Aponax ligdleri, the white headed evildoer
The apex of the food chain of the Sinedean temperate foam plains, these large predators are tenacious cursorial hunters of large, often armored, prey. Their diet includes herbivorous lantalids, hermetids, and other species, as well as predators and omnivores. Their enormous heads, equipped with powerful beaked jaws and sharp, crushing teeth, allow them to butcher a wide variety of prey. Their teeth grow throughout their lives, so during periods of less successful hunts, they must wear down their teeth on foreign objects such as trees or rocks.
As members of the pulmonopod (arm-breathers)group, they possess a middle pair of limbs adapted into expansions the anterior pair of lungs, giving them greater endurance during pursuits. Their long legs with shock-absorbing toes, combined with their developed lungs and a long, rigid, tail-like abdomen, allow them to actively pursue prey and then tear it apart with their powerful jaws. Their seemingly short neck can extend to more than five times its relaxed length. Their killing method varies depending on the prey, but most often, these predators attack the neck or thoracic brain chamber.
Individuals live in solitarity and hunt during the day, meeting each other only during the breeding season.
Individuals are aided in their search for a mate by their developed olfactory cheek pads, located at the corners of the mouth. This multifunctional sensory tissue once served only to muscularly support the jaw, but over time, the olfactory organs migrated to the surface of the cheek tissue. Thanks to the highly humid atmosphere and the flapping motion of these organs, evildoers detect odors and other chemical information, including mating pheromones.
At the end of evildoers abdomen, you can see a fluffy red tuft—this is their pheromonal bush, localized, stiff, hair-like filaments that become soaked with odorous secretions during the breeding season to find mates. Their specialized vocalizations also aid in this process; the anatomy of their respiratory midlimbs allows them to contract their lungs very rapidly, giving their calls a "popping" or pulsating sound.
After a short period of incubation, mothers dig a small, semi-vertical nest (burrow), usually near tall tree trunks or rocks. Females possess a long ovipositor, which they use to lay about a dozen eggs at the very bottom of the burrow. They then carefully guard the nest with their young for several weeks, bringing them food. The young quickly emerge from the nest, within about a month. They stay together and hunt small prey and parasites for approximately two to three years. They reach sexual maturity at approximately five years of age and live to be around 20 years old.
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