Stranglewurm
Astrangaloradix vermis
Ancestor: Strangleroot
Creator: HeathrJarrod
Habitat: Vivus Rocky, Koseman Rocky, Vivus Prairie, Vivus Lowboreal, Vivus Highboreal, East Koseman Lowboreal, Koseman Highboreal, Central Koseman Lowboreal, Koseman Temperate Woodland, Koseman Volcanic
Size: 3 meters
Support: Unknown
Diet: Photosynthesis, Detrivore, Scavenger, Lithovore (Silica)
Respiration: Lenticels
Thermoregulation: Ectothermic
Reproduction: Super fast asexual budding, Sexual Airborne Spores
The Stranglewurm split from its ancestor, the Strangleroot, expanding its habitat to the Vivus Prairie and Lowboreal. It is not as wide as its ancestor, forming a long chain instead of a branching network. It can grow a few meters long but a photosynthetic core will always form every 40 cm. It is roughly 10cm in diameter.
It burrows through the ground at a decent pace of 1 ft per day. Most of this movement is done during the nighttime. During the day, the Stranglewurm is motionless for the most part motionless, unless it is attacked by a predator. It will have its photosynthetic cores above the ground, exposed to sunlight.
The stranglewurm will wrap itself around rocks, other flora, and even Strangleroot, and then squeeze them like a boa constrictor. Using graspers that help hold it in place. Eventually, they break apart and the Stranglewurm feeds on the minerals and detritus. Like its ancestors, it too has a symbiotic relationship with the nitrocycle, thus completing the nitrogen cycle in barren biomes.
When it comes time for the Stranglewurm to release its spore, it will breach out of the soil, like a whale, standing over a meter tall. At this point, it releases its spores, and collapses under its weight back to the ground.
This post has been edited by HethrJarrod: Aug 27 2022, 08:58 PM
"like a whale" is misleading given the slow speed of this organism.
To achieve the speed of 2 feet a day, wouldn't this need similar adaptations to a grass (i. e., highly expandable cells)?
To achieve the speed of 2 feet a day, wouldn't this need similar adaptations to a grass (i. e., highly expandable cells)?
Is it having these (highly expandable cells) adaptation an issue?
| QUOTE (Cube67 @ Aug 27 2022, 07:13 PM) |
| "like a whale" is misleading given the slow speed of this organism. To achieve the speed of 2 feet a day, wouldn't this need similar adaptations to a grass (i. e., highly expandable cells)? |
I know little about this lineage and I'm not sure how much would be required for them to evolve such a feature. I'm probably not qualified to answer.
2 feet a day is fairly plausible, though perhaps difficult to imagine evolving all at once.
(https://www.almanac.com/plant/corn) According to Wikipdia, some species of bamboo can grow 91 centimeters (36 inches, or 3 feet) in 24 hours. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo)
It's hard to imagine how it could sustain such a rapid pace of growth but only temporarily conduct photosynthesis. The easiest method for it to live like a worm is to tap into the energy of other flora. This would require research into parasitic and hemiparasitic plants. The easiest technique would be it becoming parasitic on its own ancestor or relatives, or becoming parasitic on trees, a bit like mistletoe or strangler figs.
For plant movement, it could be useful to learn about dodder, a parasitic plant that send vines upward that slowly move (or grow fast enough to "move") in search of a host. Many moving plants achieve movement by hydraulic mechanisms. Wikipedia probably has a list of plants that can move. The easiest way for it to "breach out of the soil" is to have a very lengthy in-folded structure just beneath the soil that is rapidly unfurled by a hydraulic mechanism, or to have a sort of spring-loaded mechanism. It's hard to imagine the practicality of the entire flora breaching out the soil.
One compromise that shouldn't require too much research is making it spread by a huge fragment of itself, and covering the fragment in sticky hairs, hooks, or spines, so that even the slightest touch by a fauna makes it detach so rapidly as to seem to leap out of the ground. This would make it like a jumping cholla, a kind of cactus that very easily detaches pieces of itself and hooks onto animals.
I recommend either reducing the scale of the worm-plant's impressive feats, or using this as an intermediate for a more impressive descendant.
(https://www.almanac.com/plant/corn) According to Wikipdia, some species of bamboo can grow 91 centimeters (36 inches, or 3 feet) in 24 hours. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo)
It's hard to imagine how it could sustain such a rapid pace of growth but only temporarily conduct photosynthesis. The easiest method for it to live like a worm is to tap into the energy of other flora. This would require research into parasitic and hemiparasitic plants. The easiest technique would be it becoming parasitic on its own ancestor or relatives, or becoming parasitic on trees, a bit like mistletoe or strangler figs.
For plant movement, it could be useful to learn about dodder, a parasitic plant that send vines upward that slowly move (or grow fast enough to "move") in search of a host. Many moving plants achieve movement by hydraulic mechanisms. Wikipedia probably has a list of plants that can move. The easiest way for it to "breach out of the soil" is to have a very lengthy in-folded structure just beneath the soil that is rapidly unfurled by a hydraulic mechanism, or to have a sort of spring-loaded mechanism. It's hard to imagine the practicality of the entire flora breaching out the soil.
One compromise that shouldn't require too much research is making it spread by a huge fragment of itself, and covering the fragment in sticky hairs, hooks, or spines, so that even the slightest touch by a fauna makes it detach so rapidly as to seem to leap out of the ground. This would make it like a jumping cholla, a kind of cactus that very easily detaches pieces of itself and hooks onto animals.
I recommend either reducing the scale of the worm-plant's impressive feats, or using this as an intermediate for a more impressive descendant.
One thing to consider regarding bamboo as an example is how those culms are growing during that period of rapid height gain.
This post has been edited by colddigger: Aug 27 2022, 07:10 PM
This post has been edited by colddigger: Aug 27 2022, 07:10 PM
🤔
1. Reduce overall speed, allowing further generations to build up to this.
2. Maybe it rests above the surface at day, photosynthesis one, but moves quickly at night
(Will have to provide supplemental images of it in a resting state)
1. Reduce overall speed, allowing further generations to build up to this.
2. Maybe it rests above the surface at day, photosynthesis one, but moves quickly at night
(Will have to provide supplemental images of it in a resting state)
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