Squitoro (skee-tore-row)

Squitoro

Squitoro is a mosquito kaiju matriarch that inhabits the city of Mulegé in Baja California Sur , Mexico with her brood, pollinating the plants and living on her giant mound.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

The physical appearance of Squitoro varies greatly from normal mosquitoes in more than just size. The front forelimbs had elongated and grown more rigid, superficially resembling the grappling limbs of a praying mantis.

Facial Features

Instead of one large eye, she sports multiple eye structures, all perceiving many images at once to give her a wide range of vision. Her proboscis is retractible and barbed at the tip similar to a harpoon, intended to pierce deeply and stay hooked onto a target. The mandibles beneath it appear vestigial but actually serve the purpose of holding onto prey.

Identifying Characteristics

Despite being referred to as female, the name "Squitoro" is actually masculine. The correct Spanish usage would be Squitora, but Americanization of the word was used to make it more phonetically pleasing for internal Majestic briefings.

Special abilities

What makes Squitoro unique - however - is her ability to breed, something that is rare in kaiju and cryptids. Squitoro is hermaphroditic and therefore possesses both sets of genitalia, bypassing the need for a mate. She will then build a nest resembling a giant termite mound over a source of water instead of laying eggs in the liquid. Breeding is quite rare and only occurs in the event of heavy losses to her brood, as she will allow her population to plateau for a given time until numbers dwindle. Either they dwindle because of attacks from other kaiju or humans. Otherwise, they are typically self-sustaining.
Like all other kaiju, Squitoro also possesses an advanced healing factor, able to heal broken and damaged body parts that would be unsalvagable for normal animals. Her study exoskeleton allows her to shrug off conventional human artillery and stand up to more unconventional mecha weaponry. Her regenerative healing abilities plus the advanced amniotic-addled DNA has made Squitoro immortal, only killable via starvation or another kaiju.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

• Species description: Anopheles regina
• Biological basis: Mosquito
• Diet: Omnivorous

The great amniotic fluid's influence on the evolution of life is long-reaching, random, and unparalleled. Not all organisms will be affected by its power. It is unknown what causes cryptids and kaiju to evolve other than mere chance, such is the case of one specific mosquito that fed upon the blood of kaiju millions of years ago. The feasting and absorption of amniotic nutrients caused the specimen to evolve at a more significant rate, growing in size and appetite. No longer content with mere nectar, the mosquito consumed vegetation and other insects as well. In a remote location in prehistoric Mexico, a Seed of Creation had been leaking in an immense underground chamber. Roots from trees high above grew deep down and had begun absorbing the amniotic fluid, some of it even manifesting in the form of sap. Amniotic fluid leaked out from one of the trees, trapping the insect in a sort of amber. The ground eventually gave way during an earthquake and dragged the topside down with it. Confined within the underground amniotic pit for millions of years, she began to grow and evolve at a significant rate.

She was eventually uncovered in a massive mining operation within the vicinity of the city of Mulegé after the mining corporation lobbied to tear down sections of the nearby jungle and drain some of the oases. They ended up freeing the mosquito and unleashing her onto the world.

Intellectual Characteristics

The giant mosquito queen is fiercely protective of her brood and territory, going after potential threats with immense prejudice. Squitoro is incredibly intelligent, one of the smartest kaiju to exist. She will toy and tease her opponents in order to study them, possessing near problem-solving intelligence. She is also quite aggressive in her behavior towards humans in particular, showcasing what could be interpreted as malice. Despite being a mosquito, she is rather meticulous and immaculate with keeping her nest and body clean, often rubbing and tending her forelimbs like a fly.

Social

Family Ties

The brood is structured like that of an ant colony, consisting of various insects taking up different roles. Workers are unisex roles where the insects resemble bulky scarabs that sit low to the ground and are equipped with large mandibles for eating through the earth and the rough carapace for defense. Though they have wings, they are ultimately vestigial in nature. Drones are unisex roles where the insects resemble thorny ants with wings and an enlarged abdomen like dragonflies. The abdomen is tipped with a stinger for self-defense, and they have enlarged forelimbs for grasping and picking up materials. They serve the purpose of scouts and aerial defense. Soldiers are a male-only role of bulky, flying insects that resemble hornets but possess mantis-like forelimbs for grasping and stabbing opponents. Their mouths are equipped with mandibles for biting, and they can withdraw their probosci from within their mouths to stab their opponents. Soldiers follow her in battle wherever she goes, either in a swarm or nestled within her fur-like scales upon her back. Nurses are a female-only role whose insects resemble armored millipedes with mandibles, who move eggs around the colony. Eggs are laid by nurses in very small increments, with Squitoro herself only taking over laying eggs in the event of extreme population declines. They also reinforce the interior of the mound from within or process food for the brood. Only during breeding to they consume meat, typically carrion or local wildlife that is harvested from hunting. These are stockpiled to help feed the queen when she returns from her own hunts. The queen is the only one capable of drinking blood. When not having to breed, their diet consists of nectar and plant matter such as fruits or aquatic vegetation. Outside of breeding, drones have been known to harvest carrion or dead wildlife with the intent of burying them elsewhere to stimulate plant growth or feed larvae when breeding commences.
In the event Squitoro dies, the workers will begin harvesting living organisms for their flesh in order for one of the females to metamorphosize and grow into a new one, with the goal of protecting the hive and continuing the lineage. The new Squitoro will seek out the body of her deceased predecessor - if it has not been destroyed - and feast upon it to obtain valuable nutrients and protein. Such a thing has yet to occur, however.

Environmental Impact

While it leaves massive destruction in her wake when provoked, her influence on the environment is profound. Its feces is high in protein - both natural and amniotic-addled - and benign nuclear isotopes that - after being absorbed by the soil and filtered into the water - cause immense population booms in the flora and fauna inhabiting its region. Flowering plants and trees will grow wildly, and animals experience high birth rates. Growth is also spread by the immense amount of pollen carried upon the mosquitoes' wings which aid in the ecological boom. She and her brood clean up litter and pollution to immaculate degrees, but there are concerns that their feeding can strip populations swiftly. Squitoro and her brood keep population booms fairly in check with their feeding habits. Parasitic lifeforms such as ticks and normal mosquitoes are strangely absent from the environment Squitoro's brood nests within. It is believed that they have been pushed out of the local ecological niche given they fill similar roles.

Miscellaneous Information

Squitoro is an incredibly important specimen to Majestic and kaiju research because of the potential dangers it provides. She is regarded as one of the most dangerous kaiju because of breeding, her presence registering a higher threat level than others. Military outfits sent in to clean up after her are given flamethrowers and heat weapons, as she and her brood are weak to fire.

Gallery

squitoro.png

Commission of Squitoro from rochasaurus.

Mosquito kaiju matriarch of Mexico.

View Character Profile

Current Status

Alive

Age

Prehistoric

Date of Birth

Cretaceous Period

Circumstances of Birth

Accidental exposure to great amniotic fluid

Birthplace

Unknown

Current Residence

Mulegé, Mexico, Earth

Sex

Hermaphroditic

Eyes

Yellow

Hair

Brown and green

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Carapace

Height

80ft