Plated Plin

Splitting from its ancestor, the plated plin has, as its name implies, developed a plate-like shell in order to protect itself. It evolved this as a form of protection from other microbes, and it proved so successful that it allowed them to further evolve and support themselves so they could eventually reach 1 cm in size. They no longer require silicon to produce this shell and now use an organic substitute similar to chitin. While this shell is sufficient to ward off similarly sized organisms, it offers less protection against much larger ones. The shell also helps it by preventing water loss while at the same time protecting and encasing its photosynthetic membrane. They reproduce rapidly, producing numerous spores within a week after reaching adulthood. The spores are spawned from the center of the plate, which is slightly raised, and fall off. They rapidly mature and do best in moist sand, though they can now survive in drier conditions. This has led to massive population explosions leading to their numbers reaching near the trillions throughout their range. They are no longer perfectly flat like their ancestor and are now slightly rounder.