NOCTVYLS- HALTERES' DEATH SHADOWS

Again, pardon me; the thought to word transition isn't always a smooth one.  I can picture these demons who perch themselves atop Halteres' web of food.  I can write them into a scene and give their stories an arc.  But excising and describing them independently might be quite a different challenge.

And remember; evolution is universal, the eye has gone through several lines of convergent evolution, dying stars provide the ingredients for life, and I'm a reader.

Most obvious noctvyl visual cryptomorphing- A 20 foot long, 12 foot tall cross between a acteon beetle and a horseshoe crab.

Ventral view of a horseshoe crab.

So, the simple anatomical breakdown is as follows (let's not go crazy here):

• The noctvyl are arthropoids and exhibit comparable characteristics such as:
• Bi-lateral symmetry
• A Thick, black exoskeleton
• Six sets of jointed appendages
• four sets (3-6 if we're going front to back) for locomotion
• one set (2) that can be used much like arms on a human
• one smaller set (1) that holds wonderful and deadly secrets
• Three body segments
• An oversized cephalic segment
• A thoracic segment that houses the appendages, sustenance hole, and gut
• A caudal segment that houses the tail
• A ten foot, fully articulating, spiked tail
• Two mouths
• One under the head for communication
• One under the thorax between the legs used for ingestion much like a gnathobase
• Nine eyes
• four sets of rudimentary eyes
• One central endoparietal eye whose vision amalgamates the others and may see beyond our dimensions

There are other things that make the noctvyl special and horrifying, but let's keep it short.  We can also get into the universal nature of evolution, cosmic biogenesis, the irreducible complexity of the eye, and other small talk later.

Until then, don't bother me, I'm slapping together a book.