Voxelian Silkwisp
The Voxelian silkwisp is an insect native to, and frequently cultivated for its silk within, the Voxelian heartland of Medial A, though it may be found throughout the Medial Tesseract due to its unique ability to harness circumvection for migratory purposes.
Basic Information
Anatomy
A silkwisp is an insect which could be mistaken for a small species of bee except for the presence of barbules in the place of wings. The body of a silkwisp is plump and coated with a mat of fine white hairs. A roughly circular array of long, feathery barbules erupts from the back of the silkwisp's thorax in the manner of a dandelion seed; while a silkwisp lacks directed flight, it may choose to release its hold on the plant stalks where it is commonly found to drift along the air currents until it finds a more suitable place to feed. These barbules also serve an important role in feeding, as they tend to snare pollen and dustwisps for later consumption by the silkwisp or its young (see Genetics & Reproduction). Female silkwisps have spinnarets arrayed along their backs which, after mating, produce a clump of loose, fluffy silk roughly the size and appearance of a cotton boll. This boll is a reserve of nutrients, a deterrent against predation by birds, and a nesting place for silkwisp larvae, but it is perhaps best known for its importance to the silk industry along the Blue Silk River since antiquity (see Uses, Byproducts, & Exploitation).
The color of silkwisps and their bolls is somewhat regionally influenced. Pale green, pale blue, khaki, brown, and rust red individuals are all possible, though the majority of silkwisps in all environments are white. Voxelian cultivators zealously protect the strains they breed in captivity, which produce oversized bolls with a distinctive pure white color.
Genetics and Reproduction
Male silkwisps detect females fresh from molting based on appearance and pheremone cues. The male must bite off the rear-most of the female's barbules to reach her body for mating; as only healthy silkwisps possess the saliva enzyme required to break through the tough fibers of the barbules or boll, this behavior is a sign of fitness, and females will move away from any male who takes too long to complete it.
After mating, the female produces bullet-shaped eggs with louvered casings. As the boll on the female's back grows, these eggs are laid into the boll, their shape causing them to embed deeply into the core of the boll for warmth and safety. Larvae hatch from these eggs and pupate within the boll, consuming the fibers of the boll to sustain their growth. In this sense, silkwisps are among the only insects known to Voxelian scientists to 'nurse' their young, albeit in a roundabout way. The molting cycle of the female is synched to the maturation period of her offspring, meaning that the boll detatches around the same time as the young are ready to mature into their adult forms. The adults eat their way out of the shed boll - again, a sign of fitness - before flying apart on the next strong breeze to continue the cycle anew.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Voxelian silkwisps are herbivorous, primarily subsisting on the leaves and pollen of flowering plants. Aside from granting the insect its ability to glide, the barbules on the back of a silkwisp also tend to snare pollen from the flowers they crawl into and dustwisps which happen to also be riding the same air currents. The silkwisp's limbs are long and dexterous enough to scrape this bycatch from each barbule into the creature's mandibles. Penrose fescue is a common staple of the silkwisp's diet.
Behaviour
Silkwisps tend to gather together when possible and have been known to trick hikers into thinking that a field is full of dandelions, thistle, or cotton from a distance, though they are not eusocial in the manner of their distant honeybee cousins. When threatened, female silkwisps present their bolls to predators as a defense mechanism; spiders, mantises, and wasps lack the reach to penetrate the body of the silkwisp though the thick boll, while birds, lizards, and small mammals have learned that the boll is indigestible and can pose a serious choking hazard.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The Voxelian silkwisp is named as such for its use in the Voxelian silk industry. Cultivation of silkwisps in netted enclosures dates back to the Old Voxelian culture and continues into the present day. Silk producers gather freshly-shed bolls from wild or captive populations of silkwisps, ideally as soon as possible after shedding to minimize the amount eaten by the larvae without being replenished. The largest bolls of the batch are left 'fallow' to ensure that genetic selection favors larger bolls in subsequent generations. The gathered bolls are put through a process of threshing, combing, and pulling to produce fine, yet ultra-strong, silk fibers for use in the production of textiles.
Geographic Distribution
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