Lignosagittiae

The Lignosagittiae are a sub-sapient phylum of organisms from the Orion's Arm Encyclopedia.

First discovered in 3097 AT (51st century CE) on planet Fuego 485 light-years from the Solar System, the xenophylum has since then been uplifted.

Etymology
‘Lignosagittiae’ is a portmanteau of the Latin words ligno and sagittae. Ligno is the ablative singular form of lignum (meaning ‘wood’), so ligno means ‘made of wood’ or ‘wooden’.

‘Sagittiae’ is actually a misspelling of the word saggittae, the plural of ‘arrow’ in Latin. Despite this misspelling being present in the article’s title, it is actually written correctly few times in the article itself.

Therefore, lignosagittae means ‘wooden arrows’. Referring to a phylum, rather than a species, the plural form of their name makes sense, like it does for Porifera or Mollusca on Earth.

Description
Most members of the species look like free swimming arrowheads or upside down boats. They are propelled by several pairs of paddle-like appendages.

The various species of lignosaggitiae, known as gnosags, feed on microbial mats and other chemotrophic life around black smokers at the dark bottom of the ocean. Some mats attain a colonial organization, which includes sexual dimorphism and they use the gnosags for a genetic transfer much like pollination. Illiuminated bullseye flowers attract the keen sighted gnosags and paint them gamete gel which is carried to the mat of the opposite sex for cross-fertilization.

In 4670 (Lunar calendar, starting in 1960) a promising species of Gnosag were modified to sapience by the terragens, and invited to join the rest of civilization. However, when the gnosags travelled to space in their simple "wooden" craft, their keen and dark adapted eyes saw the distant Ring Nebula in Lyra, and the greater part of the Gnosag race departed to seek the giant "Bullseye Flower" of their subconscious longings.