[COR - Era II - Callenge 1 - Cat. B 3] The Praying Flytrap

[Darnok]

617, Day 3 of the 12th month, In the jungles of Celestia,

18 Days before the Winter Solstice

The last four days have been a rough trip. We tried to stay close to the river, but the rocky terrain and the thick jungle often forced us to make a detour. On one of these I noticed a type of flytrap by the wayside that neither me nor young Ms. Garnet has ever seen before. It had a strong smell around it, and Ms. Garnet insisted we move on - but I simply had to study it for a while!

 

It was in fact the largest flytrap plant that I have ever come across! As fate seems to smile on me, I was lucky to observe a local species of fly getting caught, something I will share with the Royal Society.

 

===

 

To the Royal Society of Natural Philosophy,

 

from Reinhard Wolffson on Celestia,

 

more than a weeks travel east of Jameston, still in an area of jungle vegetation and rocky hills relatively close to the river, I came across a type of carnivorous plant of flytrap, larger than any other I have seen before. Together with its description I will share with you my observations of a local species of fly getting captured.

On this first painting - the range ruler represents 20cm in fractions of 2cm each - you can see the plant in its open state: two large and two small green leaves, each with leave eaxtensions to the sides bent outwards and thin but stable spikes at the end. In its middle stands a stem with a blossom of bright orange and yellow on top, which is emenating a strong smell, like of rotten meat. I have no doubt this smell being the bait for the flytraps prey, which by my observation includes at least one type of local flies. I will describe these a bit more detailed below. One of such flies did get close to the flytrap and finally rested on its blossom - at which point all four leaves snapped together. This included the leave extensions also bending inwards, giving the plant the appearance of praying hands. Using this image, the fly was trapped between the "fingertips", firmly held be the tiny spikes. Two smaller paintings will illustrate this:

 

Finally another painting (same scale as above) of the plant in its closed state:

 

Due to its closed leaves giving the appearance of praying hands, I named this plant Dionaea Religiosa, or "Praying Flytrap". 

 

I will finish this letter with a few paintings I made of the species the Praying Flytrap caught when I observed it. It is a type of fly that seems to be common in this area of Celestia, with colourless translucent wings and a shiny black body. Its carapace is made of overlapping sharp plates, its head sporting a little spiky horn. The range ruler in the first painting represents 2cm in fractions of 2mm each:

 

I remain a humble servant of the Crown. Long live the Queen!

 

Yours truly,

Reinhard Wolffson

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This post is my third entry for Category B of the Superb Orchid Challenge, in the subcategory "Flora" (the fly being an addition to the plants entry, not an entry of its own).

If you want to follow the surrounding story of Reinhards expedition on Celestia, have a look at this thread.

 

A few more neutral pictures:

Spoiler

 

As always, C&C is appreciated.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Drunknok

[merc]

All three of your entries are awesome. I did not expect a "close up" shot of each entry your character did. I also like the filters (?) that you use in the close up shots.

[Lord Buckethead]

Amazing entry, almost like the Russian nesting doll of MOCs, there's a smaller one in each one. The fly trap build is fantastic (both of them) and I love how it can be moved into a closed position. The fly builds are also very interesting.

[Roadmonkeytj]

The fly I think is the real prize here the trans bricks do a alarming well interpretation of wings 

Seems this species if fly trap impales its prey rather than merely capturing it like its known relatives

[Professor Thaum]

Great one once again !

You're painting really make it big !

Nice idea to go deeper in scale with the fly !!

 

[blackdeathgr]

Both discoveries are great but I prefer the fly! Really clever design both as micro build and the enlarged version.

[Elostirion]

I really like your approach of building a default Lego scene and then zooming in to brickbuilt plants and animals (which are really well done) - great work here! (Applies to all your MOCs for this challenge). Beautiful.