The Wongosa Titan

Here is a representative of the sessile heliotrophic nudiverms frequently called "plants". While they are morphologically different from Terran plants and completely different genetically, the name stuck because of their superficial similarities with true plants. This plant in particular is the Wongosa Titan, a derivative of a particular plant clade called the rod trees. The species within this clade hold themselves up via a calcified endoskeleton that extends for many meters, but the photosynthetic layering itself is supported by hydrogen sacs. In the case of Wongosa Titan and its relatives, the hydrogen sacs have become extremely segmented, to the point where there are literally tens of thousands of sacs that hold only a little bit of hydrogen for increased redundancy.

With such a branchiated system, it can hold a diversity of life forms right in its photosynthetic skin. One of the first species is the lobster-sloth, an arboreal omnivore leaning toward herbivory that slowly travels through the branches in search for leaves, succulent fruiting bodies, and occasionally nudiverms to eat. The predatory pantragmed is a relative of the more terminal vorguntat, and it is notably stockier. It hunts a diverse array of species in the upper part of the trees, pouncing on large arboreal prey and killing it with a decisive bite on the back of the skull. The small pterosibie is a frugivore that flutters between different plants and consumes their fruiting bodies, acting as an important distributing method for these plants’ eggs.

Perhaps most importantly though, the yellow-flagged burtles form huge colonies on the Wongosa Titan and provide essential services to its distant relative. The burtles form vaste silk-derived complexes all over the photosynthetic nudiverm and patrol its body in defense and in search of food. The burtles are so important because they can as detritivores; they come across the Wongosa Titan, removing dead photosynthetic layers and fecal matter derived from both the plant and the assortment of animals that live on it. The burtles gather up these decaying components and bring them into their silk complexes, where they farm a species of “fungus” with the decaying matter. The fungus themselves are mildly toxic, but this does not harm the burtles. Instead, the burtles’ digestive tract can extract the toxics and put it in specialized glands at the front of the mouth, where it can be used as a deterrent for would be predators of both themselves and the plant.

They also serve to help in reproduction. Most plants with burtle symbiotes will form a globule of “sperm” that burtle colonies use to safely interact with colonies located on other plants. The courier burtles will bring the sperm to a different colony, where if the guards accept it, they’ll bring the sperms to the queen’s chamber-which happens to be place right above the female sexual organ of the plant. The queen will eat a little bit of the sperm and will then mate with the courier burtles, allowing a new colony to leave and form. The rest of the sperm will go into the plant’s female genitalia and will begin forming offspring.

When the offspring are ready, the plants-such as the Wongosa Titan-will produce a large amount of fruiting bodies that hold a single fungus-like triploid that will hopefully be eaten, where the triploid will then release a large amount of hermaphroditic nudiverms. The nudiverms will feed on the passing vegetation in the gut and incorporate a little bit of the “algae”. After a certain time, the juveniles will migrate to the anus where they’ll take a trip down to the ground via fecal matter and will forage on the bottom of the forest floor, only becoming sessile and larger when an opening in the canopy forms.