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Description

Quick Note: This series will be wrapped up by the 20th entry. A nice even number. Now, on with the show...

Terapusmordax: These creatures are the largest of a group of flying rodents endemic to Skull Island. They are also among the most aggressive flying predators, often congregating in large packs consisting of dozens of individuals. They dwell in large caverns within the higher mountains or sometimes near Spider Pits, their broad wings well-suited for soaring over the island’s volcanic updrafts by night in search of prey. They usually target smaller flying creatures, but they have been known to occasionally gang up on larger florafauna, especially if one should venture too near their roost. Their multijointed teeth can disembowel prey with surgical precision, sometimes taking victims back to their lairs to be eaten alive, avoiding competition with other hunters like Psychovultures, with which fights are common. Terapusmordax will often pick at their own skin with their teeth, encouraging the development of infectious tumors which they are immune to, but can be distasteful to others. Their social structure is reminiscent of naked mole rats, there being a dominant female responsible for most reproduction. Subordinates will offer smaller kills to their queen on a nightly basis, and thus, she will attain a far greater mass than those of her subordinates. She rarely leaves the roost, but will defend her nest violently against all intruders. Wingspan: 20 to 25 feet (average), 50 to 65 feet (queen).

Megavolt: Megavolts are large amphibians of the temnospondyl clade that prefer the warmer, volcanically-charged springs and waterways, where charged currents are more common. Their eel-like bodies contain long rows of battery-like muscles that can store a massive charge of electrical energy, gained from their turbulent surroundings. Mated pairs will defend their territory together, each being alternately positively and negatively charged, maintaining each other’s energy levels and flow. Their manipulation of electric fields is so precise, they can lock onto smaller animals’ bioelectric patterns and pull them directly into their mouths at close range. Larger prey within their sphere of influence is electrocuted and constricted. Such Megavolt swamps are well avoided, but the bones of deceased individuals are sometimes harvested by the Iwi for their lingering electrical properties. Length: 40 to 50 feet.

Hell Hummer: These highly mutated members of the clade Trochilidae are common across much of Skull Island. They usually feed on nectar and small insects, though they are also known to take blood from larger creatures, using their serrated bills and tongues as needles. Their most glaring feature is the hyperdevelopment of the brain, which has split the skull and forms a tumor-like mass upon their heads. The entire surface area of this structure seems able to process sensory information related to sight, hearing, smell, and air pressure. It also appears to link swarms of the birds together into a single collective hive mind, which can number in the thousands. Hell Hummer swarms act much like eusocial insect hives, constructing camouflaged nests to store food and eggs, all members being capable of reproduction via parthenogenesis. Should the nest be threatened, they will ruthlessly attack the enemy. They are able to store certain types of poisonous nectar and other plant fluids within their several crops, and will divebomb enemies to puncture the skin and inject their venomous load. Certain chemicals they store are highly volatile when combined, and as a last resort they will literally bomb the intruder with suicidal self-explosions in defense of the collective. Wingspan: 3.5 to 4 inches.

Thorn Horn: These ceratopsians are much more mobile than their larger, more sedentary relatives, the Ogreceratops. And whereas Ogreceratops are more biolithic, Thorn Horns integrate much more plant matter into their florafaunal biologies. Their serrated horns resemble very hard petrified wood, and are often coated in mosses and vines which serve to better camouflage them within forested areas. The blooms of these plants also aid in mating rituals. Their horns and armored hides make adults difficult prey, even more so when they travel in family groups. Young Thorn Horns are sheltered within the center of the group, feeding on shed vegetation of the adults, thus beginning their own symbiotic plant colonies. Length: 55 to 86 feet.

