FOREST OF A THOUSAND WORLDS • SPECIES ATLAS

MEET THE INHABITANTS

KA’AETÉ is not filled with animals simply because they look spectacular. Each planned inhabitant has a role: grazer, decomposer, prey, predator or micro-hunter. The real story is how these roles connect.

Blue Neocaridina (Blue Velvet) as a visual reference; not an exact Blue Dream identification photo

Neocaridina ‘Blue Dream’

The blue grazer

Grazes biofilm and fine organic material on wet surfaces.

GRAZER • AQUATIC

Springtails

Microscopic grazers

Feed on fungi, biofilm and fine material in the litter layer.

Shown: Yuukianura aphoruroides, one of the four springtails.
FRWByMath / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

MICROGRAZER

Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii

Flower mantis

A late-stage predator: camouflage, posture and ambush behaviour in one animal.

Species photograph
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

PREDATOR • LATE INTRODUCTION

Salticidae

Jumping spiders

Visual hunters that stalk, assess distance and leap.

ACTIVE PREDATOR

Asellus aquaticus

Aquatic isopod

Works through detritus in leaf litter and quiet aquatic zones.

DETRITIVORE

Moina sp. — Shown: Moina sp., one of the micro-prey organisms; species undetermined.

Moina • Aulophorus • Dero

The hidden buffet

Small prey and decomposers help build the lower layers of the food web first.

Shown: Moina sp., one of the micro-prey organisms; species undetermined.
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Unspecified / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

PREY • DECOMPOSERS

MORE PLANNED INHABITANTS

Caridina parvidentata ‘Malawa’ — AI illustration — approximate appearance, not an identification photograph.

Malawa shrimp

Second grazing route

Another biofilm grazer with its own ecological profile.

AI illustration — approximate appearance, not an identification photograph.

PLANNED

Pselaphochernes scorpioides

Pseudoscorpion

A predator on the millimetre scale.

Species photograph
Donald Hobern / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

MICROPREDATOR

Metallyticus splendidus

Metallic mantis

A second mantis strategy with a completely different visual profile.

Species photograph
Zleng / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

LATE PREDATOR

Enchytraeus sp. — Enchytraeus: genus reference, not an exact photograph of E. crypticus.

Enchytraeus crypticus

Soil worker

Lives below the surface inside the pore network of the forest floor.

Enchytraeus: genus reference, not an exact photograph of E. crypticus.
Cherus / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

SOIL FAUNA

Four core inhabitants that shape the system

These four belong to the current KA’AETÉ master and represent four very different ecological roles.

Illustrative aquatic microhabitat; not a species photograph of Hyalella azteca

Hyalella aztecaSmall amphipod used as detritivore, prey animal and a link in the aquatic food web.Illustrative habitat image — no confirmed species photograph yet.

Ranatra sp.Higher aquatic predator, kept only at minimal density and introduced only after the prey base is demonstrably stable.

Microctenopoma ansorgiiCryptic open-water predator for a later phase, only once shrimp, worms and micro-prey produce a measurable surplus.Exact species image still pending; no substitute identification is shown.

Ardentiella sp. ‘Ember Bee’The showcase isopod for litter and bark zones: visible, climbing and given elevated, well-ventilated microhabitats.Previously often sold as Merulanella sp. ‘Ember Bee’. Exact showcase image still pending.

CURRENT MASTER — 06 OCT 2026
Fixed food-web species include Neocaridina davidi ‘Blue Dream’, Caridina parvidentata (Malawa), Hyalella azteca, Asellus aquaticus, Moina, Aulophorus furcatus, Dero digitata and Chironomidae. Asellus is introduced only from demonstrably legal, reliable captive-bred stock. The forest-floor line includes Coecobrya ‘Tropical White’, Yuukianura aphoruroides, Trichorhina tomentosa, Porcellionides pruinosus ‘Papaya’, Ardentiella sp. ‘Ember Bee’ as the master show isopod, Enchytraeus crypticus and Pseudoglomeris magnifica. Grindal worms remain an external feed culture only.

PREDATION IS A FUTURE PHASE. First the plants, decomposers, prey populations and refuges must prove stable and productive. Above water, jumping spiders are the first visible predator layer, followed later by Metallyticus splendidus. Flower or orchid mantises come only much later if the system can carry that pressure. In the water, Ranatra sp. and Microctenopoma ansorgii are fixed future predators but receive no calendar date. Predation may reduce a population; it must never erase its source population. We build. Nature decides.

Image note: some photographs show the exact group, while others are habitat or representative images. We never use a representative image as proof of species identification. Predators are planned only after prey populations and refuges are functioning.

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