Talk:Mama Sheargrub

Neoteny

The Piklopedia clarifies this enemy is a neotenic form of a sheargrub, but this inadvertently causes a few issues. Neoteny is the retention of traits typically only seen in juveniles, but what juvenile traits does this thing even have? Either juvenile sheargrubs are much larger than the adults, which I think is highly unlikely, or the other sheargrubs in the game are actually juveniles and full-grown individuals look different, which is even more unlikely. What changes should be made to address this issue? bye-bye! PotatoMuncher (talk) 13:44, October 3, 2026 (UTC)

This variant is an adult Sheargrub that resembles its juvenile form (neotenic). The notes state that if a Mama Sheargrub finds an abundance of food, it will stay in that location and grow enormously – giving it its neotenic label. Also from the notes, most Mama Sheargrubs don't seem to do this, and instead molt (change form). From this, I don't see an issue with the label, as it is referring to a variant of a Mama Sheargrub with neotenic traits. It seems like the juveniles and full-grown adults look different, as otherwise the label wouldn't need to be used. – Chazmatron, signing off! (TALK) 15:00, 3 October, 2026 (BST)