Sappy Pinknose

The sappy pinknose has developed sexual reproduction. Much like flowers, they attract fauna into a small passage with sugary food. In flowers, this food is nectar, but in the sappy pinknose, it is instead a sugary mucus. Modified spore-berry stalks, called "hair-stalks", ring the nostril-like passages. As fauna plumb the sappy pinknose for sugary mucus, their bodies are dusted with fairly large (25 micrometers) pollen-like spores. These stick best to furry coverings, such as fuzzy species of xenobees. The sappy pinknose's ideal pollinator is a local mucus-eating variety of xenobee called Xenoapis warioii. Xenoapis warioii's only significant difference from other xenobees is only observable under the microscope: the micro-structure of its fuzz makes it collect sappy pinknose spores better than other species.



As pollinators travel to different sappy pinknose individuals, the spores on their bodies are transferred to pores at the top of "empty" (spore-less) hair-stalks. These pores slide down the hair-stalks, fusing with immature spores stored at the base. The spores, once fused, turn into a "berry-spore" (zygote). The zygote multiplies itself to climb up the hair-stalk, with those at the top encapsulated in sweet berries. It's not an efficient system since the zygotes below the berry don't germinate, but since the sappy pinknose lacks any means to push the spores along, it's the best option available.

Sappy pinknoses are all functionally hermaphrodites, as each can produce spore analogues to pollen and seeds. To reduce the likelihood of self-fertilization, they start as "male" and only turn "female" once its pollen-like spores are removed by fauna. To avoid having the pollen-spores removed and then re-inserted in the same visit, there's a delay between the time the pollen-like spores are removed and "female" functioning of the hair-stalks. Without the pollen-like spores on top, it dries out, expanding the receiving pore and making it easier for other pollen-like spores to slip inside. It takes about an hour for this to happen. If sappy pinknoses aren't visited by any fauna, the pollen-spores naturally drop off. Sappy pinknoses do not produce sugary mucus and berries at the same time.