Protozoa Maritimus

Protozoa maritimus is an extinct species of alien, unicellular, silicon-based Xenozoid aquatic microorganism from Aeros. It is thought to be a distant ancestor of Alienobacterium proximus. Its biology was probably very similar to current Aeros life, ingesting and burning triazene to make energy but perhaps slightly simpler.

Etymology

Protozoa comes from two words: Proto, deriving from Greek prota, means "first" while Zoa, deriving from Greek Zoi, means "life". Therefore Protozoa means "first life". It was named like this because at the time of its discovery it was known to be the oldest life form ever discovered.

Maritimus refers to it being aquatic.

Discovery

Protozoa maritimus fossils were first uncovered by Edwin Gunning in 2071 in the northern glaciers of Aeros. From then on, many more fossils of the organism were found around the planet. The most well preserved fossils could be found in the cold ice continents both south and north. But the most numerous fossils were found in the Munara formation which is between the south pole and the equator.

History

The fossil record of Aeros shows that Protozoa maritimus is one of the oldest lifeforms on Aeros, and also that it is one of the most successful. It lived between 4.5 billion to 640 million years ago, living for approximately 3.86 billion years. Some astropaleontologists think that Protozoa's evolution may have diverged and split into two or more evolutionary lines, and in one of these, lies A. proximus. It went extinct some 640 million years ago possibly because of rapid cooling climates. Not only the entire genus Protozoa went extinct, but also its entire family. Fossils of this ancient life can be found all over Aeros, even when it was terraformed. The more well preserved fossils can be found in the large glaciers.

Physical description

P. maritimus was rod shaped and was green in color. It had much simpler organelles than more modern organisms. Unlike A. proximus, it wasn't parasitic. Instead it lived in waters feeding on other triazene and metal rich matter that also lived underwater.

Biology

Not much is known about P. maritimus's biology because the interior of the cell did not preserve. However, scientists believe that its biology was probably similar to that of modern microorganisms.

Habitat

P. maritimus lived in the ancient waters of Aeros. The temperatures of the oceans were warmer, which were needed for it to thrive. The waters also contained many other organisms which P. maritimus fed upon.

Taxonomy

Species - Protozoa maritimus

Genus - Protozoa

Family - Protozoidae

Order - Xenozoida

Class - Alienobacilli

Phylum - Pseudobactera

Kingdom - Ultramicrozoa

Domain - Mononucleida