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Topic Started: Oct 7 2013, 10:40 PM (383 Views)
Citrakayah
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Terraphytes
Edited by Citrakayah, Nov 8 2013, 04:05 PM.
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Geology section revised and expanded in respones to critique on Speculative Evolution. Biology added to. Faunal groups are new. For the record, I am considering making the unofficial motto of this project, "When in doubt, aliens."

Rix is a small planet, about eight hundred light years away from Earth, orbiting a K0-type star at a distance of 0.70 AU. Due to geological conditions, Rix has extremely large areas of ''tsingy'' formations, with much of the remaining land still being limestone based as well. The oceans are fairly shallow; often the ''tsingy'' formations, maintained by reef-building organisms, rise above them.

Astrometrics
The Rixan system is, as previous mentioned approximately eight hundred light years away from Earth, on the fringes of the Orion Arm. It contains a mere three planetoids, none of them very large; the outer planets of the Rixan system have been stolen away by a rogue star. Zexania (the star of the Rixan system) is, meanwhile, nearing the end of its life as a main sequence K-class star, and the native sophonts are desperately trying to gather the necessary resources to reinvigorate their star.

Previously, the orbit of Rix was so elliptical that nothing except extremophiles could survive. Due to the gravitational pull of a passing rogue star, though, its orbit became more circular. Relatively soon after, extremophiles evolved into multicellular life, or went extinct (in the cases of a few bacteria-like organisms adapted for a freezing existence; their spores finally died due to an inability to cope with the constant tropical temperatures). By this time, Rix was very old--many radioactive isotopes had already decayed, and that resulted in the atmosphere having a high percentage of noble gases, especially the heavier ones like krypton and xenon.

Rix has one natural satellite. In addition, the Trax have created several large space stations that orbit Rix. These are not large enough to have any effect on the tides. The single moon of Rix is named Epraz, and is about the size and density of the Earth's moon.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Rix is toxic to Earth life. Most of the atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen, with substantial amounts of noble gases (the frequency of noble gases is in large part due to the amount of time several isotopes have had to undergo radiological decay). Relatively large amounts of carbon monoxide result in rapid poisoning of Earthly organisms; Rixarn life is immune due to its different oxygen-carrying molecules. A large amount of carbon dioxide keeps the planet very warm, despite the small size of its dim star. Because of the makeup of Rix's atmosphere, atmospheric density is much higher than on Earth.

The high concentrations of noble gases in Rix's atmosphere mean that its auroras are significantly brighter than ours. Around the North and South pole, the auroras can be bright enough that plants will continue photosynthesizing during the polar night, though the rate of photosynthesis drops dramatically during polar night. As Rix has analogs to rainforests on its poles, this creates what is widely seen as one of the most beautiful displays in the area--a rainforest at night, illuminated by a brilliant aurora.

Geology
Rix is a planet that is, at least on the surface, exceptionally metal poor. Very few deposits of iron-bearing rocks and minerals can be easily found and mined; a thick layer of limestone, deposited by dead organisms when most of the planet was covered in shallow water, is the dominant rock formation. Aluminum is more common than iron, though still fairly rare. Copper is abundant in comparison to Earth; copper is also one of the main metals used in Traxarn technology due to how common and easily available it is (copper ore mines on Rix, due to chance, tend to be closer to the surface and easier to excavate than iron ore mines), and is also the basis of Rixarn blood.

The main exception to the metal-poor rule is around volcanic areas, where lava often contains iron ore. As most volcanoes on Rix are underwater, these areas often support communities of organisms with hemoglobin as their oxygen-carrying molecule.

The interior geology of Rix is very close to that of Earth's, with the only difference being slightly different ratios in the thickness of layers; Rix's inner core is larger, resulting in a stronger magnetic field.

Geography
For the most part, Rix is ocean--the planet has three large landmasses, and two massive archipelagos.

Lazax is the largest Rixarn landmass, located on the Equator and straddling Rix's Prime Meridian. For the most part, it is rocky semidesert, inhabited by predatory, ambulatory "plants" that prey both on each other and on various animal species. As usual for Rix, the animal species have adapted to dry land by secreting a waxy covering, similar to that of the waxy monkey frog (''Phyllomedusa sauvagii''). Other biomes include a plains-type biome (albeit one where, in addition to grass-like plants, an array of tendrils stretch towards the air in an attempt to capture migratory flying creatures which use the plains as a stopping point), and a cloud forest.

