Equitembestia

**Equitembestia**, their common name is **spurlite**,spurlites evolved from the genus Ambulospeculida they are an extremely diverse genus found all throughout Wallace II but prefer warmer climates which is where they have the most species. The role in the ecosystem this genus serves is an important one in the lives of other land organisms as they hunt parasites, eat dead skin and very occasionally even do dental service to their host.

## Etymology

The name Equitembestia translates to "Beast Rider" Named so after the intriguing behaviour of living their entire lives riding on the backs of larger organisms.

## Description

Different species of spurlites range in size from being as large as a human leg (86cm | 34 in) to the size of a thumb (6.9 cm | 2.74 in) or smaller. but are most commonly found to be a bit larger than the average size of a rat. They have all four limbs that their ancestors had but they are arranged in half with two pairs on one side and two pairs on the other and each one is tipped with a grippy claw. Spurlites are covered in armour arranged like the exoskeleton of an arthropod the only part not covered is an area between the two halves of it's leg groups, this area has tough skin which tends to be the same colour as the rest of the spurlite's body but in a darker shade, on this bare spot two large spiracle adorn each side which the closing structures meant to conserve moisture are commonly darker than the skin around it and have a very tough texture meant to keep it protected. The spiracle are connected to a single dial chambered lung they commonly breath in through the upper pare of spiracle and out through the lower but if need be they can choose which place to breath in and out with. Spurlites are normally dull coloured throughout the body with their front half of the main body being the exception, the colour depends on the species but at the head is where the colour is most bright and vibrant. as it goes closer down along the body, the colour goes darker and eventually turns to grey or brown depending on the species.The spurlite's head is adorned with two huge eyes which have millions of photoreceptors for excellent higher resolution vision. Below the front of the eyes is where two feathery structures are attached to the head,these are smelling organs which can be moved in a rapid fanning motion to pick up scents, they also can be pressed on the head to protect them from damage, these tend to be more vibrant in colour than the head.The front of the head is where the jaws lie they are beak like in structure and have three parts to them each having pointy teeth. below that and a bit tricky to see is where its external vocal cord is which is used to communicate. At the back end of the spurlite is a curved tail it lies in a similar way to a shrimp tail. The male's tail is thinner than the females which the female’s is much broader. At the tip of the tail there is a yellow reproductive organ the female's being a paddle like structure and the male's having two claspers in which to grip it with.

## Habitat and range

Spurlites are unique in the sense that they don't have a habitat in the traditional way because spurlites are found primarily riding on the backs of other larger organisms.Because of this their range is wherever there are other large or moderately sized organisms so difirent species of spurlites are found all throughout Wallace II ,though there are a few instances of island colonists who grew independent of a host. Spurlites tend to be larger in warmer climates because they can sustain greater sizes in that area. Smaller spurlites tend to live in the colder reagins hiding the insulating layers of their hosts for protection from the cold ,still filling the same role as one would in warmer areas.

