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Does it make sense that a single genus parasite would be capable of parasitizing so many kinds of dissimilar flora? Or does it not really matter at this point, because there are already pests an parasites that feed on multiple kinds of dissimilar flora?

I wonder whether the presence of these parasites, and how they don't feed on plyents, would give plyents a big advantage in glaciers, tundras, and dunes/hot deserts. Or perhaps nonvascular flora would dominate more there.

Are they absent from their environments because of a lack of flora, lack of large flora, or due to not being able to withstand extreme cold, extreme dryness, or extreme heat? Depending on the reason, they might be absent or substantially less common in habitats like montane deserts or alpine areas (which can be similar to tundras).

If I were to evolve them as 25681538915618634789563478561 individual species feeding on different food sources I'd still put them all in the same genus. As for the plyent thing, that's just because plyents are more mobile and animal-like and I didn't want to deal with the plant vs animal technicalities. Also, these do not give and advantage to plyents, because the floats are so wimpy that anything can eat them and they don't kill huge swaths of flora like a plague.

I've clarified.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Feb 16 2021, 10:42 AM

" they ''are''," "Are" should be italicized.
"support enough flora to support a population." Using "support" twice is awkward; the latter use can be replaced with "sustain". As this is a description and not a novel, though, this is of only cosmetic importance.
"mooch off of" is a rather informal phrasing for an organism that's a parasite. "Feed on" would be better phrasing.

The ''are'' there is wiki code. It's double apostrophes.

I've edited the other parts.

Good to see more parasites, especially such an interesting one as this airborne floral one.