Bug Dragons

BUG DRAGONS

SCIENTIFIC NAME- *Arthromimus Exodus*

DIET-CARNIVORE

HABITAT-Forests, large mountains

APPEARANCE

Bug dragons are said to barely be dragons, their DNA is mostly a mix of many different insects and arthropods. They have no legs, only mantis like arms that they use to drag themselves across the ground. They prefer to fly rather than drag themselves. They have a dragon head, that comes to a small point at the mouth. with eyes also similar to a mantis's. They have no teeth, and usually swallow things whole. They have short antennas on the top of the head and on the sides of the face.

The males grow to be about 6 feet long and have a pretty short wingspan for their size, about 3 feet. They make up for this by having six of them, three on each side. They fold all six wings in one large elytra. The scythe claws are extremely sharp and flexible. They use them to grab prey and bring them back to the hive. The ends of the claws have a large spike, they use this to impale prey or fight rival males. They also have a spike on the end of the tails.

Females, or the queens, are completely different. They are much larger, and there's only one per hive. They grow up to 20 feet tall, and do not have any wings. Instead they have six legs and two scythe claws, and never leave the hive.

The colors range from green to gray and browns, depending on the hive. They have basic patterns too, also depending on the hive. Queens are usually the brightest, with the most complex patterns.

BEHAVIOR

These dragons are one of the most intelligent, having a complex social structure and unique problem solving skills. They live in large hives, the biggest one ever recorded took up half of a mountain side. Hives can store hundreds if not thousands of dragons.

To start a hive, a queen must choose a place to burrow at first. There she will feed and care for her first brood, who will grow up to begin building the actual hive in the desired spot. They will build a hive out of grinded bones. After eating prey, they will carefully grind and mold the bones into shapes, then use the silky saliva to hold them together. Once the hive is ready, they will carry the queen into her own room, where she will continue to create more and more broods for the hive.

Once they can afford to, they’ll begin creating what people dub “bug amber.” It is not actually amber, it’s a substance that bug dragons turn meat into in order to make it more nutritious for themselves. It’s only called amber because of its orange coloring and hardness.

Males of the hive will take turns doing certain jobs around the hive. Jobs like caring for larvae, cleaning the inside of the hive out, grinding bones to expand the hive, creating bug amber, going out on hunting parties, etc. Males that become too old, too weak, or are injured are considered a liability and are kicked out of the hive. This usually means death for the male.

These dragons do indeed start as larvae. In only about a month, they’ll sprout six small wings and practice flight in the nursery. After one more week they will be old enough to start work. If the queen has a female, it’ll take more than double the time to grow. They’ll stay in the nursery growing for about 3 months, until she is kicked out to go form her own hive.

Most assume that the six bug wings are only there to be fast and agile in flight, and while this is true, there’s another reason for this. Hunting patrols will spend hours if not days in the air searching for prey. They’ll basically go for anything a group of 5 could overpower. But during flight, if one of the six wings gets tired, they’ll rest it by flapping slowly with it, and a bit harder with the others. Then if the others get tired, they’ll do the same for them. They can basically do this infinitely in a perfect scenario.

COMPETITION

There is only one hive left in the entire world, and that is the one living in Draelvary. The rest have been destroyed by humans or raided by other dragons. Mostly humans. The bug dragons began stealing livestock to make into food, so they sent out hunting parties to light the hives on fire, causing them to rush out holding the queen to protect her, and then using crossbows they would pelt the queen dead, leaving the males confused and scared. They became easy prey for other dragons. Because the queen was dead, they’d die out.

They used to live in Jioveros, but the dense foliage and lack of prey caused the extinction of them. It was too hard to find and clear out a place for a nest. Wars between rival hives is also one of the reasons they are almost extinct

KNOWN BUG DRAGONS

-Banquo