Yox Flies

Yox flies are a species of fly native to the Asrancis Swamp, they are primarily responsible for the pollution of the water within the swamp due to the high production of poison within their bodies. Multiple millions of Yox flies will be born and will die each day within the swamp. The millions of flies who die will fall into the water supply, poisoning it with the toxins within them. The Yox poison serves many purposes for the fly: as repellent for predators, venom for their toxic bites, and the production of the poison itself serves to help the Yox fly in itself. Yox flies continuously produce their poison at night, this production causes a bright, lime colored, bioluminescent glow within the Yox fly which serves to attract mates. Because of the high quantity of poison produced by the flies, they excrete most of the poison they make into the swamp in order to have room to make more.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Yox flies have an anatomical structure similar to gnats, though they resemble fireflies in the light produced at night by their lower abdomens. The chemical reactions which take place within the lower abdomen of the Yox fly are responsible for both the glowing of the Yox fly and the production of the Yox poison. Every night the Yox fly must create more poison because of the rate at which they excrete it as waste.

Biological Traits

Female Yox flies are usually quite a bit larger than the males, they also produce a brighter light and more potent poison than their male counterparts. They will usually live a bit longer than the males as well, about one or two extra days or so.

Genetics and Reproduction

Female Yox flies become capable of reproduction only ten days after being laid as eggs. They use all of their energy to produce tons and tons of poison to scare off predators, to find food in order to produce more poison and eggs, and to lay thousands of eggs. After about eleven days, the Yox fly will start producing batches of around two-hundred eggs every hour of the day. During night, the Yox fly will eat as much food and produce as much toxin as it can, all for the next long day of egg laying.

Growth Rate & Stages

A Yox fly has very similar life stages as a normal fly, just accelerated due to their short lifespans. They will spend about twenty hours as an egg before hatching into a larva. They will then be a larva for around four and a half days before becoming a pupa. The pupa stage will last for around four days, and after about one day of being an adult, the Yox fly is able to reproduce.

Ecology and Habitats

Yox flies like to live in very humid, very hot, very moist environments, such as Asrancis Swamp. They can often be found infesting dead logs with many thousands of larvae, pupae, eggs, and the like.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Yox flies primarily consist off of decomposing material, which there is no shortage of in the lushious Asrancis Swamp, and nectar from the non-poison variety of flowers in the swamp. The Angam tree is an important part of a Yox flies's life; the non-poisonous Angam fruit produced by the tree are perfect for Yox flies after they have fallen off the tree and begun decomposition and the fuchsia flowers which grow on the Angam tree are goldmines of sweet nectar.

Biological Cycle

Yox flies only live for about eighteen to twenty days and in the monotonous climate of the Asrancis Swamp, they rarely have to adapt to any sort of climate difference. They do act differently during the day than at night. A mature Yox fly will spend its entire day reproducing and finding new suitable feeding or egg laying places. When it becomes night, a Yox fly will spend all of its time eating and refuling.

Additional Information

Social Structure

While Yox flies lack the intelligence to purposefully work together in any way, hundreds of thousands of them often occupy extremely small spaces and can obliterate invaders when all stinging at once. They swarm throughout the swamp, tearing apart any other Yox flies, bugs, or tiny birds which are in their way.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Yox poison is often used by a pesticide by the wealthier farms, nobles, or people living around Noragdus and western Quarillis. While the toxin does not work particularly well as an actual potent poison for assassinating people, there have been a few very rare instances of Yox poison being used to pollute small freshwater supplies such as wells, causing illness throughout effected towns.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Yox flies are almost exclusively native to the Asrancis Swamp, though while they cannot be found anywhere else, there are billions living and dying in the swamp.

Average Intelligence

Yox flies are extremely simple and stupid organisms, with no other motivation than to eat, reproduce, and survive. They have only an extremely basic sense of intelligence, being able to know that they should avoid things which could kill them. Though they are not very good as discerning what is a threat, avoiding everything that moves.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Much like normal flies, Yox flies have an incredibly precise and wide range of vision, tuned to be masters of detecting motion. They also have an extremely efficient mechinism of using chemoreceptors to find suitable locations to feed and reproduce, much like normal flies. Yox flies are also capable of sensing minor vibrations and will wildly fly around as soon as they sense even a sliver of danger.

Lifespan

18-20 Days

Conservation Status

Yox flies lack the need for conservation as billions of them infest Ascrancis Swamp. Most people would actually prefer Yox flies dying out as it would mean that the swamp wouldn't be so toxic from the poison released by the millions of dead Yox flies in it.

Average Length

4-5 milimeters

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Yox flies have mainly brownish-green colored fur, with a band of purple around their necks. The abdomen of a Yox fly has stripes of bright yellow fur, each stripe becoming gradually brighter in color reaching closer to the end of the fly.