Ourboros Sexipedes
Ancestor: Moraldubious patrawermis
Dimensions: 4-3cm in length as an adult, 1cm in length when young
Role: Base-consumer, detritivore
Prey: Quadristirpis Spp seeds, immature breads, detritus(when young), A. abstractus
As the climate of zone M changed and Moraldubious patrawermis' food source, Prolixa metriapatros and Serceius viscerathermus, began to decline, surviving populations had to find a new food source and adapt to a changing climate. This led to them speciating into Moraldubious ouroboros, which, like its ancestor, cooperate to form chains of 6-7 individuals that help digest durable food matter and feed eachother through trophallaxis. As they were already granivores, adapting to feed on the seeds of Quadeistirpis spp.(Q. aurantiacofolium and S. carpefolium) and immature members of S. panensis(bread), that were small enough to fit inside of their mouth, provide little complications, though they've devised a new method of feeding that involves connecting the front and rear ends to form a coprophagic ring of digestive systems to maximize nutrient extraction in the more food scarce envirnoment. This allows food to be cycled through each individual multiple times, causing nutrient distribution among individual sexipedes to be more uniform, which also reduces the need for individuals to swap positions within the chain as to not be deprived of certain nutrients.
M. ouroboros has adopted a variety of adaptations to stave off the colder temperatures. It has become more poikilothermic, producing a variety of enzymes and proteins that functions at different temperature ranges, though it prefers "warm" and "mild" temperatures above all else as it can only enter a cold resistant sate for so long. Besides consuming other polyph seeds, it has also taken to feeding on A. abstractus to obtain its antifreeze compound, though the antifreeze is somewhat malabsorbed as to allow all individuals to recieve the necessary amount. To increase their mobility, M. ouroboros has become a phoront of Capiliarmus spp(roombas), which also further protects them from the cold by allowing them to use the roomba's insulating hairs. If they have sensed that their host has come to a stop, potentially due to the discovery of food, they will climb off of them and began searching for seeds, breads, etc.Once they've satisfied their hunger, they'll burrow into snow, or rest near detritus/heat generating species such as S. australensis, A. abstractus colonies, or Breads, to digest their food. They will climb onto a roomba, and travel with them back to their burrows, if one arrives or wander around picking up more food as they go along and/or resting near the mentioned suitable areas if needed.
The burrows of Capiliarmus spp. are important to M. ouroboros as it is where they spend the arctic winter and reproduce. Many sexipede chains will enter the storage chamber, and may transfer themselves to other groups if individual circumstances requires it and to increase genetic diversity. The many groups and individuals will eventually combine into larger groups of 12-30 individuals like their ancestors where they will dilute their stomach acids and enzymes to make it more hospitable for their gametes. They will then release sperm and egg, which will fertilize eachother and travel along the individuals near the end, where they will start developing with nutrients offered by those individuals. Gestation last for around the same period of time as the ancestor, and before the young are released, the group will crawl toward a depression, even with other groups, where they release a milky substance, based off of the fluid medium used to feed developing sexipedes, that the newly born pedes can subsist off of. This substance serves as a kind of substitute for the splooge of the false cockti, that was used to nourish young pedes in the ancestor. The newborn sexipede are feed on this until they're large enough to consume seeds and breads. Each group will have ~40-70 offsprings and some individuals may not mate if energy and nutrient reserves are low, and will wait until next year.