Blood Wysp
From World of Entorais Wiki
About
- Common Names
- Blood Wysp
- Classification
- Insect
- Blood wysps are a colony dwelling insect that superficially resembles proper wysps. Blood wysps are distinctively larger than most other wysps, and subsist on a diet comprised mostly of blood.
Description
- Size
- 2-2.5 cm ( <1 inches)
- Appearance
- Black and grey striped body, with a notable blood filled abdomen after feeding.
- Sexual Dimorphism
- Females will be about 50% larger than males.
- Variance
- A few subspecies exist, mostly notable by size and geographic regional habitats.
Ecology
- Habitat
- Swamps, bogs and other wetlands.
- Diet
- Blood wysps bite and drink the blood of larger animals. They produce a saliva with contains natural anticoagulant and analgesic properties, allowing them to feed unnoticed. They will drink until they're abdomen is about twice its unfilled size.
Behaviour
- Social Grouping
- Swarms of blood wysps will build paper nests, in which they shelter and raise their young. A single nest can have upwards of 100-200 wysps.
- Temperament
- Wary. Blood wysps are not aggressive in their feeding, but will wait for suitable prey to rest, or stop moving before landing and attempting to feed.
- Intelligence
- Negligible (animal)
- Reproduction
- Blood wysps while colony forming like their more common namesakes, do not follow the same reproductive strategy. A colony will be comprised of equal numbers of males and females. which mate opportunistically based on numbers and availability of food. A single female can lay up to two dozen eggs in one batch, and the colony will collectively care for the eggs, and larval young, bringing them meals of blood they collect.
Sub-Species
Common Blood Wysp
- The large and dark bodied Blood wysp is the most common and widest spread of the subspecies.
Lesser Blood Wysp
- A much smaller variety of blood wysp found in colder regions. These diminutive pests reach only 1cm in length, but their colonies can reach much larger populations, having thousands of members nesting in clustered multi-nest structures.
Salt Wysps
- A variety of blood wysp most commonly found near coastal wetlands, and mangroves. They have a iridescent blue cast to their bodies and wings.
Domestication
- General
- None.
- Resources
- Blood Wysps are edible, and can be a source of protein. They can also provide supplemental iron via the blood they contain.
