Dracodeontis Pestis, Field Harrower
Domain: Michakarya
Kingdom: Animalomorpha
Phylum: Gyriomorpha
(unranked): Ekereomota
Class: Gigaviatora
Order: Velavita
Family: Pteramorphae
Subfamily: Pressora
Genus: Dracodeontis
Species: D. pestis
Length: 10 - 20 m
Phenotype Mass: 25 000 - 200 000 kg
Maximum acceleration: ~ 975 m/s²
Cruise speed: 40 km/s
Resonance: Mezzo-Soprano
Conservation status: Least Concern
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A smaller member of the the Dracodeontis genus, D. Pestis also known as Field Harrowers preferentially favor hunting grounds with large quantities of clear and open trajectories within a stellar envelope. They are well adapted to opportunistic browsing of many forms of star facing reef wall animalia populations but struggle with larger polis or fauna.
As with other dracodeontis they have flexible munition factories integrated into their metabolic systems and are capable of partitioning and distributing resources to producing a wide variety of payloads for these munitions. In D. Pestis these are stored for deployment during feeding or for defense rather then generated as needed during feeding activity or mating displays as is otherwise common of the genus.
The reason for this is D. Pestis operates under significantly lower metabolic energies due to their highly specialized and relatively low energy density feeding targets. Thus individuals rarely deploy more than 80 kilotons at a given time, a small fraction of their total arsenal.
D. pestis hunt either as lone individuals or close knit family groups traveling through a hunting volume stochastically in order to avoid predation or intervention from larger polity then they can manage. Due to the long regeneration time of their favored prey items their hunting volume is quite substantial for their size and niche however they tend to not compete with larger or higher energy predators.
They require near constant feeding in order to sustain themselves due to the poor energy density of their chosen prey. The exception to this is their ability to enter a hibernating state, typically to drift from one star envelope to another, however entering and exiting this state is extremely metabolically costly and they require several hundred feedings between each use.
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After initial neutralization of prey defenses D. pestis will normally begin direct feeding behaviors, stripping the wreckage for any and all animalia and similar-chemistry bulk edibles. For this they use their flexible barbed tongues (although other technologies or techniques may supplement from one family group to another) that can probe up to two kilometers into the corridors of buildings and pull out prey several times per second.
D. pestis cannot penetrate or extract nutrition from most passive high density energy reserves that their favored prey poli naturally accumulate. They are likewise incapable of digesting most of the more specialized vitalloy components of larger Velavita and thus do not predate on larger species or scavenge carrion directly from them.
Their supplemental minerals and vitalloy requirements are gained from consuming motile or active Animalomorpha incidentally during feeding or by digesting equipment, tools or technological augments in their bulk animalia prey items.
D. pestis are highly opportunistic in their reproduction. They will exchange genetic material whenever they encounter another compatible and receptive individual and store the fertilized eggs until food is available to spawn pups. They uncharacteristically for their genus eschew all extravagance in mating displays and favor immediate compromise and resolution for territory disputes.
Interbreeding with Dracodeontis Polis (dragoons) is fairly common, and it is debatable if they are truly distinct species. However the extremely unsociable behavior almost universal to D. pestis and significantly different hunting, munition utilization behavior and dietary preference is generally accepted as a valid basis for distinguishing the two. Such hybrids often occurs in a last ditch effort to pass on their genes when defeated by said D. polis.