## Behaviour

Generally spurlites don't discriminate on hosts and will hop aboard on carnivores or herbivores alike, however there are many spurlites that specialize on particular hosts. Spurlites are swift and jittery in nature and will often bolt around to where they need to go. This is useful for when hunting the parasites that adorn their host and also to dodge the dangers that their host can cause. For example if the spurlite's host were to lay down on it's side and that side just so happens to be where the spurlite is sitting, a spurlite will have to move to the other side of their host in a matter of seconds or else it would get crushed. However spurlitescan become sluggish and more conservative of energy if there is no food to be found, going into a state of torper if need be. Spurlites are social and commonly communicate with other spurlites on what's happening. They are very vocal organisms, communicating with their kind through chirping, though in situations where they do not want to blow their host's cover they will often chirp quietly. The hunting strategy of most spurlites is to quickly scuttle and grab their prey with their mouthparts and if they need to they will also utilize their front limbs, they will then tear it into bite sized chunks, if the prey is really big than a spurlite will call for backup and they will take it down as a team. Their mating behaviour is the females prefer males with the brightest colouration in the face, the males commonly show it off to the females mostly doing it to the females with the brightest colouration. Some species also add in a sweet serenade to complete the look. But if need be both sides will mate with the other so long as they are healthy enough to do so. They mate by the male curling his tail around the the female's tail and the male's claspers will then hold on to the females paddle shaped structure and they stay like this for 15 minutes. If the female choses to use the sperm then eggs will develop in 2 weeks when that time comes she lays the eggs directly on the underside of her tail where there can be as many as 500 eggs, she will keep them safe curled in her tail for 8 weeks until they hatch. Most species of spurlite will have a larger percentage of it's eggs be unfertilized, these unfertilized eggs are used to feed the 5mm long hatchlings during their first weeks from emerging from their eggs. The hatchlings stay in the safety of mother's tail until the little spurlings are big enough to fend for themselves. Populations of these creatures are always isolated in small groups so inbreeding is an imminent danger, they have a few handy adaptations to protect against it. The first adaptation they have is that spurlites can recognize family members so they avoid mating with them. Another adaptation they have is that they will take any opportunity to hop ship on a different host so they can breed with new spurlites. Spurlites tend to be sexually mature at a younger age but can live up to 20 years or more this is so that a spurlite can wait for one of it's unrelated neighbour's young to mature so they can mate with them, being on a relatively small mobile home means any opportunity to help increase the gene pool counts. Though females cant produce offspring properly until they are about at the earth year age of 4. The last adaptation and arguably the most interesting is that females can store sperm from prevues matings with males for later use or remarkably if she wants to she can share the sperm with other females, Having an adaptation like this would indicate the severity of the evolutionary pressures against inbreeding that were forced upon the spurlites. The way females share sperm from prevues matings is by initiating a "sperm trade", this happens when 2 female spurlites feel the need to have more variant choice of stored sperm, mostly initiating one when a new female arrives on a new host, they start the trade by making elaborate and faint calls to one another signalling that they both have agreed upon the trade. If the decision to start the "sperm trade" is final they will then carefully press each other's paddle shaped structures tightly together, the curved shape of them creating sort of a tube each one ending in the other's sperm trading organ, which lies directly above their reproductive entrance. Once this position is set they will then commence trading by releasing a packet of preserved sperm within a mucus lining so neither of the traded sperm mix, it will then be received through the same opening the other sperm came out from. After this is done they separate and carry on as usual. Making sure their host is alive is of a spurlite's greatest interest so spurlites make sure their host stays healthy and safe even going as far as to warn their host of danger. Spurlites excrete waste out of a hole under where the tail connects to the body, they aim it outwards to make sure it doesn't go on their host. With such mentally active day to day life Spurlites need a brain capable of dealing with problems like interpreting not only the actions of their own kind but also the actions of their host, because of this spurlites have an intelligence comparable to a parrot.

## Species

This genus may have roughly 2000 different species with many different shapes and sizes, colours and behaviour. There is even a spurlite that resides in one of the tropical islands of Wallace II who in which the males do displays much like bird of paradise, where the male's smelling organs have been half converted into colourful display structures, not only that they also make elaborate calls to the female making a stunning display. Amongst the spurlites there are 4 main known strategies that spurlites have specialized in hunting. There are the snatchers which have much longer mouthparts sometimes to a goofy degree which is used to snatch flying parasites in mid air, hunting the ones that take a mosquito like approach to life. The crunchers which specialize in much tougher prey going after armoured parasites who undergo a tick like strategy, these spurlites have tough mouthparts that look similar to a parrot beak only it has 3 parts and teeth, the crunchers have the highest bite force of the spurlites. The most common ones are the generalists witch have moderately sized mouthparts much less exaggerated than the other varieties, they try to go after all sorts of parasites no matter their strategy. The last and least common are the grabbers which use their front limbs to grab prey items and then bring it to their mouth to feed similar to a praying mantis but less refined as they are the most recent strategy to evolve amongst the spurlites.

### Whooping spurlite

This species has a light blue head which fades to a grey colour. What gives this species their name is the distinct whooping sound that they make when communicating with their own. The whooping noise's porpoise seems to be the species way to say "I have something to say" to other whooping spurlites.

