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Description

Dromeobirostros rigee

(Striped Two-Beaked Runner)

Bullet Runner, Type 1

Length: 100mm to 170mm

Weight: 200g to 330g

Description:

An aptly named peerless sprinter of the rocky coast lines of Loune are the Bullet Runners. There dashes across the beach leave countless tell-tale track ways criss-crossing through the sand. Note the so called 'stripes' that species derives its name from are actually not stripes but rather banding compound eyes.

Ecology:

Bullet runners are both voracious scavengers and adept predators. When not picking apart whatever happens to wash up on the shore, they run down fellow small creatures that they share the beach with.

Social behaviours vary between species. Some form large vaguely connected communities whilst others are entirely solitary. Communal bullet runners essentially share a patch of territory and fiercely fend of unfamiliar bullet runners and species that they cannot explicitly eat. A fair few communal species hunt together and take down respectably large prey relative to their size. During rare moments of inactivity, bullet runners will often gather up around and under fronds of washed up Lounian sea weeds – scattering when their grounded roosts are disturbed. Solitary bullet runners are generally the classical representatives of the group. Some solitary species notably pick at wounds on larger living creatures and feed on whatever small chunks they manage to rip off. These species often have rather sharp beaks.

Breathing is done through a spongy respiratory structure on their snout. Though this structure passively performs gas-exchange, their constant running is actually also used to further pass respiratory gases through the structure.

Reproduction:

Fertilization occurs externally and eggs must be laid in or near water. Eggs our coloured in vibrant warning colours – the first layer of their shell being highly toxic. Often times bullet runner eggs can be seen brightly popping out from rocky crevices. Bullet runners are hermaphroditic and produce both male and female gametes. Individuals possess a long ovipositor/phallus structure normally held internally. Using this bisexual structure is how bullet runners manage to lodge their eggs in crevasses.

Ontogeny:

Bullet runner ontogeny resembles that of Earthen amphibians. Larva hatch from eggs and slowly develop from an initial tadpole-like stage into their familiar adult form.

Evolution:

Bullet runners are the most often seen representatives of the other lineage Lounian vertebrate lineage that adapted onto land. They are evolutionarily far removed from their front-limbed counterparts (such as the geigermander) however it is thought that their radiation onto land occurred at a similar time as them.

Description

Dromeobirostros rigee

(Striped Two-Beaked Runner)

Bullet Runner, Type 1

Length: 100mm to 170mm

Weight: 200g to 330g

Description:

An aptly named peerless sprinter of the rocky coast lines of Loune are the Bullet Runners. There dashes across the beach leave countless tell-tale track ways criss-crossing through the sand. Note the so called 'stripes' that species derives its name from are actually not stripes but rather banding compound eyes.

Ecology:

Bullet runners are both voracious scavengers and adept predators. When not picking apart whatever happens to wash up on the shore, they run down fellow small creatures that they share the beach with.

Social behaviours vary between species. Some form large vaguely connected communities whilst others are entirely solitary. Communal bullet runners essentially share a patch of territory and fiercely fend of unfamiliar bullet runners and species that they cannot explicitly eat. A fair few communal species hunt together and take down respectably large prey relative to their size. During rare moments of inactivity, bullet runners will often gather up around and under fronds of washed up Lounian sea weeds – scattering when their grounded roosts are disturbed. Solitary bullet runners are generally the classical representatives of the group. Some solitary species notably pick at wounds on larger living creatures and feed on whatever small chunks they manage to rip off. These species often have rather sharp beaks.

Breathing is done through a spongy respiratory structure on their snout. Though this structure passively performs gas-exchange, their constant running is actually also used to further pass respiratory gases through the structure.

Reproduction:

Fertilization occurs externally and eggs must be laid in or near water. Eggs our coloured in vibrant warning colours – the first layer of their shell being highly toxic. Often times bullet runner eggs can be seen brightly popping out from rocky crevices. Bullet runners are hermaphroditic and produce both male and female gametes. Individuals possess a long ovipositor/phallus structure normally held internally. Using this bisexual structure is how bullet runners manage to lodge their eggs in crevasses.

Ontogeny:

Bullet runner ontogeny resembles that of Earthen amphibians. Larva hatch from eggs and slowly develop from an initial tadpole-like stage into their familiar adult form.

Evolution:

Bullet runners are the most often seen representatives of the other lineage Lounian vertebrate lineage that adapted onto land. They are evolutionarily far removed from their front-limbed counterparts (such as the geigermander) however it is thought that their radiation onto land occurred at a similar time as them.