Suneater

Artwork

Weight:
65lbs

The **Suneater** (*Ossumavia foramefacius*) is an original species created and designed by TheAgent41. The Suneater inhabits the *The Hole* universe, an original universe created by TheAgent41.

## Appearance and Anatomy

The suneater is a medium-sized brown pseudotheropod that lives primarily on tall rocky cliffs overlooking the oceans of Achlys. Its body proportions are close to those of its relatives in the family Lacrimivoridae with some minor adjustments. Like all members of the suborder Cavusfacius, the suneater's head is dominated by a large keratinized pseudobeak with no moving jaws. However, atop this beak is a large structure that serves both ornamental and practical purposes. This large structure, known as a "trumpet", is hollow, its inside walls being covered by a thin layer of muscle, and contains numerous "lids" attached to the inside walls through door-like hinges. By opening and closing these doors, it can redirect the flow of air produced during its mating call and force the sound to reverberate through a certain path. By forcing the sound to travel around a longer path, the suneater can produce lower notes, similar to many brass instruments.

The suneater's skin is mostly a medium brown color except for its cream underbelly. Its back and thighs appear to be green, but this is actually due to the symbiotic floravites that grow on its body. While most Achlysian floravites are purple, blue, or black in color due to gaining energy from heat rather than light, a small percentage of floravites photosynthesize light, leaving them green. As stated previously, this relationship is symbiotic. The floravites gain access to a wider area of land for seed dispersal while the suneater, fitting to its name, gains a share of the nutrients produced by the floravites.

Like all members of its family, the suneater is one of the few Achlysian animals to have developed flapping wings like those of many Earth creatures. These wings have evolved from its hind legs. Like its relatives in the suborder Cavusfacius, the suneater has three toes on each foot, but it only walks on two of them. The third toe has greatly elongated and eventually become a ray for a pterosaur-like wing. Each of its toes ends in a black hoof. To accommodate the evolution of a flapping wing, the hip joint has had to undergo a substantial change to become more like a human's shoulder joint so as to give it more rotational range.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

Suneaters, like many shorebirds, nest in large colonies, congregating on large rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. Colonies can reach numbers of 100 or so, dominating the cliff side. Suneaters communicate with each other via loud calls, the length and pitch of which can be controlled by opening and closing their horn hatches in a way that redirects the flow of air and sound. While it is clear that certain pitches and durations of sound have different meanings, this method of communication is not, at this time, considered a "language".

Suneaters, when confronted with other species, become territorial, letting out loud bellowing calls as part of an intimidation display. If this does not work, they will also begin standing on one leg while extending the other wing in an attempt to make themselves look bigger. Their bark is more often than not worse than their bite, however, as suneaters are not skilled combatants on land.

### Diet

Suneaters don't actually need to eat very often, due to receiving the bulk of their energy from the symbiotic floravites that live on their back. That isn't to say they don't consume food, however. They are considered carnivores, as their main diet consists of small flying organisms that congregate in the hundreds of thousands in the air near the cliffside.

### Reproduction

Suneaters reach sexual maturity at the approximate age of 15. During the mating season, a period of time that has been difficult to precisely map out, adult suneaters will signal their desire to mate by letting out a loud bellowing call that fluctuates in pitch, one of the few calls to be identified. While they do this, they will perform mating dances similar to those of Earth's blue-footed booby. This dance involves hopping on one foot for several seconds while stretching out the opposite wing before alternating. If two individuals like each other's calls and dancing enough, they will engage in intercourse.

During intercourse, suneaters will extrude long tube-shaped spermipositors from hidden pockets in their throats. The two spermipositors will connect, create an airtight seal, and exchange sperm. Each partner will be impregnated and each will, after a gestation period of six Earth months, will give live birth through their cloacas in the same nest.

When the infant is born, it lacks the symbiotic floravites of its parents. To fix this, the parent that birthed it will rub the dorsal side of its wing on the baby's body, allowing some of its floravites to transfer over.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Ossumavia foramefacius* loosely translates from Latin as "hole-faced bone bird".

## Gallery

Artwork