Whiplashers and Harpoonjaws: Microraptorial Mosquitoes

The pansanguinophagus mosquitos, once a mere subgenus of Early Muricene Aedes, are now a collection of several families that have each expanded on their ancestors' adaptations in their own way. One such group, called Flagelloculicidae, has become expert hunters of small game. Like the Saccharoculicids, they no longer have any interest in mammalian or avian prey. Instead, this lineage now specializes in killing isopods. Like all the pansanguinophages, both sexes participate in the hunt, though males don't need to feed as often as females. The physical trait that unites the Flagelloculicids is their saliva. Like all mosquitoes, they inject fluids into their living meals that reduce clotting and improve lubrication during the feeding process. Unique to this family, though, is the protein Flagelloculicin, a neurotoxin that paralyzes their woodlouse prey. This allows the fly to drink the soft insides of the unfortunate crustacean, leaving a dry exoskeleton behind.

Two main survival strategies exist among the Flagelloculicids. The first branch, known scientifically as the subfamily Flagelloculicinae, is the Whiplasher group. These are characterized by their long, flexible maxillae, which extend far beyond the rest of the proboscis and are capable of grabbing prey. Examples of whiplashers include the Wrangler (Flagelloculex), a genus whose mouthparts are long, strong, and flexible enough to wrap around its prey, holding the helpless pill bug steady while the rest of the fascicle works its way through any gap it can find in the isopod's armor. The flexible part of the Flagelloculicine maxilla is a single segment, the galea, with the others small and mostly vestigial. Wranglers often carry off their prey to kill it at a safe location; for this reason, they have large wings and strong muscles in their thorax that allow them to carry up to double their own weight in cargo. On the other hand, the Butcherfly (Culicarnifex) dines in situ after dispatching its targets, which it tears limb from limb by prying them apart with its maxillae.

The movements of the Flagelloculicine maxilla are powered by muscles that run the length of the appendage, allowing it to curl and uncurl at will. This creates the appearance of a pair of butterfly-like probosces on either side of a normal-looking mosquito mouth. This does cause a slight reduction in feeding efficiency, as the maxillae are no longer usable for their original purpose of cutting open a hole for the labrum to enter. Instead, the labrum is highly sclerotized and microscopically sharp, allowing it to pierce soft flesh all on its own. The food canal still runs the length of the piercing proboscis, so only soft or liquid foods are edible. Overall, the whiplasher lifestyle is very effective against small-bodied roly-polies, especially colonial species like those of the Plague.

The sister taxon to the whiplashers is the subfamily Cultroculicinae, commonly referred to as the Harpoonjaws. Like their cousins, the Cultroculicines have over-elongated maxillae. In this group, though, the mouthparts are not thin and mobile, but rather are strong, sharp, and serrated, functioning as a pair of blades that cut apart their prey. Only the first two joints can flex freely, moving the mouthparts forward and back in a piston-like motion. The remaining segments and the palps are fused into a long knife-like shape that easily slices through meat. These "knives" can take on a variety of shapes and sizes based on their owner's food preferences, but they usually look like a series of serrated points at the end of a long "handle". Gougers and reapers are examples of this clade, which also includes the Slasher (Cultroculex). Slashers are notable for having also increased the size of their mandibles, which grip their prey and hold it still while the maxillae violently dissect it. Cultroculex tends to go for larger but less numerous solitary woodlice, prowling pseudoforest floors and prairie underbrush for isopods such as Thyrearthrus, a well-armored descendant of Dawn Muricene plains-dwelling pill bugs. The slasher genus, and to a lesser extent its subfamily as a whole, relies less on its saliva than whiplashers do, as its jaws are more than capable of taking out prey all on their own. Most harpoonjaws now only retain (and in some cases, have even strengthened) their venom for defense against their own predators.

A very interesting member of this subfamily is the Stowaway (Vanidiculex), a monotypic genus that feeds on sweetstalk mutualists. Its antennae are coated with compounds that mimic the pheromones of dustflies, allowing them to go undetected within groups of the nectarivores. Stowaway populations are low, for if they numbered more than about 1% of the swarm, their targets would eventually wise up to their tricks. When a group of dustflies reaches a sweetstalk, the stowaways deceive the waiting Palustrarthrus into accepting them, then promptly jab a maxilla into their cephalothorax, killing and carrying off their prey before an alarm can be raised. This is Apterra's first instance of aggressive mimicry and a sign of the increasing complexity of the planet's ecosystems.