### Green spurlite

This species's bright colours isn't just confined to it's head like most spurlites. Instead it runs down nearly the entire length of it's body making most of it's colouration green. Considering this species is found riding on organisms that live in rainforests with lots of greenery suggests that it is for camouflage not only for itself but for the host it rides on.

### Moustached spurlite

Aka the fancy spurlite this species is known for its sensory organs having the positioning and shape of a lovely moustache. This spurlite is one of the cruncher group members having parrot like mouthparts. The moustache spurlite's mouthparts are distinct amongst the crunchers in the sense that their "beak" is smaller and has a bite force similar to the other groups of spurlites.

### Lumbering spurlite

Found on Archa in the temperate oceanic areas, this is the heaviest and one of the largest of the spurlites. Their evolution is from a population of spurlites that have fallen off of the safety of their sea flying host but managed to survive. They have gone through insular gigantism and have adaptations that make this spurlite one of the few that no longer need a host to live on. Their claws have shrunk into toe like structures while the foot's segment behind it have a structure similar to a hoof. These organisms carry a niche similar to large ground birds. They are known to chase around a polyspeculate called **scatter grass**, it is most likely that they do this for entertainment. They are curious in nature like most spurlites, but the lumbering spurlite tends to investigate with more confidence than what most species of spurlite would.

### Crushing jaw spurlite

This species of spurlite took the cruncher strategy of life to the extreme. this species resides on the many organisms living in semi-arid and savanna regions of Media Insula. This is the same habitat as the common lowland corpsetaker, a member of the *thalassopódaridae family* which hunts by ambushing prey many times their size by leaping on to them and clinging on to their prey while injecting potent venom. These spurlites have come up with a radical solution on how to defend their host from such large organisms by teaming up and taking them head on. Members of *thalassopódaridae* need to stay attached to their prey when injecting venom, this means that they are unable to defend themselves properly while in this position. Once a crushing jaw spurlite's host has been attacked by a common lowland corpsetaker they immediately spring into action, starting by wedging their mouthparts between the jaws of the attacker and attempting to bite its proboscises so the attacker cannot get into a position to inject venom, the rest of the spurlites go on to the body of said attacker. With a bite force strong enough to crush a human hand they go in to attempt to get through the armour of the attacker. Their mouthparts have been slightly modified to have sharper edges at the ends to help them penetrate the common lowland corpsetaker's armour, If they succeed in stopping or even killing the attacker the spurlites will get as much food from the remains as possible until their host comes to its senses and moves on. Though even with all of these traits defending against the common lowland corpsetaker are not 100% successful especially considering they can be as much as 1-2 metres long while the crushing jaw spurlite is only 35 cm long. Crushing jaw spurlites are known to be very brave and are often seen attempting to fend of predators that have pinned their host down, this sometimes even leads to successfully forcing the predator to flee. Crushing jaw spurlites are more prone to attacking mid sized flying animals that land on their host as an uncommon but important source of extra food.

(here is where the common lowland corpsetaker is from https://wallace-ii-ben-g-thomas.fandom.com/wiki/Thalassop%C3%B3daridae

Sound of a spurlite

Shown below is the warning call of the spurlite. This is a warning to it's host that a predator or other hazard has been spotted. To tell it's host where the danger is coming from the spurlite will run to the direction of the danger then vibrate as it is calling so the host can tell where it is coming from. This sound is a universal message that all species of spurlite that warn their hosts share.

file:///Users/Gavin/Documents/Call%20of%20my%20wallace%20ll%20organism%20(updated).wav

(This is the first sound effect i've ever made so it will be a little rusty sounding)

Here below is typical spurlite chatter

file:///Users/Gavin/Desktop/Wallace%20II%20stuff/Spurlite%20chatter.wav

(copy past the link if you want to hear a particular sound. I don't think it works this way but i have no other way that i know of to do this)

## Other

Here is a depiction of a member of the spurlite species made by the artist**Hotlinecarbon**

Here is a cartoonified drawing of a stache spurlite made by the artist **Slothy** which was used to make a Wallace II parody of Pringles, called Wangles.

Here is a joke made by someone when there was discussion on how spurlites could end up on islands by riding on flying organisms.