Swarming Blood Moth
Though their range extends also up into the more southerly of Borghani lands, the Swarming Blood Moth can be found all across the southern area of Munuth. Individual moths of this variety are not particularly threatening. Indeed, the shining gossamer of their wings draw in smaller predators of every kind, making them suitable bait for many a trapper and fisher. The principal cause for concern is the behavior from which they derive their name. Like most Blood Moths, they cannot break the skin of larger creatures on their own, but they flock in the dozens to exposed wounds when they catch the scent of blood., spreading illness as they come, making them the bane of herdsman and soldier alike. Similarly, while an individual moth cannot daze even the most dim-witted of beasts, the glamor of a swarm in its full splendor is more effective than even the mightiest of their solitary kin. Their predictability allows them to be easily captured for use as bait through the lure of small pieces of meat. That this is using bait to catch bait is the source of many bad jokes.
Basic Information
Anatomy
In the pupal stage, the body of the Swarming Blood Moth, then generally referred to as a Silvery Long-Grub, is short and fat, possessing a body thicker than most thumbs separated into only half a dozen short segments. Why something short in both absolute and proportional terms is referred as a "long-grub" is a subject of debate. They are silvery in color, covered in small, transparent hairs. Additionally, they possess small, nascent wings.
In the imago, the main body is far narrower, but no longer, with drooping, feathery antennae and round eyes on their head. The thorax and ambodmen are a bush of refractive hair. The forewings and hindwings catch and scatter light, as is characteristic of all Blood Moths.
Genetics and Reproduction
Generally, Swarming Blood Moth swarms are closely related, and as such members are instinctively disinclined to mate with one another. Instead, entire swarms will collectively court one another across vast territories, that individuals might mate across swarms.
Once a female's eggs have been fertilized, they are laid on the underside of the leaves of various trees. Usually, an individual female will lay eggs on multiple leaves on multiple plants, to maximize the chance they will not be accidentally eaten by an animal. Animals have been seen to find the taste of Swarming Blood Moth eggs unpleasant, to the point they will abandon a meal upon tasting them, but by this point the eggs are already dead.
Growth Rate & Stages
The Swarming Blood Moth, like all Blood-Moths, hatches into a larval stage, commonly referred to as a long-grub. In the case of the Swarming Blood Moth, this is actually short in both absolute terms, and relative to its other dimensions. In this stage, it eats primarly the leaves of various plants, but is also capable of processing fruit-flesh, tree-sap, and flower nectar.
Once it has stored up sufficient energy, it wraps itself in a casing called a light-shell, comparable to the cocoon of a true moth, or the chrysalis of a butterfly. In the light-shell, its boy reconstitutes into that of a fully-grown imago. Unlike butterflies and true moths, Blood Moths do not fully liquefy inside their light-shells, instead metamorphosing through subtle, arcane processes.
Once it has reached the imago, it ceases growth, and establishes itself within a Swarm.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Like all Blood Moths, the adult Swarming Blood Moth drinks the blood of thinking creatures and beasts, and the hemolymph of large arthropods. They do not possess the ability to break through skin or carapace on their own, and as such exploit wounds acquired from other sources. They will feed as readily on living bodies as the dead.
Additional Information
Social Structure
The swarming behavior of this species of Blood Moth is extensive and elaborate. A Swarm engages in complex behavior to the mutual benefit of its individual members over large distances, and individuals are believed to communicate through a combination of chemical pheromones and arcane light-manipulation.
There is no leadership hierarchy in a swarm. Decision-making being driven purely by instinct. Mating relationships being non-existent between members of the same swarm. Generational differences, when they occur within the same swarm, are ignored.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Swarming Blood Moths see with compound eyes, which are immune to their own glamor and that of other Blood Moths. Their antennae pick up a wide array of vibrational and chemical information in the air.
Conservation Status
Least Concern
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