Surrounding Lazax is a shallow sea, colonized by a close relative of Eoterraphyta that forms colonies, and secretes a limestone covering. These colonies create large spires, which can reach above the water; several species "air coral" colonize the spires and filter out organic particles from the air.

Isguthus is the middle continent, and located in the North. It is covered in temperate rainforest, and is practically dripping with moisture. For much of the year, it is night on Isguthus, but the aurora provides enough illumination for plants to continue photosynthesizing, so the rainforest does not experience dieback--though there is only enough light for plants to keep their most basic functions running. The plants aren't actually breaking even, either; they're merely producing enough energy that going into hibernation and losing all their leaves isn't worth it.

The smallest continent is Gurwath. It is a wet, tropical location, with most of the continent under sea level. Due to these conditions, the soil contains several evaporite minerals, making it difficult for plant life to grow. The plants that do grow are hardy plants, which excrete salt through the undersides of their leaves--a process that has the side effect of making their leaves unpalatable to most organisms.

The two archipelagos are referred to as Pretal Lowisk and Pretal Wasik ("Pretal" is the Traxan word for "group"). Pretal Lowisk surrounds Lazax in a ring, and forms the border between the continent's shallow seas and the open ocean. Pretal Wasik is a group of islands near the South Pole, and home to a wide variety of endemic wildlife, similar to the Galapagos Islands, Madagascar, and Australia all rolled into one.

Biology
Rixarn biology is, much like Earthly biology, carbon-based, with roughly similar amino acids and proteins used for genetic coding. However, due to a different chemical makeup of Rix, Rixarn life has certain chemicals taking places that are taken by other chemicals in Earthly life.

As mentioned before, no terrestrial Rixarn life can survive with hemoglobin as a oxygen transporter (too much carbon monoxide). Since copper is relatively common on Rix, and carbon monoxide is present, hemocyanin is the main oxygen transporter. A few organisms use other transporters, but they are extremely rare. For the most part, these are marine organisms that live in places where they are isolated from carbon monoxide, such as the deep ocean. In such oxygen-poor conditions, hemoglobin is actually favored due to how effective an oxygen transporter it is.

Photosynthesis utilizes the pigment phycocyanin and chlorophyll ''a'', rendering plants a greenish-blue. Like Earth plants, photosynthetic pigments are contained in chloroplast-analogues, which are descended from symbiotic single-celled organisms. Due to Rix's low light levels, however, chloroplasts haven't developed much in the way of motility: Photosynthetic organisms don't really need chloroplast motility to protect themselves from excessive light on Rix. A few organisms, however, are in sunny enough areas to require chloroplast motility.
Edited by Citrakayah, Nov 8 2013, 04:00 PM.
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martiitram
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Citrakayah
Oct 18 2013, 02:10 PM
Geology section revised and expanded in respones to critique on Speculative Evolution. Biology added to. Faunal groups are new. For the record, I am considering making the unofficial motto of this project, "When in doubt, aliens."

Rix is a small planet, about eight hundred light years away from Earth, orbiting a K0-type star at a distance of 0.70 AU. Due to geological conditions, Rix has extremely large areas of ''tsingy'' formations, with much of the remaining land still being limestone based as well. The oceans are fairly shallow; often the ''tsingy'' formations, maintained by reef-building organisms, rise above them.

Astrometrics
The Rixan system is, as previous mentioned approximately eight hundred light years away from Earth, on the fringes of the Orion Arm. It contains a mere three planetoids, none of them very large; the outer planets of the Rixan system have been stolen away by a rogue star. Zexania (the star of the Rixan system) is, meanwhile, nearing the end of its life as a main sequence K-class star, and the native sophonts are desperately trying to gather the necessary resources to reinvigorate their star.

Previously, the orbit of Rix was so elliptical that nothing except extremophiles could survive. Due to the gravitational pull of a passing rogue star, though, its orbit became more circular. Relatively soon after, extremophiles evolved into multicellular life, or went extinct (in the cases of a few bacteria-like organisms adapted for a freezing existence; their spores finally died due to an inability to cope with the constant tropical temperatures). By this time, Rix was very old--many radioactive isotopes had already decayed, and that resulted in the atmosphere having a high percentage of noble gases, especially the heavier ones like krypton and xenon.

