History Main / BizarreAlienSexes

* In ''Literature/{{Tunnels}}'', female Styx (which work as infiltrators in the Styx's host society) normally look like beautiful females of their host species but grow giant insect legs and ovipositors during [[BizarreAlienReproduction the Phase]]. Meanwhile, males are split into Armagi (shapeshifting gelatinous StarfishAliens produced by Phase-affected females) and normal males (which look exactly like their host species, even during the Phase).

* In Literature/TheCulture novel ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'', the Azadians have three sexes - male, female and apex, a hermaphroditic gender. :

** Tar Gibbons from the ''Literature/RodAlbrightAlienAdventures'' series insists on gender neutral pronouns because referring to it as male or female is offensive to it. No details are given.

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Data's Day" has a line that Andorian marriage involves four individuals, leaving it ambiguous as to whether it's this trope or GettingCrapPastTheRadar about an ExoticExtendedMarriage. The Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse went with the idea of Andorians having four distinct biological sexes, consisting of ''chaan'' and ''thaan'' (appear male) and ''shen'' and ''zhen'' (appear female). In an Andorian bondgroup (''shelthreth''), the ''chaan'' and ''thaan'' fertilize the ''shen'', who then transfers the embryo to the ''zhen'' to gestate; the ''zhen'' does not contribute any genetic material. In a further twist, sexual contact between three or fewer partners is referred to as ''tezha'' and considered taboo. This is used to justify the relative dearth of appearances by Andorians; the species suffered tremendous casualties and their overly complex reproductive biology is making it very difficult for them to repopulate.

** As mentioned under '''Literature''', the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Data's Day" has a line that Andorian marriage involves four individuals. Whether or not this trope applies is left uncertain; it's never explicitly stated if it's a case of this trope or if it's a case of ExoticExtendedMarriage [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar being phrased ambiguously to get past the censors]]. The Novelverse went with its own interpretation, explicitly making it this trope, but the TV series has never taken a definitive stance.

* According to the Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations version of "Creature From the Pit", Tythonians are "tri-sexual", and mate by merging into one creature with ''six'' sexes.

* [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]] is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] (which is where the trope originated, specifically in the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' fandom) or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when they appear) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas) and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system. Creator/LindsayEllis goes into detail about it [[https://youtu.be/zhWWcWtAUoY here]].

* The Soft Ones from Creator/IsaacAsimov's novel ''Literature/TheGodsThemselves'' are gaseous aliens with three sexes, "rational", "emotional", and "paternal". Being gaseous, they have sex by literally combining their bodies [[spoiler: thus merging the three Soft Ones into a single member of what they thought was a different species, the Hard Ones]].

** Eusociality has even shown up in mammals, specifically the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat naked mole-rat]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaraland_mole-rat Damaraland mole-rat]]. In an inversion of how honeybees create queens by boosting a female larva's fertility, mole-rat queens establish their status by releasing hormones that chemically neuter the non-breeding females (and the non-breeding males, in the case of the Damaraland mole-rat).

* [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]] is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when they appear) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas) and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system. Creator/LindsayEllis goes into detail about it [[https://youtu.be/zhWWcWtAUoY here]].

** Eusociality has even shown up in mammals, specifically the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat naked mole-rat]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaraland_mole-rat Damaraland mole-rat]]. In an inversion of how honeybees create queens by increasing a female larva's fertility, mole-rat queens establish their status by releasing hormones that chemically neuter the non-breeding females (and the non-breeding males, in the case of the Damaraland mole-rat).

* The Cape honeybee (''Apis mellifera capensis'') [[http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/battle_of_the_bees.htm reproduces by parasitically cuckolding]] the better known "killer bee." The Cape honeybees have a unique caste known as a pseudoqueen, which don't work like workers but don't reproduce as often as dedicated queens, which use mind control pheromones to trick the killer bees into killing their own queen and caring for the Cape honeybees. When the host colony eventually dies, the pseudoqueens fly off to find new host colonies and repeat the process.
* Any given hive of eusocial insects will have three sexes within the HiveCasteSystem: male drones, sterile workers, and a fertile InsectQueen. Some species, especially among ants, go even further by specialising the workers into sub-castes like soldier ants.
* A male anglerfish in some species only exists to [[FusionDance fuse himself to a female's body]] and degenerate into a pair of testicles. This can occur an indefinite number of times, so [[{{Hermaphrodite}} a female anglerfish can gain an indefinite number of ballsacks]].
** [[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/angler As illustrated by]] Webcomic/TheOatmeal.

* The canon of the SCP foundation Ad Astra has the Tayonu, which has six sexes; each can be reproduced with any of the other five

* Yivo from the WesternAnimation/Futurama movie ''The Beast With A Billion Backs'' is a planet-sized tentacled entity. According to Fry, the creature prefers to be call "shklee" or "shkler", as opposed to "he" or "her".

** As one might guess from the name, the apex are culturally dominant and brutally oppressive of the other genders. Males have the lowest social standing and rights, treated as nothing but DumbMuscle and [[MenAreTheExpendableGender military mooks]]. Females hold more status, but are still second-class-citizens with few rights and privileges (and are in fact widely, but incorrectly, believed by the Azadians not to actually contribute DNA to their offspring).

* In Literature/TheCulture novel ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'', the Azadians have three sexes - male, female and apex, who are culturally dominant. All three are required for reproduction.

* [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]] is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when they appear) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas), and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system. Creator/LindsayEllis goes into detail about it [[https://youtu.be/zhWWcWtAUoY here]].

* "[[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]]" is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when they appear) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas), and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system. Creator/LindsayEllis goes into detail about it [[https://youtu.be/zhWWcWtAUoY here]].

* "[[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]]" is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when present) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas), and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system. Creator/LindsayEllis goes into detail about it [[https://youtu.be/zhWWcWtAUoY here]].

* "[[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega Alpha/Beta/Omega]]" is an odd genre of online erotica built around a mixture of this trope and FantasticCasteSystem, usually applied either to [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] or to the setting's version of ''[[OurHumansAreDifferent humans]]''. In keeping with the AlphaAndBetaWolves trope, alphas are sexually dominant, omegas are sexually submissive, and betas (when present) are generally in the middle of the hierarchy. Omegas bear children from alphas (and sometimes from betas), and often [[BondCreatures pair bond]] with alphas too. To make matters more confusing, this trope gets combined with real human sexes, so [[MisterSeahorse omega males can get pregnant]] and alpha females can sometimes impregnate omegas. (Meanwhile, betas tend to have anatomy more typical of real humans.) You'll also commonly see canine sexual traits, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle heat]] in omegas and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_glandis knotting]] in alpha males. Many an AlternateUniverseFic inserts existing characters into such a setting and assigns them roles in the caste system.