Clamgus

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Clamgus
(Cortexconsumere lambo)
Main image of Clamgus
Species is extinct.
26/?, unknown cause
Information
CreatorCoolsteph Other
Week/Generation24/153
HabitatDrake Temperate Rainforest
Size4 cm Wide
Primary MobilityUnknown
SupportUnknown
DietXylophage (Lurspire wood)
RespirationUnknown
ThermoregulationEctotherm
ReproductionSexual (One Sex), Eggs
Taxonomy
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Eukaryota
Trinucleata
Multivitia
Trivitia
Borborostraca
Cortecivoridae
Cortexconsumere
Cortexconsumere lambo
Ancestor:Descendants:

The clamgus eats the bark of dead, dying, and live lurspires. It clings to the surface of a lurspire with its specialized four-pronged tentacles and continually rasps at the surface. Small shards or particles of wood stick to its "tongue", which it then brings back into its mouth to digest. The tongue consists of two tentacles that formerly fringed its mouth. As a tongue, the two tentacles are fused, and sport metal-reinforced nodules at the tip. The nodules, made primarily of zinc and secondarily of manganese, help it scrape against the wood.

Due to the small size of the clamgus and the large size of the lurspire, hundreds of clamguses can be found on a single lurspire. On one log formed by a dead lurspire, there were four hundred clamguses on every section but the flower. However, such numbers are unusual. A more typical number is fifty, with the typical distribution limited to the exposed roots.

Its flesh, which consists largely of its huge digestive system, has the color of dark caramel, a disagreeable gritty texture, and a slightly acidic flavor. The gritty texture comes from very small zinc-manganese particles in its stomach, which it uses to grind wood, as well as partly digested, rough wood particles that always fill its digestive cavity. Its acidic flavor has a slight deterrent effect on its only predator, the Painted Uksor, and its unpalatable texture is likely to dissuade additional predators as long as they have no adaptions for eating it.

Like its ancestor, it lays its eggs in pools of water. Unlike its ancestor, these pools of water are not on the ground: it lays its eggs in the pools that form when rain fills cavities in Lurspires. The cavities themselves may be caused by extensive feeding there by clamguses.

Living Relatives (click to show/hide)

These are randomly selected, and organized from lowest to highest shared taxon. (This may correspond to similarity more than actual relation)
  • Roygus (genus Cortexconsumere)
  • Monostage Dirteater (order Borborostraca)
  • Swamp Douostage (class Trivitia)