SUBPHYLUM PROMETOZOA

EARLY ARRIVALS

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Prometozoans are an early sub-phylum of Metazoa, arising between the Late Albanian and the Early Paleocambrian, or between 3750 and 3850 PMA.

It's reasonable to believe these animals appeared early on in Paart's complex-life history, as they developed eyes independently from the other branches of animals - hence this sub-phylum named after Prometheus, as the first animals to interpret and process light properly.

The main characteristics of this group is that they bear two eye apparatuses - which are often compound eyes with a dark red pigment, 5 pairs of limbs - 4 which are used for movement and 1 for feeding, and may have a hard carapace.

One major member of this sub-phylum are the Sandocarids*.

MAJOR CLADES

Sandocaris paartnensis, patrols the seafloor in search of algae

CLASS I - SANDOCARIDA 'Sand-Prawn'

submitted by ruli18life

Sandocarids are shallow ocean inhabitants thought to be mostly herbivorous, in the sense they feed on algae colonies, what explain they relatively large size compared to other life at the time (about 12cm), given their enormous food supply.

Sandocarids convergently evolved to use the multi-paddle undulating swim pattern that is so characteristic of most Epimetozoans*, with the plus of having a V-shaped horizontal tail, having four pairs of fin-like legs along the lateral of the body, and a pair of feeding arms on the front of the head - both the under-side of the head and the tips of the feeding arms support thin cetae, which is used to catch algae colonies that happen to grown on rocks and the seafloor.

Described Orders

S. paartenensis ('Paartian Sand-Prawn') - submitted by ruli18life, holotype of Sandocarida order.

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CLASS II - PETROPODA 'Rocky Feet'

submitted by ruli18life

Petropods are a class of benthic Prometozoans, they share a reduced tail section, four limbs dedicated to locomotion among sediment, and the two very short front appendages specialized in filtering of organic detritus (marine snow), thought to have evolved parallel to Sandocarids after the fall of Albazoa.

As a whole, this group is extremely resilient, adapting to a life style similar to Earth's giant isopods, it's orders and subspecies span from the deep sea ridges in the equatorial region to the shallower tropical region north and south of the planet's equator.

Described Orders

P. octopodum - submitted by ruli18life, holotype of Petropodis order.

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