Rix has one natural satellite. In addition, the Trax have created several large space stations that orbit Rix. These are not large enough to have any effect on the tides. The single moon of Rix is named Epraz, and is about the size and density of the Earth's moon.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Rix is toxic to Earth life. Most of the atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen, with substantial amounts of noble gases (the frequency of noble gases is in large part due to the amount of time several isotopes have had to undergo radiological decay). Relatively large amounts of carbon monoxide result in rapid poisoning of Earthly organisms; Rixarn life is immune due to its different oxygen-carrying molecules. A large amount of carbon dioxide keeps the planet very warm, despite the small size of its dim star. Because of the makeup of Rix's atmosphere, atmospheric density is much higher than on Earth.

The high concentrations of noble gases in Rix's atmosphere mean that its auroras are significantly brighter than ours. Around the North and South pole, the auroras can be bright enough that plants will continue photosynthesizing during the polar night, though the rate of photosynthesis drops dramatically during polar night. As Rix has analogs to rainforests on its poles, this creates what is widely seen as one of the most beautiful displays in the area--a rainforest at night, illuminated by a brilliant aurora.

Geology
Rix is a planet that is, at least on the surface, exceptionally metal poor. Very few deposits of iron-bearing rocks and minerals can be easily found and mined; a thick layer of limestone, deposited by dead organisms when most of the planet was covered in shallow water, is the dominant rock formation. Aluminum is more common than iron, though still fairly rare. Copper is abundant in comparison to Earth; copper is also one of the main metals used in Traxarn technology due to how common and easily available it is (copper ore mines on Rix, due to chance, tend to be closer to the surface and easier to excavate than iron ore mines), and is also the basis of Rixarn blood.

The main exception to the metal-poor rule is around volcanic areas, where lava often contains iron ore. As most volcanoes on Rix are underwater, these areas often support communities of organisms with hemoglobin as their oxygen-carrying molecule.

The interior geology of Rix is very close to that of Earth's, with the only difference being slightly different ratios in the thickness of layers; Rix's inner core is larger, resulting in a stronger magnetic field.

Geography
For the most part, Rix is ocean--the planet has three large landmasses, and two massive archipelagos.

Lazax is the largest Rixarn landmass, located on the Equator and straddling Rix's Prime Meridian. For the most part, it is rocky semidesert, inhabited by predatory, ambulatory "plants" that prey both on each other and on various animal species. As usual for Rix, the animal species have adapted to dry land by secreting a waxy covering, similar to that of the waxy monkey frog (''Phyllomedusa sauvagii''). Other biomes include a plains-type biome (albeit one where, in addition to grass-like plants, an array of tendrils stretch towards the air in an attempt to capture migratory flying creatures which use the plains as a stopping point), and a cloud forest.

Surrounding Lazax is a shallow sea, colonized by a close relative of Eoterraphyta that forms colonies, and secretes a limestone covering. These colonies create large spires, which can reach above the water; several species "air coral" colonize the spires and filter out organic particles from the air.

Isguthus is the middle continent, and located in the North. It is covered in temperate rainforest, and is practically dripping with moisture. For much of the year, it is night on Isguthus, but the aurora provides enough illumination for plants to continue photosynthesizing, so the rainforest does not experience dieback--though there is only enough light for plants to keep their most basic functions running. The plants aren't actually breaking even, either; they're merely producing enough energy that going into hibernation and losing all their leaves isn't worth it.

The smallest continent is Gurwath. It is a wet, tropical location, with most of the continent under sea level. Due to these conditions, the soil contains several evaporite minerals, making it difficult for plant life to grow. The plants that do grow are hardy plants, which excrete salt through the undersides of their leaves--a process that has the side effect of making their leaves unpalatable to most organisms.

The two archipelagos are referred to as Pretal Lowisk and Pretal Wasik ("Pretal" is the Traxan word for "group"). Pretal Lowisk surrounds Lazax in a ring, and forms the border between the continent's shallow seas and the open ocean. Pretal Wasik is a group of islands near the South Pole, and home to a wide variety of endemic wildlife, similar to the Galapagos Islands, Madagascar, and Australia all rolled into one.

Biology
Rixarn biology is, much like Earthly biology, carbon-based, with roughly similar amino acids and proteins used for genetic coding. However, due to a different chemical makeup of Rix, Rixarn life has certain chemicals taking places that are taken by other chemicals in Earthly life.

As mentioned before, no terrestrial Rixarn life can survive with hemoglobin as a oxygen transporter (too much carbon monoxide). Since copper is relatively common on Rix, and carbon monoxide is present, hemocyanin is the main oxygen transporter. A few organisms use other transporters, but they are extremely rare. For the most part, these are marine organisms that live in places where they are isolated from carbon monoxide, such as the deep ocean. In such oxygen-poor conditions, hemoglobin is actually favored due to how effective an oxygen transporter it is.

