Black Mark
by hughpierre
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Ballooning
Once hatched, Black Mark spiderlings release strands of silk into the air to be carried to new locations where they can spin their own webs and capture their own food.Growth Rate & Stages
Egg Sacs
Egg sacs contain 500 mark eggs for one month in a tightly woven, papery ball where after the female die after hatching.Spiderlings
A period of growth for three months wherein they undergo several molting stages: changing from white to yellow to orange to red.Adults
The last change is to black, one year after hatching. As spiderlings, they tended to stay in one secure place, to contrast their more mobile lifestyle as adults.Ecology and Habitats
Black Marks favour sunny environments with lots of vegetation it hide and hunt.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Insects
Ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, roaches and beetles are fed upon by the Marks. If caught in a web, or ambushed directly, the spider will give its prey its mark. After which, the creature slowly dies and is dissolved into a bubbly soup to be drunk.Biological Cycle
Overwintering
When it gets too cool in their environment, spiderlings enter into a state of weak hibernation which is also the prerequisite to molting. This would happen many time in the spider's first year.Additional Information
Domestication
Subteel
A herb-like plant that grows in damp, but not overly wet places. Large patches of the herb grow on the forest floor and can be guarded by single spiders. The spiders discourage plant eating insects and their larvae addicted to the chemicals in the plants' roots and leaves.Cacao Beans
Cacao tree possess both male and female flowers whose pollen making antlers are hidden deep inside the cacao husks where only midges, zayolin and marks can squeeze through.Uses, Products & Exploitation
Venom
The Black Mark gets its name from the resulting black spots that form around the skin where the victim was bitten. Usually non-lethal; it nonetheless has been shown to melt layers of skin either into clumps of skin or thin out the skin so as to appear transparent. It is highly sort after for a controversial and permanent medical procedure that allows researchers and surgeons to view bodily processes occurring under the skin.
Black Widow by Gracjana Zielinska
You can see it in people too. A mountain man gave the mark to Cunene so he could see what he was doing as he was taking an arrow out her face. She's better now, but even so. Part her skull shows through the skin like it's some perversion of a mask. Veins and arteries circle the perimeter into the normal half: under the eye and across her chin. You can see flowing blood and other fleshy matters that continue on without notice. She's covered it with cloth bindings so less people bother her. But, at times, under a bright sun you can just make out an outline and sense the internal movement beneath it.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The Range is well thought to be home to all Black Marks where a majority can be found.
Stray spiders stowaway in bags of flowers and fruits, and so cross Claw Marks to the rest of the valley.
Alternate Names
Marks
Marks
Lifespan
1 - 3 years
Average Length
Size of a thumb's nail or a big toe
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Midnight black with a red or orange imprints on its thorax and legs
Geographic Distribution
Cool species, but very little information of the pollination. If they are hunters, why do they pollinate? Do they eat the pollen or nectar too, or do they hide in the flowers, and pollinate them by accident?
They set up close to, or in the bulbs themselves, when freshly hatched to ambush other pollinators or larger mammals. As they grow older, they move between plants regular to check web traps and inadvertently pollinate a variety of plants.