Antarctic Roomba
Capilliarmus antarcticpoda is a 1ft long exoskeletal musculate that lives in zone N. It sustains itself by scavenging polyph matter, A. abstractus and P. panensis and detritus.
It’s exoskeleton, excluding its head, is divided up into 6 segments. Each segments has a pair of hoof like legs, which have 2 segments , and covered in a hair like structures. Theses “hairs” help them trap heat. The head also possess theses hairs, with the ones near the front being chemoreceptive, as well as a pair of eyes and a beak like structure which it uses when consuming food. When molting, the exoskeleton is split into 2 main parts, with the dorsal parts coming off first while the ventral side is molted afterwards. The legs are molted separately and comes off last. It’s takes a few days for the exoskeleton to fully harden.
On the inside, C. anarctipoda’s digestive tract can split 5 main parts. The first one is a storage pouch in which food is stored(obvs) to be digested regurgitate to feed another individual. The second part is a long and winding canal, filled with enzymes and acids that breaks down complex molecules into simpler ones. The third part is a chamber that houses the parakaryote, Polyphagii duocytus, which ferments the molecules from the canal into other compounds, which are absorb into the body by blood vessels. This part is incredibly important as the heat produced fermentation is transfers through the body by blood vessels, giving C. Antarctipoda a form of endothermy. The fourth is another canal where anything that remains of the food items is broken down and absorbed into the body. Many P. ducytus also end up here, and most of them are killed which provided A. antarctipoda with their primary source of amino acid. The final part of their digestive tracts is the anal cavity where waste products and surviving P. duocytus are expelled as feces.
These muscals are extremely social, but only have an extremely simple social structure that doesn’t take affect for most of the year. They will gather in groups of 5-7 and build mounds made up of snow, soil, and pieces of dead auranticofolium. They will then dig their burrows inside of these mounds, moving smaller particles their feet in a rectilinear motion and using their beak for larger ones. The burrows have a V shaped entrance, a main chamber with a ventilation hole at the top, and another chamber where extra food, detritus, and some fecal is matter is stored(this chamber also has a ton of P. panensis growing in it). The heat from this chamber also keeps everything else warm. Burrows will be built relatively close to each other. A specific group will be tied to their own burrow, however, an individual can leave and join another if food is low or overcrowding is ongoing. Only the members of a group who are determined to be the constitutionally strongest will leave the burrow to scavenge at a time, and they will huddle together if temperatures get especially cold.
Reproduction occurs once every year, when all members of a group gather within the storage chamber; they will drag an old molt out(specifically half of a molt) and fill it with detritus. Then, as they are hermaphrodites, lay 10-20 eggs before externally fertilizing them. They will then cover the eggs in detritus before being covered by the 2nd molt half. Individuals who determined to be the constitutionally weakest are usually the ones taking care of the eggs. Most of the babies from the eggs will die before they reach adulthood, especially due to occasional cannibalism, and about half will die before they hatch. Once hatched, the babies are about 1in long and will molt yearly. They are sexually mature when they reach a length of 1ft.