Photosynthesis utilizes the pigment phycocyanin and chlorophyll ''a'', rendering plants a greenish-blue. Like Earth plants, photosynthetic pigments are contained in chloroplast-analogues, which are descended from symbiotic single-celled organisms. Due to Rix's low light levels, however, chloroplasts haven't developed much in the way of motility: Photosynthetic organisms don't really need chloroplast motility to protect themselves from excessive light on Rix. A few organisms, however, are in sunny enough areas to require chloroplast motility.




Basal groups of terrestrial macro-organisms on Rix fall into three main categories: Eoterraphyta, Xenoserpentes, and [rock back]. In Rixarn biology, these are considered the three primary forms, with all other life descended from them. They weren't the first organisms, of course, but they are the oldest fossilized macroscopic ancestors of extant Rixarn life.

Eoterraphyta
Eoterraphyta, meaning "dawn land plant," are one of the oldest groups of Rixarn life. They are the primary photosynthesizers and producers in Rixarn ecology, but unlike Plantae on Earth, they are often motile, and frequently predatory, using their long tendrils to move around.

All Eoterraphyta are obviously derived from a single basal form; this basal form is one of the most commonly fossilized soft tissued organisms from the Cupruzoic, and was a disc of plant matter with tendrils branching of it that it used for steering. Similar organisms can be found today on Rix, and are considered living fossils.

Eoterraphyta was the first organism on land, besides microscopic bacteria-analogues. Due to this they had a leg up in exploiting niches, and since Eoterraphyta was already motile, the evolution of forms that used their tendrils to drag themselves forward took fairly little time; the species also adapted to be able to detect relative levels of light using the degree to which its chloroplasts were active. This adaptation allowed it to move to better sources of light, which was crucial in the often overcast environment of Rix.

Eventually, some Eoterraphytes became sessile, and developed a fractal body plan. Each pad had three tendrils branching off at 120 degrees from each other, and each tendril had a smaller pad at the end. As the plant grew, not only would the pads and tendrils grow larger, but more layers of complexity would be added--this maximized the area available for photosynthesis, while retaining a very simple body plan and allowing the plant to easily reproduce by budding. Several genuses of [fractal plant]idae grow on water, similar to lilypads, and they are often used as nurseries, since they have long, feathery tendrils reaching down into the deep water that collect nutrients..

Chromoflora
Chromoflora, also known as rainbow death plants, is a genus of Eoterraphyta that has taken the light detection properties of most Eoterraphytes to its extreme: Color vision. Chromoflora uses a variety of photosynthetic pigments that respond to specific wavelengths of light; examined closely the plant is a mosaic of tiny cells of color. While their color vision would look thoroughly bizarre to us, for Chromoflora it works wonders, and the genus is capable of using its vision to spot prey and predators.

All species of Chromoflora, save one (a species that primarily eats fruit and nuts) are carnivorous, as well as photosynthetic. They are sit-and-wait predators, relying on their bright colors (many of which are echoed by Eoterraphytes that are trying to attract pollinators that are more motile than they) and periods of production of a sweet nectar-like substance to lure in prey close enough to be entangled with their barbed tendrils, and pulled in to the central pad, where digestive enzymes are excreted to break down the prey and the remains are scraped off using a specialized pair of tendrils. Rainbow death plants have a structure analogous to a primitive nervous system, much like that of a Venus fly trap native to Earth. This is essential for removing undigested materials from the central pad; the fact that the genus grows in moist rainforest also helps keep the plants clean.

At random times during the year, a large percentage of rainbow death plants will cease capturing prey. The time of year is determined by a pheromone cascade; a Chromoflora species capable of going without meat for several months will eventually begin to release the pheromones. These pheromones promote the release of pheromones in other Chromoflora of the same species, and eventually all rainbow death plants of a single species that are capable of not eating animal protein for several months without starving will go into into a hibernation-like state, where they will excrete larger than normal amounts of nectar, which carries the seeds of Chromoflora. The nectar is so nutrient-rich that many creatures will risk the plant not hibernating to try and feed on it--and this, coupled with the random timing of the hibernation, results in Chromoflora having a dependable population of creatures willing to waltz right up to it to try and feed on the nectar.

