In sci-fi convention, life-forms that hadn't developed space travel were mere prehistory -- horse-shoe crabs of the cosmic scene . . .
Source: The Worst Years of Our Lives, Blocking the Gates to Heaven (1991; first published 1986).
-- Barbara Ehrenreich, (Aug 26 1941-____), US writer; She wrote Witches, Midwives, and Nurses, 1972.