Author Notes - These single-membered families are irritating.

Emily's frustration regarding this thing's classification mimics my own. It was a bit of a theory that the Nectarous Dandelfly was actually a matured Whiskerpillar, something that 'Piklopedia 2' ran with. And then came Deluxe, confirming that they're not even part of the same damn family. This made me irrationally annoyed.

DANDELFLY FAMILY

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata

EMILY'S PERSONAL NOTES

Oh boy, let me sit you guys down so I can talk about something. I was sooo disappointed when I first found out that the Dandelfly was not related to the Whiskerpillars. Seriously though, I thought for sure that we found the mature stage of those stupid worms, until we found out that they're completely unrelated! Such a waste of a perfectly good connection, I think. Still, I'm glad to say that my journeys to find the mature Whiskerpillars have not been in vain, but we'll get to that later.

As for the creature itself though… OH, is it beautiful. There's something majestic about the way it simply flies through the air without a care in the world. And it doesn't try to eat my Pikmin, so it gets points from me by default. I do feel kinda bad about stealing its nectar, though. It doesn't actually hurt the creature all that much, but I still feel bad for the guy!

PHYSICAL APPEARANCES

The Anisopterid ambrosius (Nectarous Dandelfly) bears a resemblance to dragonflies. Its most notable trait is its body, divided into a head, a small thorax, and a long abdomen further divided into five segments. The head is spherical and covered in white fuzz, with two amber eyes and a proboscis that is typically curled into a spiral. This spiral is pointed up, to prevent any reflux of consumed nectar. Attached to this head are three pairs of wings, two of the sets being long and skinny with a third pair of much smaller wings.

The small thorax is cone-shaped, with the tip of this cone attaching the segmented abdomen to the head. The abdomen, as mentioned prior, is divided into five segments. These segments, if empty, appear to be nothing more than tiny dark grey bulbs. However, these 'bulbs' are in fact made of an expandable translucent skin. Once a Dandelfly has consumed enough nectar, these sacs will fill-up one by one with the liquid the Dandelfly has eaten. The colour of the segments depend on the liquid inside, but it will typically be seen as yellow.

HABITAT

Dandelflies will only live in areas with plenty of flowers to siphon nectar from. They prefer cooler forests such as the Twilight River, where the constant flowing water can provide the flora with plenty of hydration. They have no 'home', and will only ever be seen flying circles around their chosen 'territory', only ever stopping for the sake of eating.

DIET AND DEFENCES

Dandelflies share a similar diet to other insects such as butterflies - it typically consumes nothing but nectar from flowers. It can consume all kinds of nectar, but appears to favour that of pink and purple flowers. When it comes across a flower it wishes to harvest nectar from, it will extend its proboscis into the flower's nectaries and proceed to drink the nectar through it much like a straw. When it consumes enough nectar, each of the five segments in its abdomen will fill up. It only has such a diet once it reaches land and grows wings. When it is still in its larvae state (see 'Courting and Childrearing' for more information), it actually consumes tadpoles and other small aquatic insects.

Of note is that the colour of its segments depend on the liquids it has consumed. It will typically consume simply nectar, thus making the segments appear yellow, but it has been known to drink other fluids. Rarely - usually only if forced to - it will consume the juice from the berries produced by Fructus cursimius (Burgeoning Spiderworts). Berries of the confitus (spicy) variant will result in red segments, while acerbudicus (bitter) results in purple. Coloured sugar water also attracts this creature, and if carefully monitored can result in the creature adopting a rather chromatic arrangement.

As they are peaceful creatures that typically fly above potential threats, they have few natural enemies and thus little way to defend themselves. Winged Pikmin (see 'Pikmin') are their main predators. If attacked, the Dandelfly will empty some or all of its segments, starting from the back and ending at wherever it was struck. If the head is struck, it loses all five segments at once. This enables the Dandelfly to flee the scene so fast that almost no creature can keep up with it.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Dandelflies are peaceful creatures, not just to other species but to their own kind as well. They will rarely encounter other specimens, thanks to their low numbers, but interactions between them are ambivalent at worst. Fights are practically non-existent, and passerby Dandelflies will often use their segmented tails to wave at each other.

They appear fully capable of making friendships. It can be difficult to tell two Dandelflies apart, and thus which ones have met each other before, but there is evidence for this. Studies have been done where Dandelflies were fed certain colours to make them easily identifiable. While Dandelflies are still maturing, they will even befriend those of the opposite sex without a second thought. These friends can but will not always go on to become mates.

COURTING AND CHILDREARING

A Dandelfly is only considered fully mature and ready for procreation once all five of its abdomen segments are full; the liquid inside does not matter, as long as it has some nutritional value, i.e. nectar or Spiderwort juice. When it is ready, it will attempt to seek out Dandelflies of the opposite sex that it had befriended as it was maturing. If it fails to find such a specimen, or did not meet any opposite-sex friends while maturing, it will settle with another mate instead.

When two mature Dandelflies of the opposite sex meet each other, they will intertwine their proboscises as though they are holding 'hands' and share nectar supplies. Once mating occurs - a process that is hard to find, as it often happens up in the giant trees - they will both find a lovely lake or river for the female to lay her eggs in. The eggs are then left to fend for themselves, though the mated Dandelflies will remain mates until death.

The eggs hatch after a week, and the larva offspring are only 1-2 millimetres long and have translucent skin. Unlike mature specimens, which diet on nectar and sugary liquids, the larvae are actually carnivorous and consume tadpoles and other small, aquatic creatures. They grow in size significantly over just 2-3 weeks, though most will not survive the journey. Once they mature, they leave the water and change their diet to plant-based fluids after growing wings.

OTHER NOTES

When reports of the Dandelfly were first emerging, many believed it to be the elusive mature form of the Whiskerpillar (see 'Whiskerpillar'), and early notes of it did in fact classify it as the same species. However, as the Dandelfly's true juvenile forms were discovered, this creature is in fact not at all related to the Whiskerpillars, at least anymore so than any other insect.

NOTES FROM OTHER RESEARCHERS

Nectarous Dandlefly -

There's no need to attack these gentle, flying creatures, but the nectar they drop makes it tempting to do it anyway. Wait until the right moment in its circular flight pattern, then toss a Pikmin at it. If you hit one of the nectar nodules, it'll drop a little bit, but hitting the head will make it drop them all. I feel a little bad about stealing the nectar it stores up, but we need to survive, too. - Alph (Emily's Notes - You're mean.)

I'm positive that if we follow it long enough, it'll lead us to the source of all that nectar hanging off its belly. Big fruits, here we come! Hang on, didn't we just walk through here? Does this thing only fly in circles?! - Brittany

Look at him. Flying around like he owns the sky. All that nectar hanging just out of reach. Well, I'll get the last laugh. It may be out of range of my steely fists, but I've got some Winged Pikmin who'd like a crack at it! - Captain Charlie

Author Notes - I wasn't given much to work with, seeing as it was just a single species (so far, at least). I kinda like the whole 'chromatic' thing though.

Pop quiz: what's the worst regular enemy in Pikmin 2? If you guessed the Gatling Groink, you'd be right! But the actual next entry is the Dirigibug, who easily takes second place.