Chromoflora tendrils are extremely strong; they went from being used to drag the genus' ancestors along the ground to being used to climb up cliffs, before Chromoflora went back to being ground-dwelling (for the most part--Chromoflora hyle is arboreal). Once an organism is grabbed by a tendril, other tendrils will quickly wrap around the organism, and the organism will then be repeatedly slammed up against a nearby object, such as the ground, until it is dead. While this uses a lot of energy for large organisms, Chromoflora has a success rate of approximately 95% for such large organisms, once it begins the work of grabbing the creature with a tendril and attempting to kill it.
A nice , detailed work.Perfect!Bravo!!!I'm impressed , seriously!Really nice ideas and I cant wait to learn more!
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Citrakayah
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Anyone else have any opinions? Criticism? Shivers of fear over carnivorous plants?
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dragontunders
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are interesting :) , one question, has there been some species have symbiosis with others?
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Citrakayah
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Sure. Just haven't written about it yet.
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Zirojtan
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Sorry it took me so long to comment! I've had writer's block this week...


First of all, I really like everything you have going thus far, but I do have a couple things to add. First and foremost, I'm interested in knowing how close your planet is to its sun here, as I've recently learned that that is a very big determining factor not only for your climate, but various aspects of your life. For example, the world for my book, Eurydice, orbits a star that is a spectral class above Earth, and therefore is brighter and hotter, but the distance of the planet means that it actually receives slightly less light. One of the major things that this affects directly is of course wind. Without the same kind of heat from the sun to raise the planet's winds, Eurydice will be rather windy, even during thermal maxima. That means that surface oceanic currents might be stronger, and that the effects of El Niño will be lessened. It also means that the plants have to absorb more light, which will make them slightly darker, even in the tropics.


Another factor to consider is also the length of the day. Eurydice has a 62 hour daily cycle, which results in higher temperature variation between night and day.


Now I do like many of the aspects of your plants, but I would like to point out that plants on a planet orbiting a dimmer star are likely to either absorb different kinds of light, or appear darker because of the absorption of more light. Utilizing "chloroplasts" for light perception is an interesting idea, but are they doing this with all the chloroplasts throughout their body, or just with specialized chloroplasts in a certain area of it? I imagine it would be a little difficult if they were using all the chloroplasts...


I'm also interested in how your plants move? Do they have a cardio-vascular system of some kind? I'm not saying that it's impossible, I'm just interested in how they do it.
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Citrakayah
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Quote:
 
First of all, I really like everything you have going thus far, but I do have a couple things to add. First and foremost, I'm interested in knowing how close your planet is to its sun here, as I've recently learned that that is a very big determining factor not only for your climate, but various aspects of your life. For example, the world for my book, Eurydice, orbits a star that is a spectral class above Earth, and therefore is brighter and hotter, but the distance of the planet means that it actually receives slightly less light. One of the major things that this affects directly is of course wind. Without the same kind of heat from the sun to raise the planet's winds, Eurydice will be rather windy, even during thermal maxima. That means that surface oceanic currents might be stronger, and that the effects of El Niño will be lessened. It also means that the plants have to absorb more light, which will make them slightly darker, even in the tropics.


.75 AU. Says in the very first sentence.

Quote:
 
Now I do like many of the aspects of your plants, but I would like to point out that plants on a planet orbiting a dimmer star are likely to either absorb different kinds of light, or appear darker because of the absorption of more light. Utilizing "chloroplasts" for light perception is an interesting idea, but are they doing this with all the chloroplasts throughout their body, or just with specialized chloroplasts in a certain area of it? I imagine it would be a little difficult if they were using all the chloroplasts...


Well, Rix does orbit a Class K0 star, which is right below a G-sequence star, so it's not that much dimmer. And Rix's plants do use two different pigments in very high concentrations. Do you think I should add more pigments?

As far as light perception, they're doing it throughout their entire body. Basically, the entire organism is a giant eye.

Quote:
 
I'm also interested in how your plants move? Do they have a cardio-vascular system of some kind? I'm not saying that it's impossible, I'm just interested in how they do it.


Well, sort of, in the same sense that existing plants have one. Movement... I basically envision a sort of tropism, in that the plant's cells are expanding and contracting. Basically muscles.
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Zirojtan
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.75 AU. Says in the very first sentence.



So it does... lol.


Quote:
 
Well, Rix does orbit a Class K0 star, which is right below a G-sequence star, so it's not that much dimmer. And Rix's plants do use two different pigments in very high concentrations. Do you think I should add more pigments?

As far as light perception, they're doing it throughout their entire body. Basically, the entire organism is a giant eye.



