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Description
As a result of the accelerated rotation period and the destabilization of the Earth’s axis, earthquakes and volcanic activities have increased drastically. Coupled with the more acidic waters, this has lead to the formation of many new caves and cave systems, in which a myriad of bizarre and grotesque animals dwell... Many of them are only endemic to a single cave system as they are not well-equipped for survival outside of them. Some however are able to cross into other systems at night, which allows them to establish a more widespread population.

One of them, the lanternmouth (Fanorhynchus implumis) is a small flightless bird descending from finches. Clinging to the walls of caves, they patiently wait for prey in almost complete darkness. To accelerate the waiting, they posses six luminescent nodules surrounding the beak that give off light to attract invertebrates and other smaller prey. They are not able to produce this bioluminescence on their own though but rely on symbiotic bacteria that live within the nodules.
Their strong arms no longer carry them across the skies – their plumage has gone and the membranes connected to them are too small to even allow for gliding flight. Instead, they are equipped with two hooked claws each that act like pitons. Despite their awkward looks and movements, they are able to move quite rapidly should the necessity arise.

Living in darkness, their eyes have atrophied and can only differentiate between light and dark. To find their way around their damp home, they rely on their sense of smell as well as excellent hearing. In addition to that, their seemingly naked bodies are covered in incredibly thin sensory bristles - a remnant of their once beautiful feathery coat.

© by me

I know, it’s been far too long since I last uploaded anything for Terra mirus but other things have gotten into the way. This design has been lying around unfinished for quite some time now and I’ve been aching to finally finish and upload it... and today I finally did. Uploading pieces for mirus will always take me a bit longer since they take me a lot of time to draw due to the technique and because they are drawn on pretty delicate paper. Nevertheless, I want to make it a more frequent thing again as I still have tons of designs and ideas and it’s still bringing me a lot of joy.

Description
As a result of the accelerated rotation period and the destabilization of the Earth’s axis, earthquakes and volcanic activities have increased drastically. Coupled with the more acidic waters, this has lead to the formation of many new caves and cave systems, in which a myriad of bizarre and grotesque animals dwell... Many of them are only endemic to a single cave system as they are not well-equipped for survival outside of them. Some however are able to cross into other systems at night, which allows them to establish a more widespread population.

One of them, the lanternmouth (Fanorhynchus implumis) is a small flightless bird descending from finches. Clinging to the walls of caves, they patiently wait for prey in almost complete darkness. To accelerate the waiting, they posses six luminescent nodules surrounding the beak that give off light to attract invertebrates and other smaller prey. They are not able to produce this bioluminescence on their own though but rely on symbiotic bacteria that live within the nodules.
Their strong arms no longer carry them across the skies – their plumage has gone and the membranes connected to them are too small to even allow for gliding flight. Instead, they are equipped with two hooked claws each that act like pitons. Despite their awkward looks and movements, they are able to move quite rapidly should the necessity arise.

Living in darkness, their eyes have atrophied and can only differentiate between light and dark. To find their way around their damp home, they rely on their sense of smell as well as excellent hearing. In addition to that, their seemingly naked bodies are covered in incredibly thin sensory bristles - a remnant of their once beautiful feathery coat.

© by me

I know, it’s been far too long since I last uploaded anything for Terra mirus but other things have gotten into the way. This design has been lying around unfinished for quite some time now and I’ve been aching to finally finish and upload it... and today I finally did. Uploading pieces for mirus will always take me a bit longer since they take me a lot of time to draw due to the technique and because they are drawn on pretty delicate paper. Nevertheless, I want to make it a more frequent thing again as I still have tons of designs and ideas and it’s still bringing me a lot of joy.