Lycaesaurus: Among the smaller predators of Skull Island’s jungles, Lycaesaurs are nonetheless efficient stalkers and killers of selected prey. Their patterned skins and leaf-like dorsal appendages make them hard to spot among thick foliage. They are able to scale the complicated twists and turns of Super Jungle understories and canopies with ease thanks to gecko-like pads on their feet and superb sense of balance. Like many residents of such environments, they can unfurl hidden patagium to glide across spaces too far to leap across. Best suited for low-light conditions, packs of Lycaesaurus, led by a dominant pair, will pursue and harass prey for miles before it is too exhausted to fight them off any longer. They can also handle insects and small game alone, though they often share their kills with their immediate families. They’re notorious nest raiders among birds, often cooperating as pairs to distract the parents while the other party takes the eggs. Length: 3.3 to 4.5 feet.

Malevulosaurus: These hardy synapsids are dangerous residents of the more barren upland regions of the island. Though aggressive toward most intruders, adults will tolerate each other in popular sunbathing areas. Territorial disputes are still common, though, and they will display their colored sails, manes, and quills before coming to blows with their knobbed heads. Malevulosaurs are opportunistic omnivores, preying on anything they come across, be it dead or alive, and digging for nutritious roots and radiation pockets. The search for food will occasionally led individuals on journeys between mountains where they are most vulnerable to other predators. They can dull their colors to darker green and black patterns for better cover and also to absorb more sunlight to fuel them. The Cloud Plateau is a common seasonal destination. While the sun is often obscured there, the plentiful radiation springs and wider selection of prey in the form of young Slurpasaurs makes the trip well worth it. Length: 25 to 35 feet.

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Creature Inspirations:
Terapusmordax: Creatures of King Kong 2005, and Leaf Wing toy figures of Kong: Skull Island 2017.
Megavolt: Monsters of Hanna Barbera’s Godzilla Power Hour 1979.
Hell Hummer: Mutated Hummingbird of Godzilla: The Series 1998.
Thorn Horn: Styracosurus of Son of Kong 1933, and Monoclonius of Phil Tippett’s Prehistoric Beast 1985.
Lycaesaurus: Lycaesaurus and Gladiodon of The World of Kong artbook 2005.
Malevulosaurus: Creature of The World of Kong artbook 2005, and Dimetrodon creatures of Unknown Island 1948.
Additional ideas with help by Lediblock2. Thanks. 😊

Description

Quick Note: This series will be wrapped up by the 20th entry. A nice even number. Now, on with the show...

Terapusmordax: These creatures are the largest of a group of flying rodents endemic to Skull Island. They are also among the most aggressive flying predators, often congregating in large packs consisting of dozens of individuals. They dwell in large caverns within the higher mountains or sometimes near Spider Pits, their broad wings well-suited for soaring over the island’s volcanic updrafts by night in search of prey. They usually target smaller flying creatures, but they have been known to occasionally gang up on larger florafauna, especially if one should venture too near their roost. Their multijointed teeth can disembowel prey with surgical precision, sometimes taking victims back to their lairs to be eaten alive, avoiding competition with other hunters like Psychovultures, with which fights are common. Terapusmordax will often pick at their own skin with their teeth, encouraging the development of infectious tumors which they are immune to, but can be distasteful to others. Their social structure is reminiscent of naked mole rats, there being a dominant female responsible for most reproduction. Subordinates will offer smaller kills to their queen on a nightly basis, and thus, she will attain a far greater mass than those of her subordinates. She rarely leaves the roost, but will defend her nest violently against all intruders. Wingspan: 20 to 25 feet (average), 50 to 65 feet (queen).

Megavolt: Megavolts are large amphibians of the temnospondyl clade that prefer the warmer, volcanically-charged springs and waterways, where charged currents are more common. Their eel-like bodies contain long rows of battery-like muscles that can store a massive charge of electrical energy, gained from their turbulent surroundings. Mated pairs will defend their territory together, each being alternately positively and negatively charged, maintaining each other’s energy levels and flow. Their manipulation of electric fields is so precise, they can lock onto smaller animals’ bioelectric patterns and pull them directly into their mouths at close range. Larger prey within their sphere of influence is electrocuted and constricted. Such Megavolt swamps are well avoided, but the bones of deceased individuals are sometimes harvested by the Iwi for their lingering electrical properties. Length: 40 to 50 feet.