I would use different pigments, yes, just to make it more different. Although reading how the different pigments work with light can be really boring, at least for me. I'll have to consult my friend who has yet to join the forum because he's working on drawing himself a new avatar, a.k.a Zerraspace about how that might. I wonder where Affexian has gone? He was so active for a couple of days and then he disappeared... lol. You may also want to play with the material used for the cell walls of the plants. For example, my "hellmolds" that will be featured in the next update on Eurydice use peptidoglycans for their cell walls. Plants use cellulose on Earth, and diatoms use silicates I believe. It's just something to think about, but again, I'm not a plant or microbiology expert. Those would be Affexian/Zerraspace's area of expertise.
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Citrakayah
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Chromoflora, also known as rainbow death plants (in English) or kaxalth (in most dominant Rixarn languages), is a genus of Terraphyta that has taken the light detection properties of most Terraphytes to its extreme: Color vision. The kaxalth uses a variety of photosynthetic pigments that respond to specific wavelengths of light; examined closely the plant is a mosaic of tiny cells of color. While their color vision would look thoroughly bizarre to us, for the kaxalth it works wonders, and the genus is capable of using its vision to spot prey and predators.

Description
All species of kaxalth, save one (a species that primarily eats fruit and nuts) are carnivorous, as well as photosynthetic. They are sit-and-wait predators, relying on their bright colors (many of which are echoed by Terraphytes that are trying to attract pollinators that are more motile than they) and periods of production of a sweet nectar-like substance to lure in prey close enough to be entangled with their barbed tendrils, and pulled in to the central pad, where digestive enzymes are excreted to break down the prey and the remains are scraped off using a specialized pair of tendrils. Kaxalth have a structure analogous to a primitive nervous system, much like that of a Venus fly trap native to Earth. This is essential for removing undigested materials from the central pad; the fact that the genus grows in moist rainforest also helps keep the plants clean.

Chromoflora tendrils are extremely strong; they went from being used to drag the gensus’ ancestors along the ground to being used to climb up cliffs, before Chromoflora went back to being ground-dwelling (for the most part—Chromoflora hyle is arboreal). Once an organism is grabbed by a tendril, other tendrils will quickly wrap around the organism, and the organism will then be repeatedly slammed up against a nearby object, such as the ground, until it is dead. While this uses a lot of energy for large organisms, Chromoflora has a success rate of approximately 95% for such large organisms, once it begins the work of grabbing the creature with a tendril and attempting to kill it.

Ecology
At random times during the year, a large percentage of kaxalth will cease capturing prey. The time of year is determined by a pheromone cascade; a kaxalth species capable of going without meat for several months will eventually begin to release the pheromones. These pheromones promote the release of pheromones in other kaxalth of the same species, and eventually all kaxalth of a single species that are capable of not eating animal protein for several months without starving will go into into a hibernation-like state, where they will excrete larger than normal amounts of nectar, which carries the seeds of kaxalth. The nectar is so nutrient-rich that many creatures will risk the plant not hibernating to try and feed on it—and this, coupled with the random timing of the hibernation, results in kaxalth having a dependable population of creatures willing to waltz right up to it to try and feed on the nectar.

Vision
Like all Terraphytes that see, kaxalth use their chloroplasts to detect light levels by monitoring sugar production by chloroplasts, not completely dissimilar from how other light sensitive pigments are used by Earthly life to see. The main question in kaxalth evolution is exactly how pigments that are usually found distributed evenly in Terraphytes, and are useless for most complex visual tasks, became so highly developed in Chromoflora.

Color
While the florid kaxalth (C. chromoflora) is by far the most vivid of the kaxalth species,[1] even displaying bioluminescence under certain circumstances to attract visually oriented night pollinators, all kaxalth species are brightly colored, a necessary by-product of having three different photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, and xanthophyll) organized in individual cells. The resulting pattern is actually slightly nauseating to many humans, though the Trax find it quite beautiful, if very deadly.

Species Diversity

C. hyle species group
  • C. chromoflora – florid kaxalth
  • C. hyle – arboreal kaxalth
  • C. vulgaris – common kaxalth

C. rewsus species group
  • C. rewsus – Rewtan's kaxalth
  • C. palustris – marsh kaxalth
  • C. diana – dryland kaxalth

[1] The florid kaxalth has not three, but four, photosynthetic pigments, with the extra being eumelanin. This is believed to be due to several prey animals consumed by the florid kaxalth having toxins that originally evolved to fend off Xenoserpentes (a far more common predator). The prey animals displayed warning patterns in ultraviolet light, which Xenoserpentes could see.
Edited by Citrakayah, Nov 8 2013, 11:34 PM.
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