From SporeWiki, the knowledge base dedicated to Spore

The Abana (Plural Abana; adjective Abanaic) are a race invented by Gaming Steve forum member and SporeWiki sysop kmr. Their look is inspired by the cicada nymph, H.R. Giger's Xenomorph and M.C. Escher's imaginary creature Pedalternorotandomovens centroculatus articulosus (as featured in his works Curl-up and House of Stairs).

[edit] Physiology

The Abana is approximately equivalent in terms of scientific classification to a hexapodal arthropod, though it possesses an internal spine in addition to its chitinous exoskeleton. Its features comprise several that in an Earth creature could belong to either arthropods or mammals, or in some cases birds. For example, unlike Terran members of the Arthropod phylum, the Abana does not employ a system of spiracles, tracheae, and tracheoles to transport metabolic gasses to and from tissue. Rather, like Terran vertrebrates, they breath through a windpipe.

The three exoskeletal segments of the cephalon have over the course of their evolution hardened and fused into a supportive dome-shaped carapace, freeing up essential space for the growth of the brain that permitted the Abana to achieve sapience. The chelicerae and pedipalps are fused with the prosoma, forming a protective cover for the proboscis. This beak-like cover is also used to break open food for easier consumption, or store small amounts as they are ingested, and plays a vital part in the species' communication.

Unlike in Terran arthropods, the four pairs of limbs are not confined to the prosoma; instead the thorax houses three pairs in a 1-2 pattern, with only the latter two used for movement. The firstmost pair is raised from the ground, used for manipulation. All limbs are biramous, ie. divided into two distinct sections, ending in three-digit talons with two toes and one opposable spur; the degree of control over the spur is highest in the raised pair, where it fills the niche of thumb, and lowest in the second thoraxial. The placement of the legs is such that an Abana can rise onto its hindlegs and hold this position comfortably for some time. This is employed in manifold ways, such as for execute menial tasks of varying complexity with four instead of two hands; in antiquity, rearing in this way was also an important part of battle, wherein the middle limbs would be used to grapple the opponent while the uppermost pair held weaponry.

The telson houses the Abana's reproductive organs. As a heterogamic species in the biological sense, the Abana is able to alternate between parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) and sexual reproduction. They are a protandric sequential hermaphrodite, meaning they begin their life cycle as male, and later change into females. Naturally, the male is incapable of asexual reproduction. Though one Abana would thus be capable of solely populating entire planets, this process is fraught with the well-known dangers of a stagnant genetic pool; therefore, while it is common in times of war or hardship, asexual reproduction is generally considered the 'lesser' form of recreation.

The Abana are remarkable for their progenetic arrested development, wherein the juveniles never finish or indeed undergo the metamorphosis ordinarily necessary to achieve maturity. This is noteworthy because the causes of progenesis are usually due to low temperature or lack of available iodine leading to low thyroid gland activity, neither of which applies to the Abanaic homeworld. The "mature" end stage of Abanaic development is not sapient, and though naturally occuring metamorphosis is rare, it can be induced.

[edit] Obsolete Information

A quadruped-with-torso creature, aka centaur. Its body is covered in a chitinous carapace not unlike that of a woodlouse or pill bug, but of course some degrees of magnitudes harder, more in line with a crustacean's. (Witness the pock marks and scars.) The slender body is extremly agile despite being armorclad, but they can't roll up like a woodlouse can (or, at least, can't anymore, similar to how we can't grip stuff with our feet anymore). The things sticking out to the side of their shelled head are actual horns, not antennae, and the shell hardens into a sharp beak that houses their mosquito-esque proboscis. I am not /quite/ decided on whether they breath through a 'nose' equivalent in the beak (as do our birds), or through a 'blowhole' equivalent on the top or back of their heads (as whales do, or the fabled Brachiosaur of old). I'm now thinking of perhaps including both, with the "nose" housing the sensory organs of smell, but being unrelated to actual respiration. Hands and feet are three-partite, ie, two fingers plus thumbs respectively two toes and spur, rather like a bird's with one digit less. Eyes are chamaeleon-like, positioned at the side of the bulbous head, but with less prominent stalks.

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