Name: Blood Spardis (Spardisanguinus spp.)
Creator: HethrJarrod
Ancestor: Corpse Spardi
Habitat: Darwin, Glicker
Size: 4-6 cm long
Support: Endoskeleton (Bone)
Diet: Sanguinovore, Scavenger
Respiration: Active (Lungs)
Thermoregulation: Heterotherm (Basking, Muscle-Generated Heat)
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female, live birth)
The Blood Spardis split from their ancestor, the Corpse Spardi, specializing in the consumption of blood.
It is primarily nocturnal, feeding during the night and low-light times of the day. Otherwise they will roost in caves, trees, hollow logs, or any other dark place they are able to find. Large groups of them have made a home in the Ferret Anchialine and Rabid Lava Tube Caves. They will often hang upside down, holding onto a stalactite or tree branch with their tail and raptoral arm for support.
Like its relative, the Spearing Spardi, it has two long lateral mandibles. On the Blood Spardi, these mandibles have tiny, microscopic serrations. When feeding, the Blood Spardi will land on prey, and use their mandibles to puncture a wound. They then fold up the mandibles, and suck up the blood. Once full, the Blood Spardi flies away. Most of the time, the prey hardly realizes that they had been fed upon.
Their mating method is the same as the Corpse Spardi.
Supplementary image(s):
Closed mouth:
This post has been edited by HethrJarrod: May 21 2023, 09:40 AM
Haven’t read this all yet, but I’ll transfer some of my earlier thoughts here:
I think there’s a feature you should mention: lateral mandible serrations. They’re present on the corpse spardi, and should probably be present here too given the parasitic lifestyle (mosquitos have serrated mouthparts). They could (and should) be microscopic; I’m not asking for any kind of redesign.
I’m curious as to why the ear of the middle species seems to be the same color as the blood it’s drinking. Is it coincidence? Is it meant to be flushed with blood? Does it serve a function to the organism?
What’s the little red scribble below the mouth on the middle one?
I think there’s a feature you should mention: lateral mandible serrations. They’re present on the corpse spardi, and should probably be present here too given the parasitic lifestyle (mosquitos have serrated mouthparts). They could (and should) be microscopic; I’m not asking for any kind of redesign.
I’m curious as to why the ear of the middle species seems to be the same color as the blood it’s drinking. Is it coincidence? Is it meant to be flushed with blood? Does it serve a function to the organism?
What’s the little red scribble below the mouth on the middle one?
| QUOTE (Cube67 @ Mar 15 2023, 10:37 AM) |
| Haven’t read this all yet, but I’ll transfer some of my earlier thoughts here: I think there’s a feature you should mention: lateral mandible serrations. They’re present on the corpse spardi, and should probably be present here too given the parasitic lifestyle (mosquitos have serrated mouthparts). They could (and should) be microscopic; I’m not asking for any kind of redesign. I’m curious as to why the ear of the middle species seems to be the same color as the blood it’s drinking. Is it coincidence? Is it meant to be flushed with blood? Does it serve a function to the organism? What’s the little red scribble below the mouth on the middle one? |
The microscopic serrations are mentioned. ✅
Their diet does have a small influence on their pigmentation. It’s Most noticeable on their ears. As far as I know of, no function, except maybe to tell the species apart.
The red of the middle one is its tongue.
Tongue... complicated subject, actually.
Okay, so, a couple things:
Astergnathiformes, such as spardis, don't have tetrapod-like mouth anatomy.
The terrorstar and starcrusher, depicted with their mouths open, show a good representation of the ancestral condition as far as mouth anatomy goes.
Rather than having a single 'row' of teeth on each jaw like tetrapods, astergnathiformes have a radula-like battery of teeth on each jaw. While astergnathiformes have a "tongue", it is not a free tongue like a mammal's (at least, not by default). The teeth on the bottom jaw all attach to the "tongue", which is essentially a muscular portion of the bottom jaw.
