Loppys
| Loppys | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Mnidjm Other | |
| Week/Generation | 23/145 | |
| Habitat | Sagan 4 Global | |
| Size | 10 cm - 20 cm Tall | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Oediollaceae - Photosynthesis; Goblollaceae - Detritivore, Lithotroph (Hematite), Photosynthesis (Dormant, lost in Gelabellaria genus) | |
| Respiration | Passive (Stomata) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Fast Asexual Budding, Very Resistant Spores | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order | Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Spherophyta (info) Glycismopsida Sucettales | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
The loppys are a group of flora that first arose on Wright, with their lineage beginning its existence in the Ittiz Rocky region near the mouth of the Ninja cavesystems. Not the most diverse group of species, their advantage comes from their fast reproduction, resistant reproductive spores, and their ability to expel gases. While they have lost their ancestral anesthetizing gases, they compensate with the increased reproductive rates, or retreating into regions where predator are limited.
There are two main families of the loppys in the Masonian period, the Oediollaceae and the Goblollaceae, identified by their stems being epigeous or hypogeous respectively. The Oediollaceae, are all descended from the patresidal loppy, which have spread throughout the drier regions of Barlowe and Dixon. All Oediollaceae reproduce by endopolygeny, where instead of releasing their spores externally, multiple young will grow from spores within the parent organism that then consume the mother loppy before breaking off and planting in the soil. Reproduction of this family is near exclusively parthenogenetic, as internalized spores prevent all but the rarest circumstances from allowing fusion of spores from individuals.Such circumstances first require the mother floras to be ingested, and their spores to fuse either in the digestive systems or the waste of the predator. This typically is not a likely events, instead most often the already fused automixic spores from the prey flora will grow in the droppings instead, though if the both preyed upon flora had not yet had their spores undergo fusion, it is possible this can happen.
The other surviving branch, Goblollaceae, arose from descendants of the domed loppy, which began to drift into the subterranean via the Ninja cave systems. In the dark environment these basal goblollaceae began specializing towards a more detritivore role. All goblollaceae are detritivores that rely on iron oxides lkke the abundant hematite as an electron acceptor to assist in anerobic digestion of organic material. This allowed the lineage to survive even with the sealing of the caverns during the global ice age, removing any ability to photosynthesis save for rare opportunities when light could peak through. Within the cavesrns, the largest source of pressure came from how lineages dealt with predation from vainytangle and competition with the ninjaswoop. Species from the Gelabellaria descend from the jellloppy, and rely on a protective shell to ward off the vainytangle once fully grown. Members of the Goblollous genus lack this protection, and instead rely on their rapid reproduction to spread themselves. Critical to the survival of all species are pollinator like the zergranid, which not only facilitate spore exchange, but allow for the dispersal of the loppys faster than the vainytangle can spread, thus allowing them to maintain a viable population.
The relationship the Goblollaceae species have with their pollinators has given rise to an interchange among the subterranean regions of Barlowe, as the lineages spread throughout the underground to as far south as Mandate caves. This has provided the herbivores of Mandate such as the emulsecho and blind cavehorn a new food sources and plenty of detritis for organisms like limestone balls and floating stickyballs, and the zergranids are a useful food source for the Mandate gossalizard. Ninja natives in turn, such as the vainytangle and rasp-mouthed suckiron found these new organisms useful sources of nutrients and iron, and have spread in turn.