Death Valley

Death Valley

Death Valley Cutting Through The
Lower Mountains

Death Valley is named for several reasons. Very little light reaches the bottom, so almost nothing grows. A large amount of dead material collects here from the river and from animals that fall in. And finally, the entire valley reeks of death and decay.

This valley runs straight through the Lower Mountain Range of Long Island, cutting from one side to the other. It is extremely narrow, with steep rock walls on both sides, and the river forced tightly between them. In many places, the walls are so high and close together that very little light reaches the bottom.

Because of this, almost nothing grows here. There are algae growths along the water and on damp rock, but little else. Most of the valley floor is bare stone. 

The river brings more than just water. Anything that dies upstream eventually ends up here. Fish, mammals, and especially Buck-Tooth Bats (fallen from the nightly combat with Screamer Owls) are carried down and get caught along the rocks. The bends in the valley and the uneven ground cause bodies to pile up in certain areas.

There is also a steady number of larger animals that fall in from above. The cliffs are home to Mountain Mara, Rock Wallabies, and Takahe. Although they are each excellent climbers, they often stumble into this valley when being chased by Lesser Rock Baboons. Other times, debris and overgrowth will form a weak covering over the canyon, and an animal will fall through as they walk across it.

Because of this, there is almost always something dead here.

Valley Tarantula

The life in the valley is mostly made up of bugs and other invertebrates that feed on these bodies. Countless small insects, spiders, and others swarm over the valley floor and walls. These small creatures live alongside several notable large ones.

Two of these larger insects are beetles that can only be found here. In the water, large beetles known as Piranha Divers gather in groups and feed quickly on drifting dead creatures. Along the edges, Carnivorous Beetles—broad, copper-colored insects—swarm over carcasses and reduce them to bones.

These beetles, in turn, are hunted by larger predators. The Valley Tarantula, a large and fast-moving spider, is often found around carcasses, feeding on beetles and anything else it can catch. In the water, the Giant Purple Leech preys on any bug that it can grab hold of. The large Water Scorpion stays just below the surface and strikes at nearby movement.

Water Scorpion Attacking
A Piranha Diver

One particularly frightening insect - a species of wasp - uses this valley to reproduce.

The adult Parasitic Wasps are about four inches long. They feed on fruit in the forest and swamp outside the mountains. When the female is ready to reproduce, the eggs hatch inside her body, and she comes into the valley to find a host. These hosts are usually Valley Tarantulas, the larger beetles, or the leeches. However, since the wasps are attracted to movement, any creature that finds itself in the valley can find itself targeted. The wasp stings the host, which seems to numb the area, and then deposits a larva inside.

The larva grows inside the host, and it feeds as it burrows through the body. Over time, smaller hosts usually die. Larger hosts can be severely damaged by the tunneling larvae, but many times are still alive when the larva finishes its transformation. What comes out of the host is a miniature version of the adult wasp. It leaves the valley and begins its life in the forest or swamp.

Parasitic Wasp

• Naturalist Note: The organisms observed in Death Valley fall into several distinct biological groups. Though this entry does not describe many of them in detail, they are described more completely in Daniel’s other records, providing a better means to identify them. The ecosystem is dominated by invertebrates, particularly arthropods. All of the largest species seem to be completely unique to this ecosystem.
  

The Piranha Divers and Carnivorous Beetles are both insects, specifically in the order Coleoptera, or beetles. The first seems to be a large specimen of water beetle, the other a large type of scarab.

The Water Scorpion is also an insect, belonging to the order Hemiptera (true bugs). It appears it may even have been an extremely large member of the genus Nepa.

The Valley Tarantula is not a true spider, though Daniel was not aware of this. It was actually a member of the order Solifugae, a distinct group of arachnids known as camel spiders.

The Giant Purple Leech is a true worm (an annelid), classified under the class Hirudinea. Like a few other species of leech, it was not a parasite, but a predator.

The Parasitic Wasp belongs to the order Hymenoptera, a group that includes bees, wasps, and ants. Many species of wasps reproduce by placing larvae inside a host organism, though this one is particularly large and its larva particularly aggressive.

Very little originates within the valley itself. Instead, it functions as a narrow system where outside material is broken down quickly and completely.