Trillamorph Origins

This was a drawing worked on for an exchange between myself and ~space-commander for the group project One Planet at a Time. He'd asked for a background regarding his organisms on Kanangar Prime (here [link] ), and so I examined the major species depicted thus far; in this case the similarly shaped but very differently adapted trillaspitter ( [link] ) and trillaglazer ( [link] ), which I will collectively refer to as trillamorphs.

For the trillaspitter/trillaglazer, I was inspired by Paleozoic organisms; the legs developed from fin struts, which undulated along their length to push the creature forward. The skeleton consists of a series of horse-shoe shaped ribs, one per section of the body, with every second rib pocketed between the larger two directly preceding and succeeding it so as to fold under them when the creature bends (by extension, the legs attached to said rib are not on the same line as those directly before and after it, providing each of them more room for movement). The frontmost rib is particularly modified for chewing; blades protruding from its back (as displayed in the rightmost image) chop food in the throat cavity when the organism raises its head. Attached directly to the cavity is an enzyme sac, both producing relevant enzymes (such as the trillaspitter’s poison and silk, though there are digestive enzymes as well) and storing them in various pockets until they must be delivered. Running along the sides are book lungs, thin sheet-like organs that take in very little air but expose it to enormous surface area for effective respiration. The links at the top form the nervous system, with a chain of ganglia (nervous centers) controlling the various body segments, and directly beneath that is a pipe-like heart. Dominating the center is the digestive system, with the organisms’ length providing room for an extensive gut; a multi-compartment stomach is especially effective at reducing foodstuff to mush (which gives much potential for an herbivorous trillaglazer) leading to a bag-like intestine, where capillary-rich spines provide the surface area necessary for absorption, and ending with a sizeable anus. Also exiting at the back of the organism are twin gonads, though the length of the creature suggests that gamete exchange would be external rather than direct (the female would lay unfertilized ova, which are then sprayed by the males).