| Trovamp | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Binomen | Hirudatherium saltans | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Mammalian | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Non-Sapient | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Place of origin | Africa | ||
| Habitat | Rainforests | ||
| Diet | Hematophagous | ||
| Locomotion | Leaping | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | After Man | ||
| Created by | Dougal Dixon | ||
| Designed by | Dougal Dixon | ||
The Trovamp (Hirudatherium saltans) is a small, bloodsucking mammal which lives in the African jungles circa 50 million years in the future. It evolved from members of the modern-day shrew lineage.
Biology[]
Trovamps are adapted to cling, both to trees and to large herbivores, as they jump from the former in order to feed on the blood of the latter. Their hindquarters appear similar to those of a tarsier, which makes them excellent leapers, able to jump over three meters in horizontal distance. They have long pointy snouts and red eyes, and hold onto their prey with sharp barbed teeth and foreclaws.
Unlike most parasites, Trovamps live in packs. A single herbivore can simultaneously be host to up to ten of them, which tends to be severely debilitating.
Appearances[]
- After Man: A Zoology of the Future, by Dougal Dixon (1981)
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- The book's main text doesn't specify what kind of mammal the Trovamp is supposed to be, only linking its appearance to "an insectivore or one of the smaller prosimians". However, the cladogram at the end confirms that it is a member of the shrew lineage.