Syncarpus

 
Thecocerates such as Cecrops are widespread across Mars, though mostly restricted to warmer regions usually above the 0 or 10° C-isotherm. Syncarpus sarahlandryi is the only known living exception to this, as it is found in the milder shrubland regions and during the summer thaw may even follow other migrants into the tundras.

Although not a true ectotherm like its northern cousins, it is not a homeotherm either. During the warm summer months and days, its metabolic rate is largely the same as that of relatives like Cecrops, strongly influenced by the temperature of the environment. But during winter, when it hibernates in dug-out burrows left behind by shetaw, its metabolism raises its body temperature notably above that of the environment. The same happens also when Syncarpus forages in the cold Martian nights. Such metabolic variability is on Earth only observed in a few reptiles such as tegus and pythons, though it seems widespread in Deltadactylia outside of the Thecocerata. It likely evolved as a compromise to handle the often extreme temperature changes throughout the year on the one hand and general food scarcity on the other.

Likely for the purpose of insulating its temporarily heightened body temperature, Syncarpus is also the only thecocerate that is not naked, but instead covered by an insulating integument. This integument is a plumage of frilled scales, very similar to what is found in the Banuptet and some other deltadactylians. It is possible that this is homologous, meaning that Syncarpus is a relic of a more ancient radiation with all other thecocerates having lost this trait. On the other hand, overlapping scales seem to be ancestral to the deltadactylian clade as a whole, so this may have just been an adaptation that evolved multiple times independently through parallelism. Skin data from fossil thecocerates is unfortunately lacking, leaving this an open question (Sivgin 2345). Interestingly, during ecothermic metabolic phases, Syncarpus uses little muscle fibres at the base of each feather-scale to raise them up, breaking the insulating effect to better allow environmental warmth to reach its body. During mating displays, where these hermaphroditic aliens determine who has to bear the young, this ruffling is also used to intimidate the partner into a submissive, breedable position.

Syncarpus usually gives birth as a single parent to two or three live, though underdeveloped, young in their burrows. Curiously, only one young per litter is lavishly fed, while the other siblings are neglected and have to fight for scraps. Once the spoiled child grows large and strong enough, it eats its weakened siblings, well within the parent’s wishes it seems. Likely the siblings only exist as failsafes in case should the favoured child die and otherwise are just a form of food storage, much like how on Earth some birds and frogs produce excess chicks and tadpoles as cannibalistic food rations. For this, Syncarpus has, rather morbidly, been given the nickname “Martian Curate” in some Terran books (see Grauel 2323 for an egregious example), in clear reference to the Synthologist Cult Massacre on the International Lunar Station. I strongly disapprove of such naming practices, as it needlessly demonizes these organisms and makes light of a truly horrendous tragedy.

References:

• Grauel, Trant: Martians from A to Z. Astrobiology explained for Kids!, New York 2323.
• Sivgin, T.K.: Life on a Dead Planet. The first 3 billion years of Evolution on Mars, Zürich 2345.

Cecrops

The Deltadactylia are a quite varied group of three-limbed onychognaths. Some walk on all three limbs, forcing them to a rather awkward gait when ambling about but also allowing them a fast, bounding gallop when running. Others have given up such restrictions by becoming bipedal, turning the “great appendage” at the front into a proper arm with a grasping hand. These Martian bipeds are often grouped together into the clade Goniopoda, named after their angled ankles. A prime member of this group, often encountered in the vast desert regions of the planet, is the Cecrops, which itself is often classed in the subgroup of the Thecocerata.

Herein we see a prime example of a small carnivore of even smaller game, which has been shaped by the relentless planet into a downright mischievous opportunist. Long legs and broad feet make it glide over the sands and with large eyes and alert antennae it scans the desert for any source of food and water. A long arm with dextrous fingers grabs anything it can catch. A striped pattern along the flanks and flat back make it blend in with the wavy, low-gravity-formed dunes. Giving the Thecocerata their name are little keratinous hornlets growing underneath the mandible (which, if you remember, is the upper jaw in these organisms, not the lower one as in Earth vertebrates), which have likely evolved in lieu of true teeth that these onychognaths either lost or never developed. In Cecrops the pseudoteeth have curiously been reduced to just one large hornlet, though this seems to be enough to kill various smaller prey, such as ifrits and hortaxes, or to crack open armored animals like dust slugs or the kratox. Another defining element of the Cecrops is the strange ornament growing atop the mandible, which is a horn-encased bone that spans between its tips a little sail of coloured skin. It is likely used in some form of social display, though how exactly has not been observed so far.

Though somewhat dinosaurian in anatomy, the Cecrops is far more like a large lizard in physiology and behaviour. Almost all thecocerates are ectotherms through and through and only capable of standing upright on erect legs because the low gravity of the planet makes this posture far less energetically demanding for a cold-blood. We see something similar repeat in the Yrp, which is not related to the goniopods, but has certainly evolved along similar lines. Even then, the long, lizardine tail is often used as a prop to stand on and is even sometimes dragged across the ground while walking slowly, leaving characteristic trackways in the sand. As expected, thecocerates also spend much of their mornings bathing in the sun and become sluggish when exposed to low temperatures. During droughts and winter time they endure through brumation or aestivation. Though this physiology seems archaic, such low maintenance metabolisms seem to be a winning strategy on a planet that is depleted in resources and oxygen, for thecocerates are widespread and diverse across most of the warmer regions of the red planet. The exception to the rule is Syncarpus and possibly some fossil members, which were large enough to have been mesotherms simply by virtue of their body mass.

Cecrops in size comparison with a mostly human astronaut.

Cecrops has a less than stellar reputation among the people of Mars. Though too small and weak to be a threat to astronauts (thanks to Earth’s higher gravity gifting us with stronger bones and muscles, we humans could probably kill such creatures with a single good punch if we wanted to), their curious and mischievous nature during their searches for food has led to many complications, among them infamously being accidental damage to the external cables of an ISRO research station. Though the cable-biter died from an electric shock, this led to a complete system failure that made the vyomanauts inside suffocate from carbon dioxide in their sleep. Another factor is probably also just their appearance. In most onychognaths, the eyes reflect the sunlight in such a way that the shine gives the impression of pupils, making their faces more approachable. In the Cecrops, however, the eyes are of such a mat nature that they expose these organs for what they truly are: Cold, black, glassy beads, like a doll’s eyes…

These animals are also a nuisance to other inhabitants of Mars, as we see in the first image of two Cecrops opportunistically feeding on the nest of a rannu. Cecrops themselves do not have to fear egg-thieves, for deltadactylians give live birth. Truly enjoy this advantage, they cannot, for their plunder on others is only lucrative until the parents come back home.