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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:17:19 GMT -5
Arright, copy-pasta-ing some of the critters from Guardian's Sky here. But also! This is the place to post them, if you have any ideas for native plants and animals that exist on Pohono, and more importantly, on the Southern Continent, Baziala. While Simourv are currently the largest known creature on the planet, we did decide to allow for larger creatures on the Southern continent (whereas on the Northern continent, they didn't usually get larger than the size of a 'small deer').
You can either offer your own descriptions of the plants and animals, or even just offer suggestions about what you'd like to see. We're still in the process of world-building, so have fun with it.
Things to keep in mind: While they are alien, most creatures on Pohono seem to show insectoid or reptilian elements. Also, they'll need to be approved by the staff before they're accepted officially into the game, but once they are, they're here to stay.
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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:18:02 GMT -5
Originally posted by: Kilnarak
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.
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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:19:42 GMT -5
Originally posted by: Kat
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.
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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:20:34 GMT -5
Originally posted by: Kat Name: Gut Lickers, Stomach Lickers Esgladimyz grastrohaemEsgladimyz: 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.
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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:21:33 GMT -5
Originally posted by: Shaetani
Common name: Ceraci Fruit Scientific Name: Cerasinus Antidesma Description: Ceraci Fruit are similar to earths Cherries in that they had a vibrant red skin around the flesh of the fruit with a hard pit in the center. The inner flesh varies in color from pale blush pink to a blood red when fully ripe. Unripe, the fruit can have a bitter tart taste to it. Once ripe though, the fruit is usually sweet and bruises easily. Unlike earth cherries, the Ceraci fruit are larger, being anywhere from two to six inches in diameter when fully ripe. The average size is three inches across, with the pit taking up three fourths of an inch to a full inch in the middle. Due to the larger size, the Ceraci fruit's stems are thicker and sturdier than earth cherries, more twig like in appearance though they retain some flexibility. The tree the fruit grows on can grow up to twenty feet tall and has dark ashy colored bark that has a sandpaper type texture to it. The leaves are broad and a deep hunter green, with paler silver green streaks along the veins of the leaf. The trees blossom in the middle of spring, and by the beginning of summer the fruits are available for harvest.
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Post by Senior Pheonix on Sept 9, 2011 23:22:12 GMT -5
Originally posted by: Aika
Common Name: Poison Hearts
Scientific Name: Cordocyanus Crypnecrosis
Size: Fruit: Can range between 1-3 centimeters in diameter, and between 3-10 centimeters around. Vine: Usually around 3 meters in length, but can grow to be longer if provided with a sufficient climbing area.
Physical Characteristics: The first thing that one notices about a Poison Heart is it's color; the ripe fruit is distinguished by a vibrant blue ranging from afternoon blue to close to cyan. Unripe Poison Hearts are a duller blue, more like the sky on a cloudy day. They are in the shape of a crude heart, and aren't easily mistaken for another fruit.
The plant on which the Poison Hearts grow on is a minty-green vine that can grow up to three meters long on flat ground. However, if there is a sufficient climbing area, such as a tree or fence, it will cling onto the area and climb up it, allowing them to grow exponentially in length.
A Poison Heart is exceptionally sweet; its taste is reminiscent to Terran peaches. However, there is a penalty for eating this fruit. Inside the juices of the flesh is a high concentration of solanine. Eating the entire fruit will kill an organism within an hour.
There is a flip side to this deadly fruit, however. If one crushed the fruit and let it dry, the solanine is evaporated away with the juices and the powder can be used for tea or herbal medicine.
Danger to Humans: Poison Hearts can have drastic results on humans. If a person were to take a bite of a ripe fruit, they would suffer from gastrointestinal and neurological problems. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, headache and dizziness. Hallucinations, loss of sensation, paralysis, fever, jaundice, dilated pupils and hypothermia have been reported in more severe cases. These usually develop within eight to twelve hours after ingestion.
