Glahmavorous

The **glahmavorous** is a eusocial Inequaelopod native to Ceres.

## Biology & Appearance

**Workers**

Worker glahmavorous are roughly 5 feet (1.5 metres) tall while running, but only 3.5 feet (1 metre) while resting or walking, as they mostly squat with their three their legs when they have no need for speed. Glahmavorous have a shining and gold body, which is roughly egg shaped, have three legs. And of course have four holes for the limbs, eye, and mouth. The eye itself is an orb of roughly 26 cm in diameter and is covered with a layer of skin, shock-absorbing fluid, and muscle, excepting a small hole in the front of this layer through which the creature may see. A glahmavorous mouth is placed directly below the eye and consists of a hardly visible, segmented gap in the exoskeleton. This mouth is placed horizontally and shares its opening in the carapace with the eyestalk, between the two legs. As well as a mouth, all glahmavorous have a tentacle on either side of the mouth, these are quite dexterous and can be used to manipulate and carry anything small enough for the glahmavorous to grip.

**Queens**

The glahmavorous queens are varied in appearance, as each one is chosen from a random significant genetic mutation, and the way that this may effect their form once they become a queen is unpredictable. For simplicity, only one queen shall be described, an individual known as Xireiípr to the Kallorans who discovered her existence. And classified EITEP-87 by human xenobiologists.

The specimen is large. Although specific measurements have yet to be made, it is estimated to stand between 4.5 and 3 metres. Much of 87's height is in its legs, which are double jointed and each end in a bizarre structure with a flared base and tip separated by a thinner mid segment. The body is similar in size and shape to that of a worker, as is the eyestalk. The specimen has in its mouth a small flat plate covered in glands that are able to produce a viscious substance with a green colouration, as well as, at any one time, at least five budding eggs. The substance is used both for egg casings and food preservation for the glahmavlets that hatch in groups of six from slime-covered eggsacs that fill 87's chamber. Also filling the mouth are eight sharp teeth the same gold as the exoskeleton, a trait only present in the workers of 87's hive, the teeth are known to be powerful weapons, and are used in self-defence by the specimen if threatened. 87's tentacles are much better developed than those of workers, and considerably stronger. Notably, the tips of the two appendages are trisected, forming a hand like structure, though, due to limited study. It is not known whether this feature is present in all queens.

## Behaviour

Glahmavorous are omnivores, feeding mainly on fruit, small vertebrates and smaller Inaequalopods, but large hives have been known to kill and eat larger animals. It is not uncommon for Glahmavorous hives to capture small carnivores such as Felavis and keep them in the Queen's lair, where the small Leafers will gladly eat nest parasites and dead or defective eggs or Glahmavlets, keeping the nest clean in return for the Glahmavorous' protection and food. A symbiosis not dissimilar to that between earthly tarantulas and frogs.

Glahmavorous hives and Queens vary greatly in temperament, but Glahmavorous are near universally territorial creatures, and will not usually tolerate the presence of other species in their hives, chasing out or even killing intruders as soon as they are seen. However, outside of their hives, they are often more tolerant of other creatures, and will not often attack when out foraging or hunting, seemingly not wishing to waste their energy and time on something too big to eat. (Though, as mentioned above, the larger hives will sometimes become more aggressive if hungry enough) It seems that, if a worker is born with a particular mutation that is recognisably beneficial to its survival and success, such as EITEP-87's sharp teeth, it will be fed on a particular diet as soon as this is discovered by the workers, this seems to, somehow, trigger an awakening in the genes of the Glahmavlet, which will accentuate anything outside of what seems to be ruled "normal", as well as developing the egg-plate in the mouth and possibly the hand-like tentacles. This process is imperfect, as only something that is genetically present in the Glahmavlet, rather than formed by, for instance, a conjoined twin, will be changed, and it will also affect negative mutation to the Glahmavorous. Traits suggesting that the feature is rather newly evolved and yet to be ironed out by the ravages of natural selection. It seems that, due to the comparatively low rate of evolutionary progress in Glahmavorous due to their near-exclusively asexual reproduction, nearly all workers will end up with the same mutation that their Queen has, and it may take many years before new Queens are hatched. Perhaps for this very reason, Queens are seemingly able to live up to three hundred years if they are lucky, while Workers usually live only as much as a year once fully pupated from their larval form, a measure to ensure that the Queen lays as many eggs as possible in her life to give the best chances of even just one mutant egg to be hatched. Glahmavlets are born in clutches of six, completely identical, from their slime-encased eggsac, meaning that even if in its entire lifetime a hive gives rise to just a single egg, six Queen Glahmavlets will be born, of which at least one's survival will be obsessively ensured by every worker in the hive, and, in good conditions, all six will live to found more hives, meaning that, despite their precarious and, some would say, highly inefficient mode of reproduction and living, their population is quite stable.

#### Rumours of sapience

Though it is agreed that Glahmavorous are fairly intelligent, proven by their symbioses with Felavis and somewhat advanced strategies in hunting, and food storage, some have claimed to have proof that Glahmavorous are, or were, a fully civilized species, citing the rare discovery of stone tablets with writing in an unknown and untranslated script and language inside Glahmavorous nests as proof, though skeptics claim that it is far more likely to be the work of a dead Ceretian civilisation. As neither party has any hard evidence, the matter is widely debated among Ceretians and Humans alike.