Scyphic apparatus

All extant species of scypher posses a special organ known as a scyphic apparatus, or a schypher's antenna. It is an external organ extending from the top of the head, supported by cartilage. Special glands producing chemicals create weak microwave impulses, while a special nerve detects the impulses. The scyphic apparatus is unique to the scyphers; the closely related darrels lack one but possess a primitive photo-sensitive nerve.

Function
The function of the organ appears to be for communication with other members of their species, but the signal pattern created seems to be fixed and involuntary within species, thus no actual information is transmitted. The most species have a common pattern of of a quick impulse, followed by a slow fade.

Origin
It is difficult to place a timeline on the exact sequence of events that lead to the evolution of the scyphic apparatus. The fossil record of the organ is extremely poor due to the soft tissue of the organ and lack of any bony internal structures, and in part because of the acidic tropical soils of the typical habitat of most scyphers.

The earliest example of its probable origin is an exceptional fossil specimen of the extinct scypheramorph Carfila mustelasus, preserving not only the shape of the soft tissues of the organ, but also its internal structure. The organ was compressed flat against the fossil's skull, but was likely bulbous in life. The chemical glands were rounder in structure than a modern apparatus, and the nerve was short and branching like a darrel.