The Tusked Dartfire

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The Tusked Dartfire is an uncommonly-sighted dragon that prefers to live in wetlands and underground swamps. They build their nests in deep holes, up to a dozen eggs are laid within these nests, they will take roughly thirty days to hatch. Adult Dartfires use their tusks and claws to dig up tubers, roots, and small burrowing animals, while larvae feed on amphibians and soft plants. While their corrosive mucus globs are quite dangerous, their primary form of offense are their namesake needles of bone, which they fire through the red spots on their sides. Their speech is deep and throaty, often interrupted by croaks.

ART

a sheet depicting a black and blue wingless, newt-like dragon, a line of red spots goes down its body, starting at the neck and ending partway down the tail. The adult dragon is bulky and somewhat sausage shaped. At the tip of its snout are a pair of tusks that form a pointed beak. Its neck is very thick, this thickness remains throughout its body until it reaches the much skinnier tail tip. It has a sprawling stance and muscular limbs, each foot ends in three visible claws. At the thin section of the tail is a row of spikes. The dragon larva has the same coloration as the adult dragon and resembles a caterpillar. It bears four eyes on its dark facial shield and a row of red tendrils down its back. Two, nub-like legs are held above ground, while four pairs of much thicker legs are used for walking. Its egg is spherical and is blue-grey. In the upper left corner is a frontal view of the dragon's head and in the upper right is a side view of the dragon's head with its mouth open. In the lower right corner are three uncolored sketches, the first is the dragon spitting a glob of greenish slime labeled 'corrosive mucus', the second and third are a cartoon hunk of meat and a leaf, they are labeled 'diet'.

Drawn in 2023

Design Notes

This dragon originated from a dream I had in 2023, it is because of this dream that dragons in this world have larvae instead of typical hatchlings. Them firing needles from red spots on their sides was inpired by ribbed newts, while those creatures cannot fire projectiles from their body, I think what they can do is even stranger, as they will pierce the sides of their body with their sharpened ribs in an effort to sting potential predators. That may be my own bias though, I see a dragon that fires needles from its sides and think "dragons can pretty much be and do anything based on what people decided they can do, so it's not too surprising even if I don't see it often". but newts? Newts are much more limited in what they can do, as they are real animals, so seeing this kind of strange behavior feels a lot more unique. Back on topic, because I couldn't fully remember what it looked like in the original dream, I filled in details based on how I wanted it to live. So, I gave it huge claws meant for burrowing, thagomizers for additional defense, and red spots to give it extra color (and to serve as a warning to predators).