Rhinoceros Maggot

This is a really big page, Editing may crash your browser or viewing it, so please be careful.
This article is very long, and could slow down your browser by opening or editing it. Please proceed with caution.
Reason: 6.6k bytes

This is a stub or is otherwise incomplete, you can help by making it bigger. You can edit this page here.

## Cell stats

### Defence

Very High

The Rhinoceros Maggot (Oryctes rhinoceros) is a species of beetle that is unable to metamorphose into an adult, thus its "adult form" is when it has reached its largest size in which it is completely equipped with its powerful jaws and eight legs to upgrade speed. The Rhino Maggot has a favoured diet for Fly Maggots (Musca domestica) and its combination of its sharp mind, powerful jaws, and speedy pairs of legs allows it to be the ultimate predator of the Maggot. Like Fly Maggots, they have a similar body shape, but their body is much more larger and stronger, built for perfecting dexterity and bending to reach for its prey. Rhino Maggots are unique species that aren't invasive, rather they kill of parasitic and invasive larvae species, stopping them from conquering substrates and to grow in numbers.

## Appearance

Rhinoceros Maggots are large, bulky larva that have a pair of Devorocytes, acting as their powerful jaws capable of devouring the meat of Fly Maggots. They possess a Stereocyte, the brain, that controls movements and allows the Rhino Maggot to actually pursue its prey, rather than stand idly and wait for one to be stupid enough to go right into its mouth. They have two Photocytes which keep the head and tail from starving when hard times occur, such as famine or nutrient deficient substrates, and serves as a tertiary (third) food source. Their 8 Phagocytes serve as a secondary food source if they fail to catch any larvae, and they depend alot on their Phagocytes to catch nutrient pieces in the plate. They have 4 Keratinocytes which protect their 8 Flagellocytes, and every single part of their body, except their tail Photocyte ( not counting Devorocytes since they technically act as a method of defense). Their four pairs of Flagellocytes are their legs and rely on them since they make the concept of movement occur and allows the single-body entity to move across the substrate. Its weak spots can make it prone to Secrocyte attacks, especially Lipase (digests cells), Protease (destroys cell adhesins) and HCN (poison/venom)

## Behaviour

Rhinoceros Maggots are more agile than their prey, meaning they are also more sharper and can sense their prey from a distance before striking them. Rhino Maggots may either attack from the bottom, the middle (cutting their prey in half and chasing after either the top half or bottom half), or the top (ultimately killing its brain and making it easier to eat the rest of it). They also have a voracious appetite and can eat many Fly Maggots without rest. Rhino Maggots are also hyper-carnivores, constantly eating food and making meat its primary diet as it consistently eats Maggot carcasses as it hunts them down. One Rhino Maggot is enough to kill off a colony of 10 Maggots, and a brood of Rhino Maggots (usually 3 - 6 individuals) is sure to finish off a colony of 20 prey after some time.

## Hunting & Prey

Rhinoceros Maggots are known to eat Fly Maggots as their main diet, but it is not known yet if they have a preference of eating Grubbs, rather than Maggots, since those two species have not made contact yet. Rhinoceros Maggots usually start the hunt by their brain sensing a Maggot in the area and so the Rhino would turn to the Maggot, ready with its Devorocytes, to attack it and make a meal out of it. It would catch up with its more sluggish prey and keep relentlessly attacking it until it is fully eaten or is distracting by another Maggot which is passing by the attack. It is also not known if Rhino Maggots may feast on Annelid Worms, although Annelids multiply if they are cut in half.

## Competition

It is not yet known if Rhino Maggots have competition, which also has a preference for the taste of Maggots. It is unlikely it could have a new competitor as it is the apex predator of their habitat, which is also where Fly Maggots and Annelid Worms live. Rhino Maggots were built for attack and so any competitors may either be decimated by the Rhino Maggot, driven out and survive, or be locked in a duel with it for their common food source, Maggots.

## Stages of Life

A Rhinoceros Maggot has two life stages, in which are important for its development and growth, after it hatches from an egg.

### Nymph Stage

When a Rhino Maggot hatches, it is known as a Nymph, and it is in the stage where it is growing the rest of its body and develops a brain and its Devorocyte jaws which it needs to eat Maggots. Once it grows its whole body, it moves into its dominant Adult Larva Stage.

### Adult Stage

When a Rhino Maggot advances from a Nymph to an Adult, it has reached its full capabilities and is now ready and fit to do anything, especially hunting. They are instinctively very good stealth hunters which attack from any direction and can track their prey from afar, before lunging at it and devouring their carcass. Since they are larvae, they aren't able to metamorphose into an adult to reproduce, so they can only be birthed through spawning their eggs.

## Trivia

* Rhinoceros Maggots are based off the larva of real life Scarab beetles
* The genome of Rhino Maggots was made from the template for Fly Maggots
* Rhino Maggots are carnivores
* Rhinoceros Maggots may interact each other at times, although they are solitary predators

## Gallery

A Rhino Maggot nymph, a smaller and younger stage in a Rhino Maggot's life.An adult Rhinoceros Maggot.A Rhino Maggot pursuing a Fly MaggotA Rhino Maggot eating a Fly Maggot.A group of Maggots (5 individuals) picking off their prey one by one.