Utesra

Utesras evolved on the rain-ravaged planet of Gaskar III in Near Space. Often simply called “cliff anglers,” they are insectile predators adapted to clinging to wet escarpments and luring prey within reach using hypnotic light displays. A series of electrocyte-dense organs run along an utresa’s thorax, head, and hunting tendrils, allowing the creature to sense its surroundings with sonarlike pulses, create soft flashes of light and direct painful shocks. The haunting lights have spawned cautionary tales that mirror those of the will-o’-wisp, warning travelers against wandering toward the promise of lights spotted in the rain and fog.
Utesras are obligate parasitoids, able to reproduce only by incubating their eggs in others’ flesh. The common utesra is merely a voracious larval form of the organism, and only after feeding consistently and molting repeatedly does the larva develop into an adult, referred to as an utesra phylarch. Phylarches incapacitate larger prey to lay their eggs in, typically abandoning the host in a relatively dry location until the eggs can hatch. In rare cases a phylarch even shadows its hosts for days, chasing off other predators like an ill-intentioned guardian.
Although stealthy, utesras favor ambushes over patiently stalking victims. However, ongoing settlement of their longstanding habitat has led to an increase in aggressive and opportunistic behavior. In addition to utesras increasingly breaking into small houses on Gaskar III, several medical evacuations of utesras’ victims have accidentally spread the vermin beyond that planet. Most infamously, a crew of biological surveyors attempted to flee to Absalom Station after being attacked by a phylarch, but by the time the starship emerged from The Drift, juvenile utesras had hatched and overrun the ship, killing its crew. The ship later crashed into Akiton, and the surviving utesras have since spread along the planet’s Edaio Rift as an invasive species—especially in the cliff city of Maro, where they prey upon humanoids. The creatures’ affinity for cliffs has even resulted in their taking over old skyscrapers and other artificial structures to form deadly hunting platforms where their haunting lures blend in with other urban lights.