Eventide Tapsi
Descended from Venovola ovicomus
Zone D
25 cm head to tail 45 cm wingspan (front pair)
'Adaptations: The Eventide Tapsi has become nocturnal in order to avoid competiton and predation from larger tapsis and other flying predators. It tracks down sleeping prey using its newly developed primitive echolocation. It periodically makes small chirping noises, and listens for an irregularity in the returning sound waves using its sensitive hearing. Its head fins now form a "cone" around its stympanic membranes to more clearly pick up sound waves. This chirping does not go unnoticed by predators, and many larger tapsis are able to hear it, and occasionally wake up due to it. These include V. flavocallus, V. ignicornus, V. rubanulus, V. silvavolus, and other flying/hearing predators. These larger carnivores, however, do not typically chase after these sounds, as they have a more difficult time navigating the dark skies than V. noctevenator does. Even if one does persue it, V. noctevenators small size allows it to slip into small spaces in foliage and treetops where its predator cannot follow.
V. noctevenator's ears work by having a thin layer of skin stretched over a canal. When this layer vibrates, it causes a small cartilaginous structure to vibrate, which bumps against a membrane derived from the walls of the ear canal. This bumping amplifies the sound into the second chamber of the canal.The walls of this chamber of the canal are absolutely packed with small, sensitive hair-like structures that vibrate with sound waves. The cells detect this motion and send signals to the brain where they are decoded into sound.
Feeding: Venovola noctevenator feeds on small prey in Zone D such as B. purpla, D. arbora, F. distringa, K. killiskippus, S. opposa, as well as eggs if it happens to stumble upon them. It locates prey with its sensitive hearing and primitive echolocation. The eventide Tapsi's prey items are deaf, making this method of hunting rather effective against them.
Reproduction: V. noctevenator has lost its ancestral mating colors in order to not attract attention while resting in trees during the day, so they rely on an eerie trilling song to attract mates. Females lay clutches of ~10 purple bark colored eggs in the twists and tops of trees, and only about half of the eggs make it to adulthood due to the abundance of flying predators in Zone D.
(Halloween Challenge Submission - Based off of a bat)
