Creature:Bironid

The Bironids are a race of twelve-legged arthropods hailing from the planet Tu'val in the Exterioris Sector of the Andromeda Galaxy. They reproduce sexually, and have twelve limbs, two of which end in hand-like structures, and the remaining ten are legs.

Genders
The Bironids are divided into two genders: males and females.

The males are considerably smaller than the females. Possessing minuscule brains, they are not thought to be capable of sentient thought and act mostly on what their hormones and biological programming instructs them to do. Their purpose biologically is to tend to the rarer females' every need and to carry the male component required for sexual reproduction. Males have an average life expectancy of six months, after which their metabolism begins to slowly degrade. At the first sign of weakness, such as slowness or injury, males are pounced on by other males and devoured.

The females, on the other hand, are colossal. Standing at 6 feet tall, they are intelligent, cunning, and strong when compared to their male counterparts. They have a strong influence over the males through hormones and verbal communication.

Reproduction
When the female reaches sexual maturity, she choses and lures a male to her by secreting an irresistible hormone. The male then latches himself on to her, and over the course of several days, bores into her and slowly becomes part of her. His sexual organs are connected to hers, allowing her to lay eggs until the male's genetic material runs out.

A single female Bironid will lay thousands of male eggs over the course of her lifetime, but only a few female eggs. Once an egg is laid, it will be stored away and cared for by males until it hatches. Males emerge fully formed from their eggs a week after having been laid. The male metabolism slowly degrades with time, meaning that they only have about six to seven months to live.

Female eggs are extraordinarily rare. After having been laid, they are immediately identified and placed in a secure location deep underground where it will be constantly fed and looked after by males. The elastic cocoon of the egg slowly expands as the female grows and finally bursts a year later. It will take ten years for the female to attain sexual maturity and start producing eggs. If kept well fed, females will keep on growing indefinitely until they are either killed or starve to death because there is not enough resources available to keep them alive.