Big-Clawed Metter
While one descendant of the painted metter (S. sagittostium) took to the trees for protection, this one went underground. With its forelimbs adapted into makeshift digging tools, the big-clawed metter has gained a bit of a digging habit. Rather than clinging to stems or branches, it uses its forelimbs to bury itself under the polyphs where it can feed from the juicy roots. When it does this to polyphs with especially stable root systems, this makes it almost completely inaccessible to its ancestor’s main predator, the finhopper; even when the roots are not stable, finhoppers are more likely to target a polyph that has metters visible on it. In the event that their home is uprooted, they scatter, usually splitting into a few groups as they flee. When they encounter another group when approaching a new polyph host, they may fight over it; the losing group has to leave and find a new home. Like its ancestor, it is 1 cm long.
The big-clawed metter has a few changes to help it dig. Its ejectable spikes are swept back, so it does not have to dig an especially wide burrow to get anywhere. Its forelimbs are wide, flat, and strong, good for scooping away at dirt. It is otherwise pretty similar to its ancestor; as it still has to worry about finhoppers which are resistant to its venom while it treks between polyphs, it has developed a sandy coloration to blend in with the sand.
Like its ancestor, the big-clawed metter lives in large groups. These are led by a dominant female, chosen through non-lethal scuffles, that does most of the egg-laying, though other females may sneak in their own eggs as well. They mate often and lay clutches of 6-10 eggs nearly every day in various areas underground around the roots they suck from. These eggs are passively defended by the local group. The eggs hatch within 3 weeks, and it takes another 3 weeks for the hatchlings to reach maturity.
The big-clawed metter sucks from any polyph it can find which has large juicy roots, including D. desertus, D. cendra, D. flitzanius, and E. phylloakidus. It is preyed on by the finhopper as it treks between polyphs.