If a person eats an entire fruit in one sitting, the massive amount of toxins would spread throughout the body, and cause severe internal problems. There would be a high chance that the toxins would eat away at the inner lining of the intestines and cause the individual to die of acid erosion within the body in the span of an hour. Certainly a painful death.
Habitat: Poison Hearts are most commonly found on the southern peninsulas of Spiderland, thriving in the warm and salty environment. More often than not, the base roots of the vines are embedded in moist ground rich in sea salts.
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Post by Aikaph on Dec 11, 2011 22:33:08 GMT -5
Common Name: Sand Swimmer (Velocipsammus Ophitrematus)
Velosipsammus: a genus which includes any burrowing reptiles which lay eggs and raise their young. Most of the replites in the Velosipsammus genus are born and live without limbs. Some species in this genus are hostile.
Size: Usually between 8 ft and 14 ft
Physical Characteristics: Sand Swimmers get their namesakes from both their coloration and their mode of transportation. At full growth, a sand swimmer is a light sandy color, with darker spots running down the length of their backs. The spots are more often than not outlined with black, although this is not always the case. The underbelly of a sand swimmer is almost always a creamy white color. Younger snakes don’t have the distinctive spots on their back like their adult counterparts; their backs are a solid sand color with the spots beginning to develop at the age of six months. Males tend to have larger back spots than the females, but the females tend to be longer and slimmer than their male counterparts.
Behavior: Sand swimmers are usually non-aggressive, although they will lash out at things that they may find threatening, from desert koxi to a rival sand swimmer. They are timid creatures, preferring only to come out from the sand when they are hunting or if they are domesticated. If captured, they will only attack in self-defense; in a flight-or-fight, they prefer flight. Surprisingly enough, they seem to have taken well to humans, and even seem to enjoy their company. If tamed, they act in an almost cat-like manner; they will butt their heads into their owner’s hand, curl up in their laps despite their size, and protect their owner from harm. Sometimes they “choose” an owner before the owner chooses them, and will watch from afar until they feel ready to approach the individual.
-Diet: They primarily eat the eggs of desert koxi, since they are filled with rich nutrients and fluids to keep the snake hydrated as well as nourished. They will also eat nuts and other such things from the oasis trees, but they will certainly not enjoy it.
-Reproduction: Sand Swimmers are oviparous, fertilizing their eggs internally, but lay eggs for the young to develop and hatch. Newborns are roughly six inches in length, and they gradually grow until they reach their full length at about a year and a half. A healthy female can lay a clutch of up to ten eggs. A mated pair tends to stay together for their entire lives, and make a burrow near the closest water source. The male and female will usually take shifts in the burrow after it is made, with the ‘swimmer not in the burrow standing guard in the direct vicinity of the den and bringing back food for the egg-tender during that shift. After the young are born, however, the mated pair only care for the young for about a week; after that, the young are mature enough to be able to live virtually independently. Young will leave their parents’ territory - either of their own accord, or by being chased away - when they are roughly six months old. A female can only bear one or two clutches over the course of a year, but will tend to the eggs for the majority of the hardening period to keep as many eggs alive as possible. Courtship usually involves a rather violent battle between males; this is one of the only times in which Sand Swimmers will show large amounts of aggression. Males will also display acts of courage by taking on larger opponents in an attempt to woo the potential mate, although this can easily end in death for the male in quesiton.
-Social Structure: Withing a wild Sand Swimmer nest, the adult oldest mated pair are seen as the "alpha" individuals. However, nests of Sand Swimmers are rare, for they are not social creatures and tend to be alone save a mate or clutch. This respect to the elderly has only been obviously noted in domestic nests.
Habitat: The Sand Swimmer, as well as all in the Velosipsammus genus, live in the Bazialan deserts, close to oases or in the protective shelter of the sands near the mountain ranges. It is rare to see them away from this area. [/size]
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