to keep a healthy and unfortunately common, but not over-run population.

[Kat]

I am double posting, because I have another idea, and I wanted to make sure that people saw it. My last post was months ago, so I assume this will be okay.



Name: Gut Lickers, Stomach Lickers

Esgladimyz grastrohaem

Esgladimyz: A genus which includes most kinds of invertebrates who eat flesh, usually dead flesh, and who connect to their hosts with a cartilage-lined mouth-part separate from their actual mouths. Some of these species are not too harmful and are easy to remove, but others burrow internally and can cause much more damage.

Size:
Body: around 2 inches.

Physical Characteristics: Reaching two inches long at their full length, Gut Lickers are one of the largest of the Esgladimyz genus.They are unsegmented worm-like creatures, invertebrates, that are made of soft, flesh-like material. They feel, in fact, quite like human flesh, even though they look nothing like it. Their bodies are a dark red color, the color of blood, but their stomachs are much darker, almost black, and a bit browner than the rest of their bodies. They have a two tonged mouth piece, which has two sharp, black mandibles. Inside the two mandibles, maxilla and in between these two bumps, is a long proboscis which extends from the Gut Lickers' mouth and suck out blood. The most distinctive part of the Gut Lickers' bodies are their mouth-part. It is a circular orifice on the back end of a Gut Licker's body, and inside of it are rows and rows of cartilage teeth. This part is used to grasp onto and hold onto the internal wall of a host's stomach.

Life Cycle: A Gut Licker female, fully grown, uses her proboscis to inject an egg in through the shell of one of the large nut species local to Pohono. The egg is tracked through her reproductive track and out of her proboscis. She only has two eggs to lay, and she tries to lay them in two different nuts. Because she is not the most agile of creatures, she does not always lay both or either egg. Once the egg has been laid within the shell of the nut, the only way the egg can hatch and then grow is if it enters the digestive tract of another animal. The egg itself is small enough that it is almost undetectable within the shell, and since the egg is placed inside the shell by the Gut Licker's long proboscis, the hole can be hard to see as well. Once inside the nut, the egg will remain dormant until the nut is ingested or until the nut decomposes. If the nut decomposes, the egg dies, but if the nut is ingested, then the Gut Licker begins its second part of life.

Once the egg is ingested, then the acids of digestion eat away at the egg's hard shell. The shell begins to erode enough for the worm inside to hatch. Once the egg has hatched, the worm, a small, tiny creature, slips down into the host creature's gut. Once the Gut Licker enters the stomach or intestines of a creature, the back mouth-like orifice at the Gut Licker's back end attaches to the stomach wall or the intestinal wall. The Gut Licker, then, begins to feed. First, it feeds carefully, eating the inner walls of the host's stomach. Sometimes, depending on the diet of the host, the Gut Licker lives off of the discarded pieces of meat inside the stomach for the first few months, licking the half-digested food pieces with its proboscis. But eventually, the Gut Licker gets big enough that it starts to feed on the stomach wall to the point of burrowing holes into the host's stomach. The feeding, of course, kills the host quite thoroughly, in a painful and slow manner. From the time the Gut Licker bursts through the stomach wall, the host can spend a full day or two slowly bleeding to death.

Usually, the Gut Licker lives inside a host's stomach for four or five months before it kills its host. That is enough time for the Gut Licker to grow to its full size of two inches. Once the host is dead, the Gut Licker eats the rest of the stomach and intestines before it burrows out of the hosts body, leaving a huge hole, and crawls to find a mate. After mating, females crawl to find a place to lay their eggs. And the cycle continues.

During the duration of the Gut Licker's life inside of the host's body. The host experiences mild to severe pain as his or her insides are eaten. If the problem is diagnosed fast enough, then chunks meat poisoned with common toxins can be used to kill the Gut Licker. These doses of poison have to be distributed carefully so that the host is not killed in the process.

Diet: The lining of stomachs and intestines, sometimes half-digested food.

Danger to Humans: Quite high, if the Gut Licker is ingested inside a human body, then the human often dies. They are just as lethal to other animals. If the Gut Licker can be killed through poisoned food, but the problem has to be recognized first. Luckily, the small hole from which the egg is deposited is easily spotted on the outside of the nut if a person looks carefully enough, and all nuts are checked carefully for the tall-tell marking by harvesters.

Habitat: Found all across the Spiderlands and possibly on the other continents, Gut Lickers are most common around Chydyn, as the forest settlement provides them with the best chances to lay their eggs.

[Bre]

I'm guessing the eggs are generally found when the nut is cracked and they're more of a threat to simourvs accidentally consuming them, right?

[Kat]

The eggs are really small and actually quite concealed inside the meat of the nut, however; the proboscis leaves a small hole on the side of the nut's shell, which can be seen if you are careful.

Like this which was left by a weevil or something, but demonstrates what I'm talking about.

So it's a findable hole, if you know to look for it.
The egg could be seen inside the flesh of the nut if you broke the meat apart or if you ground it up, and the eggs are hard, so they would not grind easily. They are pretty much a threat to accidental ingestion if you don't watch carefully for them. I am thinking that infections are rather infrequent, because I imagine the population knows to be careful, and not that many eggs are laid, as the mortality rate as adults is pretty high. However, an infected person almost always dies, solely because the symptoms of infection are very nondescript, and once it becomes obvious, it is already too late. (As the host has giant holes in his or her digestive system and/or intestines)

I was actually thinking that the population of lickers reproduce most often in smaller forest-y animals than simourvs or humans, but infection can occur in either simourvs or humans, just that other animals are not smart enough, necessarily, to know to check for the nuts with holes, and there are probably more of them.

So, basically, infection occurs by eating tainted nuts, and the eggs are not necessarily found when the nut is cracked, but can be spotted before hand.

Speaking of nuts, I doodled some nut/ tree species in class. I like them quite a bit. I'll do descriptions after I do the ones I'm doing of Birdy's drawings.