So…you haven’t decided what it is yet, and you’d like us to tell you what we think it is? Sure!
Do you see it as being motile (capable of moving around) or sessile (stuck in place)? The eyes suggest to me that it is capable of moving around, as all of the animals I can think of that spend their lives rooted to the spot (corals, anemones, mussels, barnacles, sea squirts), are eyeless, whereas most ambulatory animals of insect size or larger that don’t live in perpetually dark environments have vision (save for a few ocean drifters such as jellyfish and salps). However, I don’t see any obvious limbs or mouth (unless they’re underneath the body), so I don’t see it as being especially fast, or as being a predator that chases its prey. From the looks of it, if it moves at all, it’s probably limited to sliding around like a slug or amoeba.
By the way, it doesn’t have to be a carnivorous animal, a herbivorous animal, OR a plant. I can be a combination, like a carnivorous plant, a plant that feeds on other plants (like a parasite), or an animal that has a symbiotic relationship with microscopic plants, which live in its tissues and provide it with extra nutrients in the form of photosynthetic byproducts. Examples of all three exist in real life: venus flytraps and pitcher plants, mistletoe and
Rafflesia, and hard corals and spotted salamander eggs, respectively. It could be a saprophyte (an organism that feeds on decaying matter); maybe not a glamorous ecological role from a human perspective, but an EXTREMELY important one.
Having only two small leaves (are they ears?) on its head and a leaf-like projection on its tail would not be especially useful for photosynthesis or camouflage. My suggestion is to have it use them for communication purposes, flapping and twitching its ears and waving and flicking its tail like semaphore, to send visual messages to others of its kind.
It kinda looks like it’s wearing a bunch of red-and-yellow neckties.
If you’ve thought of it already, what are those things, and what is their purpose? Can they lift up and move like tentacles, or are they fused to the sides of its body? One idea I had would be that they could secrete nectar or some other attractive-smelling substance (as many carnivorous plants do), to lure insects and other small animals. When they land or crawl onto the “neckties”, they curl from the tip, fold from the sides, or otherwise enclose the prey, trapping it. Once the prey has been digested, the “neckties” open again.
I’m still not sure about that round white thing on its head. What is it supposed to be, if you had anything in mind?
In summary, I think this creature is most likely an animal with symbiotic plants in its skin. I have a couple of ideas for what its lifestyle could be. My “necktie trap” and “leaf semaphore” ideas are compatible with both:
#1: It crawls over the forest floor, feeding on fungi, decomposing plant and animal matter, and anything slow or oblivious enough for it to catch. It feeds by crawling on top of its food (its mouth is on its underside). Since sunlight on the forest floor is limited to small patches that constantly shift with the movement of the sun, its ability to move allows it to maximize its time in the light for continual photosynthesis.
#2: It lives in the forest canopy, crawling along tree branches and up trunks, the underside of its body gripping them like a gecko’s foot. It also has mouthparts on its underside, which it uses to pierce the bark of its tree and drain the sap for nutrition. It also absorbs sunlight for photosynthesis, and devours plants that try to gain a roothold on its tree (vines, bromeliads, strangler figs, etc.).
I can’t think of a name, I’m afraid, but does any of that help?
