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Alien Name: She'Vereit (Shay-vareet) or "Firebug" as the humans call it

Planet of Origin: Man'Sarthree

Ecosystem Component: Small Herbivore

Base Habitat: Leafy Forests

Grouping: Hive- 10-20 related Juveniles, Nest- a hollow with about 10-20 Pupating individuals, Congregation- a varying number of mature adults attempting to attract mates in a field (known locally as a She'Veresam)

Diet: Leaves and Xylem

Appearance: as Juveniles, they are only an inch long. They are light brown in color with a segmented body not unlike a grasshopper's. They bear a set of large mandibles followed by smaller, internal varieties designed to crush the plant fibers into a digestable pulp. At it's tail, and in spots running in a lateral line along its side, one spot per segment, are points of bioluminescence that they use to communicate to its hivemates. three antennae come from its head, which is not unlike an earth insect's, save for the large optical mass that could be considered a single eye. The antennae vary in length, the uppermost being the longest at almost body length and progressing down to the smallest antenna, which is 3 mm in length. They bore holes through trees, eventually creating a cavity shared by a group, usually from the same laying. here, they live communally, gathering food, processing, and laying low through the harsh months until it is determined that the conditions are right.
When the weather becomes warm enough, the entire hive clusters together and begins to pupate. at this point, the nest looks like a series of brown strings inter spaced with node-like woven bags. The bags are featureless and wriggle slightly at times. As they develop, the bags stretch- the strings holding it are very durable.
After a several days of this, the adults emerge.
Adults are very long and segmented, at about 6 inches from the tip of their mandibles to the end of their tail. They have a smaller ratio of mandible size to body size than their juvenile forms, though their diet of wood remains unchanged (though the jaws do grow). Their antenna remain the same length, though their eye mass grows larger during pupation. Their long body is oddly flexible and, on every second segment, a set of wings of gradiating size are located. These wings resemble gossamer and are very fragile. They have tiny legs on each segment that resemble a terran millipede's, but are in far smaller proportions, almost like Cilia. These legs are used for small amounts of locomotion and for gripping onto branches as a roost. However, they prefer to fly, and will often travel even short distances on wing alone, using their legs only for resting and launching. Their bioluminescence is located at regular intervals along their segments. Unlike their larval stage, where the bioluminescence was confined to a dotted dorsal line, in the adults it appears to be more like dotted rings around each segment with a large continuous thin line of luminescence along its underbelly. Although the juveniles have some control over the chemical processes and can thus communicate with the rest of their hive, most communication is done with pheromones. Adults have far greater control and can transmit messages originally transmitted by pheromone, more effective in an open air setting. They flash their lights to find mates while flying and undulating during the nighttime. Bioluminesence in both juvenile and adult forms is varying in color, denoting environmental conditions, diet, and regional isolation. However, the most common color seen in the dome area tends to be of a similar yellow as earth fireflies. White, blue, and red lighting have been spotted, however. The carapace coloration in all individuals is dark, ranging from dark grey to dark brown to black, presumably to aid in both camouflage and the determining of the patterns they flash.

Lifespan/Reproduction: The Juvenile stage can last for an undetermined amount of time. They seem to be able to live as long as it takes as a hive until they reach conditions favorable to pupating. The hives are aggressive to one another, regardless of whether the opposing hive is related or not.
The pupa stage lasts for about 5 Man'Sarthree days (each about ~to be determined~ hours) and when the nest finishes pupating, the adults live for about 22-27 man'Sarthree days after pupating, depending on frequency of mating, food, and the stress levels brought on by predatory populations. Adults reach the optimal size for mating after 3-4 days of steady eating and excercise. Adults can mate as many times as they are able to find a mate, and lay large clusters of eggs on, near, or in the skin of trees. Some even lay eggs in old hive-sites.
Inbreeding is prevented since each individual knows its hivemate's individual patterning and pheromones and thus avoids interacting with them. Mating with other litters of their parents is also unlikely since certain parts of the individual patterning may make it clear that the individual is related. Color may play a part, though that is mostly dietary and not so much genetic.
Gender consists of what appears at first glance to be typical male-female interaction. In reality, the adults 'switch' roles. The adult laying eggs one day will be fertilizing them the next. If they fail to find a mate one day, they will possibly find one the next day. They lay many clusters of eggs, and are thus an integral part of the ecosystem.

Because each 'clutch' of eggs is so comparatively small and because they lay so many of them, alot of total larvae hatch. Because these larvae group together as a hive and work together towards the common goal of survival, there is a surprisingly high rate of maturity within each nest.
Thus the annual adult population is very high. Overpopulation is curbed somewhat by the fact that they are on everyone's menus, and also by the deadly inter-hive competition occurring in the larval stage.

Territory: requires a forest of, at minimum, about 30 acres

Known Predators/Dangers: A common seasonal food of the Man'appoi (who find juveniles, pupa, and adults very tasty and also have a practice of catching and keeping adults in containers as festival lights.), Heavy wind and rain is another common killer of Firebugs, -other predators-



Note: the substance that runs through them as blood and bodily fluids would, when running through human veins, whether genetically modified or not, cause some slight episodic hallucination and dizziness. If there is a large amount of genetic manipulation for this species, the symptoms can increase and can lead to constant hallucination and dizziness. usually, Limb transplants result in very slight manipulation.

edited a bit.