Hell Hummer: These highly mutated members of the clade Trochilidae are common across much of Skull Island. They usually feed on nectar and small insects, though they are also known to take blood from larger creatures, using their serrated bills and tongues as needles. Their most glaring feature is the hyperdevelopment of the brain, which has split the skull and forms a tumor-like mass upon their heads. The entire surface area of this structure seems able to process sensory information related to sight, hearing, smell, and air pressure. It also appears to link swarms of the birds together into a single collective hive mind, which can number in the thousands. Hell Hummer swarms act much like eusocial insect hives, constructing camouflaged nests to store food and eggs, all members being capable of reproduction via parthenogenesis. Should the nest be threatened, they will ruthlessly attack the enemy. They are able to store certain types of poisonous nectar and other plant fluids within their several crops, and will divebomb enemies to puncture the skin and inject their venomous load. Certain chemicals they store are highly volatile when combined, and as a last resort they will literally bomb the intruder with suicidal self-explosions in defense of the collective. Wingspan: 3.5 to 4 inches.

Thorn Horn: These ceratopsians are much more mobile than their larger, more sedentary relatives, the Ogreceratops. And whereas Ogreceratops are more biolithic, Thorn Horns integrate much more plant matter into their florafaunal biologies. Their serrated horns resemble very hard petrified wood, and are often coated in mosses and vines which serve to better camouflage them within forested areas. The blooms of these plants also aid in mating rituals. Their horns and armored hides make adults difficult prey, even more so when they travel in family groups. Young Thorn Horns are sheltered within the center of the group, feeding on shed vegetation of the adults, thus beginning their own symbiotic plant colonies. Length: 55 to 86 feet.

Lycaesaurus: Among the smaller predators of Skull Island’s jungles, Lycaesaurs are nonetheless efficient stalkers and killers of selected prey. Their patterned skins and leaf-like dorsal appendages make them hard to spot among thick foliage. They are able to scale the complicated twists and turns of Super Jungle understories and canopies with ease thanks to gecko-like pads on their feet and superb sense of balance. Like many residents of such environments, they can unfurl hidden patagium to glide across spaces too far to leap across. Best suited for low-light conditions, packs of Lycaesaurus, led by a dominant pair, will pursue and harass prey for miles before it is too exhausted to fight them off any longer. They can also handle insects and small game alone, though they often share their kills with their immediate families. They’re notorious nest raiders among birds, often cooperating as pairs to distract the parents while the other party takes the eggs. Length: 3.3 to 4.5 feet.

Malevulosaurus: These hardy synapsids are dangerous residents of the more barren upland regions of the island. Though aggressive toward most intruders, adults will tolerate each other in popular sunbathing areas. Territorial disputes are still common, though, and they will display their colored sails, manes, and quills before coming to blows with their knobbed heads. Malevulosaurs are opportunistic omnivores, preying on anything they come across, be it dead or alive, and digging for nutritious roots and radiation pockets. The search for food will occasionally led individuals on journeys between mountains where they are most vulnerable to other predators. They can dull their colors to darker green and black patterns for better cover and also to absorb more sunlight to fuel them. The Cloud Plateau is a common seasonal destination. While the sun is often obscured there, the plentiful radiation springs and wider selection of prey in the form of young Slurpasaurs makes the trip well worth it. Length: 25 to 35 feet.

--------------------------------

Creature Inspirations:
Terapusmordax: Creatures of King Kong 2005, and Leaf Wing toy figures of Kong: Skull Island 2017.
Megavolt: Monsters of Hanna Barbera’s Godzilla Power Hour 1979.
Hell Hummer: Mutated Hummingbird of Godzilla: The Series 1998.
Thorn Horn: Styracosurus of Son of Kong 1933, and Monoclonius of Phil Tippett’s Prehistoric Beast 1985.
Lycaesaurus: Lycaesaurus and Gladiodon of The World of Kong artbook 2005.
Malevulosaurus: Creature of The World of Kong artbook 2005, and Dimetrodon creatures of Unknown Island 1948.
Additional ideas with help by Lediblock2. Thanks. 😊