Amphiptere

Amphipteres are two-winged serpentine dragons that do not have legs. The body of Amphipteres appear similar to that of a viper. Despite this, Amphipteres are not venomous.

## Biology

On average, Amphipteres are roughly 52 cm long, with a wingspan of 30 cm.

### Anatomy

The wings of Amphipteres are similar to a bat's, being a modified arm with elongated digits. Amphiptere wings have four digits with dactylopatagia connecting the digits to each other and propatagia connecting the first digit to the body. Each digit is made up of three phalanges connected by joints. The arm of the wing is made up of a wing humerus and radius, also connected by joints. The wing wing arm and digits allow Amphipteres to easily change the shape of the wing both in and out of flight.

The skeleton of Amphipteres consists primarily of the skull, the hyoid, the vertebral column, and the ribs. The skull consists of a solid and complete neurocranium, to which many of the other bones are only loosely attached, particularly the highly mobile jaw bones, which facilitate manipulation and ingestion of large prey items. The left and right sides of the lower jaw are joined only by a flexible ligament at the anterior tips, allowing them to separate widely, and the posterior end of the lower jaw bones articulate with a quadrate bone, allowing further mobility. The mandible and quadrate bones can pick up ground-borne vibrations; because the sides of the lower jaw can move independently of one another, a Amphiptere resting its jaw on a surface has sensitive stereo auditory perception, used for detecting the position of prey. The jaw–quadrate–stapes pathway is capable of detecting vibrations on the angstrom scale, despite the absence of an outer ear and the lack of an impedance matching mechanism—provided by the ossicles in other vertebrates—for receiving vibrations from the air.

The vertebral column has approximately 275 vertebrae. The body vertebrae each have two ribs articulating with them. The tail vertebrae are comparatively few in number and lack ribs. The vertebrae have projections that allow for strong muscle attachment, enabling locomotion without limbs.

Amphipteres have a sac of highly flammable compressed gas located in the back of the throat. The back of the mouth has two high-pressure valves which release the gas when opened. Upon contact with air, the gas ignites, creating a jet of fire that can reach up to 1 meter in distance. The flame burns at between 1000ºC and 1300ºC, with an average of 1050ºC.

## Behavior

### Activity

Amphipteres are most active during the daytime.

### Hunting and Feeding

Amphipteres are carnivorous, primarily preying on small rodents. Since Amphipteres do not have venom, they instead rely on constriction to kill prey. When hunting, the Amphiptere initially strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The Amphiptere will then wrap one or two loops around the prey, forming a constriction coil. The Amphiptere will monitor the prey's heartbeat to ascertain when it is dead. This method of hunting does not kill the prey through crushing, breaking of bones, or suffocation. Rather, the prey dies due to lack of blood flow causing cardiac arrest.

## Trivia

* Amphipteres draw inspiration from bats, snakes, and boa constrictors.