So, this is a speculative evolution project, while many aspects of this come from extant and extinct species, this animal does not exist (as far as we know). The general setting is Terra Nova, a hypothetical India sized piece of land that fragmented off of Gondwana (Africa, Australia, South America, India and Antarctica) in the Cenozoic Period. Terra Nova is in the tropical latitudes within the Pacific Ocean and has a mixture of rainforests, dry scrub, grassland, wetland, and montane habitats.
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Spectral Death Raptor (Thanoraptor spectrum)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Genus: Thanoraptor
Species: spectrum
Described: Ortiz (1717)
![The spectral bat, the closest living relative of the spectral death raptor [1]](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/11161/111611786/8955947-8068221795-480.jpg)
Outwardly similar to the smaller spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum) found in mainland South America, the spectral death raptor is almost double the size of its mainland cousins. With limited competition with owls, which moved into terrestrial niches, the spectral death raptor could get as large as the largest fruit bats while retaining a carnivorous diet. Utterly silent, the spectral death raptor was one of the species recorded by Father Alberto Ortiz when the Spanish discovered the island continent in 1714. In his notes Ortiz describes Terra Nova as ‘Isla de la Diablos’ and notes that ‘bats reeking of death pursued the forces of God wherever they went, swooping at their heads unafraid of fire or arrows’. As with many of Ortiz’s writings, it is suggested that the behaviour of the bats is embellished, but more recent expeditions agree that the spectral death raptor is aggressive when handled and seems to be largely unafraid of people.
With a wingspan of up to 2m and a body weight of 2.1kg, the spectral death raptor had pale, almost white fur and a large double pronged leaf like nose at the end of its snout. Recent studies suggest that this leaf like snout contains pits that can detect body heat of animals in its environment, and sensors that can monitor the level of carbon dioxide released as said animal respires. Relying more on its sense of smell, good low light vision and chemical sensors, the spectral death raptor rarely echolocates save for social encounters. Female spectral death raptors roost in groups of closely related individuals, while males form satellite bachelor roosts. Spectral death raptors are active throughout the year, only entering aestivation in the driest years when food and water are scarce. Maternity and bachelor roosts are typically located in caves, ones without populations of rat monkeys (Rattusimian sordus), while young non-breeding animals make day roosts in caves, tree cavities and abandoned buildings.
Like its mainland relatives, spectral death raptors are carnivores, tracking their prey through its body heat and carbon dioxide produced by respiration, before swooping down delivering a bite to the back of its prey’s neck before flying up to a feeding perch to eat it at its leisure. Since prey must be carried back to a perch, prey items have a weight equal to or less than the weight of the bat. Prey size increases when hunting arboreal prey, as the bat can kill its prey and then eat it in-situ. Studies of spectral death raptor guano shows that birds; primarily the sun whistler (Sibilus helioteryx) and the fairy dove (Ishtar rosa), make up 80% of the bats diet, with the remaining 20% consisting of smaller bats, marsupial monkeys (Dromicops vesperi) and the devil opossums (Tylophorus nyctodiablus). At the end of the dry season, the diet also includes hatchling Iraesuchus typically snatched away as the parents lead their young from the floodplains to more forested habitats.
Male spectral death raptors begin searching for females at the end of the rainy season, engaging in social callings, with females choosing the male who calls the loudest and longest. Mating occurs at a reproductive perch, with the pair staying together in a day roost for a week before parting ways. Related females gather in a maternity roost, even if individuals are not pregnant, with the non-breeding females bringing food back to their relatives with pups. Gestation is long, lasting four months, with the pregnant spectral death raptor giving birth to a single pup. The pup is weaned within three months but will remain in the maternity roost for a further eight months. The spectral death raptor pups take flight at five months in age, with many pups falling to the cave floor. Those that can’t be retrieved by their mother or climb out are swarmed by the swarms of dark roach hopper (Pseudogryllus tenebris) and the whip scorpion Skorpiocancer troglodytes that typically feed on the guano that accumulates on the cave floor.
Picture References
1: 480 (480×480) (nocookie.net)
If you have any recommendations for Terra Nova’s fauna and flora please leave a suggestion, and if you want to take part with this ‘New World’s’ exploration, send me a message.
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