Skarlixids

The Skarlixids feed on simple hydrogen compounds, most commonly methane or ammonia though some species can also use other compounds or even hydrogen gas. Like their ancestor they 'breathe" metals. Iron, manganese, and cobalt for the most part but vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, and palladium can be used if available.

Although the majority of species are marine, Skarlixids are also found in soil and freshwater sediments with a few species even being endolithic. Skarlixids are often found together with nitromethanians as they share a need for anoxic habitats and the skarlixids are able to feed on the methane produced by the nitromethanians. When they are in danger of suffocation, either from a lack of usable metals or an overabundance of oxygen, they are able enter a state of dormancy known as a cyst. These ovoid cysts, such as the one at the bottom of the above image, are also resistant to desiccation which has helped them spread to terrestrial biomes. They have replaced their ancestor.

Like their ancestor Skarlixids have a "frizzy" cell membrane with many micropseudopods. These micropseudopods allow them to "walk" or "climb" though over substrates in manner similar to a millipede. The cell membrane is divided into rough membrane which has and micropseudopodia and smooth membrane which doesn't. The number of rough and smooth patches of membrane as well as their relative sizes varies between species.