Akídagigas

ακίδα gigas (" Spiked Titan" )

Spiky boi?

Physical Biometrics:

Wingspan: ~ 28 - 30 in / 70 cm

Length: up to 2 ft / 24 in / ~60 cm

Weight / Mass: 450 grams

Distribution and Environment:

They reside primarily in tropical regions, often alongside the forest floor searching for fallen fruit to eat, as well as climbing trees to directly find fruit.

Description:

Residing in one of the most dangerous and competitive environments, they have gone a simple route, simply increasing its defenses to protect itself and eating fruit just like its ancestors. They are mostly unable to fly, and occassionally brute force flgiht in short bursts, mostly use their wings as a way to boost movement. They primarily use their wings for stridulation, mostly in signaling for mates.

Evolution / Anatomy:

Unlike their ancestors, their mandibles have now become extremely robust and powerful, being made to tear apart the much tougher fruits that are now present on Hoxia. These mandibles also serve as a powerful defense.

They have convergently evolved alongside its other real life Scarabaeidae  beetle relatives, having tympanal organs behind their heat, shielded under their pronotum. This is used to recept audio from their stridulation, which is produced by their inner wings.

Their mechanosensory hairs lining their bodies serve both as tactile sensory functions as well as thermoregulation.

Their tibial spines have are now disproportionately enormous, forming rows of hazardous spikes alongside its body. This makes it much more difficult to easily grasp or swallow. One of the segments of the antennae flagellomeres have grown into a larger spiked armor plate, shielding the lateral sides of its face.

Its behavior of having a pronotal horn and a cephalic horn to joust other males has remained unchanged.

Similar to real life giant elephant beetles, their limb strength is still immense, with now even more powerful adhesive pulvilli tarsal pads. They use these to firmly grasp the ground and stay planted to avoid getting flipped over by predators.

Known Descendants: 

( N / A, coming soon )