Presenting: American Abyss - Pt 2

[tape recorder clicking] Recorded observations of Dr. Hannah Rudridge.

I have finally received some living examples of a non-holotypical organism.

Anecdotal evidence places such creatures all over the Palmyra Exclusion Zone, but without actual specimens, it was impossible to verify their existence, let alone begin to speculate on their nature and origins.

It has been a frustrating time to say the least, as while the Kurtiszov campus is within the zone, it is kept very much isolated from the rest of Palmyra.

I suppose I should be grateful for this from the point of view of personal safety, but as a scientist, it has been challenging.

The specimens live inside a children's toy, a teddy bear, approximately ten inches in length from the head to rump.

The bear appears to be completely normal, though I have sent some samples to the materials lab to confirm this.

It is a dark brown in color, made of synthetic fur fabric, with a stuffing of polyester fibers.

The bear was placed in a vivarium for observation.

The specimens have hollowed out a significant part of the bear's head and torso.

I believe eight to ten individuals live inside, but have yet to fully verify this.

Each specimen resembles an American house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, in morphology but larger in size with proportionally longer limbs.

One individual was extracted from the bear, and on closer inspection, proved to have ten eyes instead of the typical eight.

It also exhibited a pair of organs beneath the abdomen of unknown purpose that is not present on any other species.

Further observations will confirm if this is an individual mutation or typical of a new species.

In addition, the strange use of the teddy bear is highly unusual.

These creatures seem loath to emerge from the bear, even if food is present outside.

This will inevitably lead to the deaths of all the creatures unless they are all removed, and even the one that was extracted does not appear willing to eat.

Given this runs counter to the basic drivers of survival, it is baffling how these creatures exist at all if they are the offspring of organisms exhibiting the same behavior.

I am working on the assumption that conditions in the vivarium are somehow causing this behavioral change, though I am far from certain.

Speculation on the origin of this creature is by necessity broad and nonspecific.

The unusual conditions in the Palmyra Exclusion Zone may constitute evolutionary pressures that lead to the development of new species.

Though, for such to have emerged already implies a process of evolution much faster than typically observed.

This, however, may not be surprising given the anomalous nature of many observations of the zone, including atmospheric and radiological readings.

Palmyra is different now to anywhere else, and so it follows that processes such as evolution or the development of subspecies can be different here too.