Windfilter

With the advent of aeroplankton, a new opportunity came for the dry shrubite. Its diet, once restricted to microbes and nutrients in the soil, could be expanded to include various microorganisms, spores, and seeds floating through the atmosphere. However, individuals living up in higher altitudes were able to better exploit this new food source, due to the aeroplankton being denser up there. As a result, the windfilter split from its ancestor and evolved in the mountains of Maineiac.

While the windfilter may look like an ordinary shrubite on the outside, its internal anatomy tells a different story. It has developed an orderly network of channels that run throughout the organism that lead to openings in the middle of the spiral segments. The windfilter's new anatomy is built around these channels, which are designed to capture and digest aeroplankton. The windfilter consists of five types of cells. The first is the body cell, which makes up the bulk of the windfilter and is most similar to the original type of shrubite cell. Their purpose is to help support the windfilter. The second type of cell is the mantle cell, which makes use of the shell-building attribute of the original shrubite cell type. These cells occur on the outer edges of the organism and produce and maintain the shell. The third type of cell is the growth cell, which are located in the core of the organism. These cells make more cells, and allow the windfilter to grow upwards and outwards. The fourth type of cell is the consumer cell, which make up the walls of the channels. These cells make use of the original shrubite cell's capturing and digestion abilities to consume and digest aeroplankton. The fifth cell type is the reproductive cells, which produce spores in the uppermost segment of the windfilter. If the wind blows through the porous uppermost segment, it will blow the spores out of it. These spores will then drift through the atmosphere until they reach a new habitat. While they contribute to the overall aeroplankton. However, these spores do not remain viable for extremely long periods of time, preventing the species from colonizing other continents. However, if a spore is particularly lucky, it might be able to settle in a suitable biome on another continent, it may give rise to a new species in a new land.

This species prefers high-altitude scrublands and plains, as there are fewer obstructions between it and its aeroplankton prey. While there is a population in Maineiac Boreal, they are extremely rare and often stunted in growth. They also fare poorly in extremely cold environments like the alpine, and will always die if they take root there.