Puddle Detriti

Puddle detriti split from its ancestor by specializing in more saturated soils and bodies of slow-moving and stagnant fresh water throughout subtropical and temperate Darwin. Its diet has shifted from faunal to floral detritus, adapting its metabolism to utilize the abundant sugars available in dead flora and photosynthetic microbes.

The cell is more streamlined with flagella specialized for movement, pushing through debris, and securing food items. The cell wall has better osmotic regulation for freshwater environments. Like its ancestor, it metabolizes sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide (though this occurs mostly in anaerobic conditions, since normal cellular respiration of oxygen to metabolize sugars is more efficient) and reproduces by binary fission.