Honeywhip
Carnivorous arboreal predator from the planet Trees
A
Skunkwhip attracts a swarm of
bipterid flies
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HoneywhipCarnivorous arboreal predator from the planet Trees A
Skunkwhip attracts a swarm of
bipterid flies
|
The honeywhip gets its name from the
sweet smelling strands,
or whips, of sticky “silk” that it spins out from
its body to catch its prey. Depending
on the species, a honeywhip may produce
anywhere from one to six strands of silk which it dangles from its body
while
hanging upside down from underneath a convenient tree limb. Each strand of silk is
tipped with a drop of
aromatic, but extremely sticky, fluid which it uses to attract the
insect
equivalents that inhabit the Trees
ecosystem. When these creatures attempt to feed
on the
“nectar” on the tip of the
strand they become stuck and are then further entangled in the silk by
their
struggles before being rapidly pulled into the honeywhips maw as it
withdraws
the strand back into its body.
The honeywhip is generally described
as resembling a cross
between a Terran
king crab and a beetle. The creature possesses
an armored body and six long,
chitinous legs
(generally extending three times the diameter of its own body) ending
in hooks
used to anchor it to the trees where it makes its home. Coloring
is typically designed to provide
camouflage in the creature’s native environment. Along
its back, where a
crab would have a
single continuous carapace, the shell is split into two halves that
hinge
outward like the wing cases on several species of Terran insect. When the honeywhip opens
its shell it
uncovers a set of sharp mouthparts and one or more spinnerets which it
uses to
produce its hunting silk.
Honeywhips come in a variety of sizes
and species, ranging
from the dwarf honeywhip, often called a miniwhip, of the northern
arctic
forests (leg span of 1 centimeters), to the elusive giant honeywhip
(leg span of
1/3 meters) of
the Wirali Archipelago. Two
of the most
famous honeywhip species are the rainbow honeywhip, which often hunts
in
flowering trees and is colored accordingly, and the so-called skunkwhip
which
uses scented strands that mimic the smell of rotting flesh to attract
carrion
eating prey.
The silk and ‘honey’ of the honeywhip are both produced naturally as a byproduct of the creature’s digestive processes. Although it is not actually classified as a plant and is considered an animal life form, the honey of the honeywhip actually bears more of a chemical resemblance to the secretions of some varieties of Terran carnivorous plants than the sweet concoction its name is partially derived from.
