Colonia

Colonia are a sub-type of Flagellata . They differ from their ancestors in that their flagellum has moved inside the cytostome and that they evolved flagellum-like sructures inside the cytostome, that produce a sticky mucus to get hold of their prey. All speices also have pori on their surfaces, small organells that open to the outside and produce another sort of mucus. This is mostly used to deter predators, as a lot of Colonia are comparatively small for Flagellata and in danger of being preyed on by bigger types. The muscus secondarily enables Colonia to stick together in clumps after divisionn and thus gaining an overall bigger body. These colonies are temporal arrangements in areas with high predatory pressure and are a trade-off between safety and mobility, so the size of those normally is limited. One species though - Colonia varia - gave up it's mobile lifestyle in order to be able to grow almost infinitly, giving rise to the first multi-cellular organism.

Domain: Primakaryota Sub-Domain: Flagellata Without Classification: Colonia

Genetic Ancestor(s)