(Pictured: discord conversation where Dorite and Jarlaxle discussed this concept, mainly in regards to kugards, but referencing rivet-line fauna such as pinsyks)
Now, using a tongue to lap up blood need not be the only option, or even the most effective. This species could just have a more enclosed cheek and use their cheek muscles to suck out blood sort of like how a mammal would suck in milk or water. If you REALLY want the tongue, though, it's probably possible to modify the tongue in such a way that it would be more like what's seen here, but I'm not sure how long it would take. The extinct wedgenose had a very free tongue, but it took 10 million years to get there whereas now we only have five million year periods to work with. Wedgenose tongues probably wouldn't be great for licking blood either, considering their toothiness.
One other thing: in any case, tongue color follows blood color, so any kind of tongue this creature would have is probably violet. It would probably just be good to keep in mind that any body part that's red in a human would be violet in an asterzoan.
This post has been edited by Cube67: Mar 15 2023, 12:00 PM
Okay, so, a couple things:
Astergnathiformes, such as spardis, don't have tetrapod-like mouth anatomy.
Click to expand
The terrorstar and starcrusher, depicted with their mouths open, show a good representation of the ancestral condition as far as mouth anatomy goes.
Rather than having a single 'row' of teeth on each jaw like tetrapods, astergnathiformes have a radula-like battery of teeth on each jaw. While astergnathiformes have a "tongue", it is not a free tongue like a mammal's (at least, not by default). The teeth on the bottom jaw all attach to the "tongue", which is essentially a muscular portion of the bottom jaw.
(Pictured: discord conversation where Dorite and Jarlaxle discussed this concept, mainly in regards to kugards, but referencing rivet-line fauna such as pinsyks)
Click to expand
Now, using a tongue to lap up blood need not be the only option, or even the most effective. This species could just have a more enclosed cheek and use their cheek muscles to suck out blood sort of like how a mammal would suck in milk or water. If you REALLY want the tongue, though, it's probably possible to modify the tongue in such a way that it would be more like what's seen here, but I'm not sure how long it would take. The extinct wedgenose had a very free tongue, but it took 10 million years to get there whereas now we only have five million year periods to work with. Wedgenose tongues probably wouldn't be great for licking blood either, considering their toothiness.
One other thing: in any case, tongue color follows blood color, so any kind of tongue this creature would have is probably violet. It would probably just be good to keep in mind that any body part that's red in a human would be violet in an asterzoan.
This post has been edited by Cube67: Mar 15 2023, 12:00 PM
Oh, just two more minor things to clean up regarding the mouth anatomy bit. I thought you'd check in first before posting:
- When I mentioned the mandible base being 'in the cheek', I meant the bone underneath the mandible, not the proximal part of the keratinized mandible itself. In other words, it's outside of the spardi's "lips"; you could solve this by just converting what appears to be exposed gums into normal skin. I'd have shown in my suggestion if there was meant to be gums in the picture.
- The teeth, being keratinous just like the mandibles, would probably be the same color as the mandibles: light brown. They're not technically required to be the same color as the mandibles for any other reason, but doing so helps distinguish them from the teeth of pinsyks, which have the keratin coating of the teeth slough off to reveal dead white bone.
This post has been edited by Cube67: Mar 17 2023, 06:58 PM
- When I mentioned the mandible base being 'in the cheek', I meant the bone underneath the mandible, not the proximal part of the keratinized mandible itself. In other words, it's outside of the spardi's "lips"; you could solve this by just converting what appears to be exposed gums into normal skin. I'd have shown in my suggestion if there was meant to be gums in the picture.
- The teeth, being keratinous just like the mandibles, would probably be the same color as the mandibles: light brown. They're not technically required to be the same color as the mandibles for any other reason, but doing so helps distinguish them from the teeth of pinsyks, which have the keratin coating of the teeth slough off to reveal dead white bone.
This post has been edited by Cube67: Mar 17 2023, 06:58 PM
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