The centrohelids or centroheliozoa are a large group of heliozoan protists. They include both mobile and sessile forms, found in freshwater and marine environments, especially at some depth.
Excavata is an extensive and diverse but paraphyletic group of unicellular Eukaryota. The group was first suggested by Simpson and Patterson in 1999 and the name latinized and assigned a rank by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002. It contains a variety of free-living and symbiotic protists, and includes some important parasites of humans such as Giardia and Trichomonas. Excavates were formerly considered to be included in the now obsolete Protista kingdom. They were distinguished from other lineages based on electron-microscopic information about how the cells are arranged. They are considered to be a basal flagellate lineage.
Labyrinthulomycetes (ICBN) or Labyrinthulea (ICZN) is a class of protists that produce a network of filaments or tubes, which serve as tracks for the cells to glide along and absorb nutrients for them. The two main groups are the labyrinthulids and thraustochytrids. They are mostly marine, commonly found as parasites on algae and seagrasses or as decomposers on dead plant material. They also include some parasites of marine invertebrates and mixotrophic species that live in a symbiotic relationship with zoochlorella.
Amorphea is a taxonomic supergroup that includes the basal Amoebozoa and Obazoa. That latter contains the Opisthokonta, which includes the Fungi, Animals and the Choanomonada, or Choanoflagellates. The taxonomic affinities of the members of this clade were originally described and proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002.
The Apusozoa are a paraphyletic phylum of flagellate eukaryotes. They are usually around 5–20 μm in size, and occur in soils and aquatic habitats, where they feed on bacteria. They are grouped together based on the presence of an organic shell or theca under the dorsal surface of the cell.
In biology, a phylum is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants accepts the terms as equivalent. Depending on definitions, the animal kingdom Animalia contains about 31 phyla, the plant kingdom Plantae contains about 14 phyla, and the fungus kingdom Fungi contains about 8 phyla. Current research in phylogenetics is uncovering the relationships among phyla within larger clades like Ecdysozoa and Embryophyta.
Malawimonadidae is a family of unicellular eukaryotes of outsize importance in understanding eukaryote phylogeny.
Endomyxa is a group of eukaryotic organisms in the supergroup Rhizaria. They were initially a subphylum of Cercozoa and later a subphylum of Retaria, but several analyses have proven they are a phylogenetically separate lineage, and Endomyxa is currently regarded as its own phylum.
Trichosphaerium is a genus of amoebozoan protists that present extraordinary morphological transformations, both in size and shape, during their life cycle. They can present a test that may or may not be covered in spicules. They are related to the family Microcoryciidae, which contains other amoebae with tests, within the clade Corycidia of the phylum Amoebozoa.
The apusomonads are a group of protozoan zooflagellates that glide on surfaces, and mostly consume prokaryotes. They are of particular evolutionary interest because they appear to be the sister group to the Opisthokonts, the clade that includes both animals and fungi. Together with the Breviatea, these form the Obazoa clade.
Ancyromonadida or Planomonadida is a small group of biflagellated protists found in the soil and in aquatic habitats, where they feed on bacteria. Includes freshwater or marine organisms, benthic, dorsoventrally compressed and with two unequal flagellae, each emerging from a separate pocket. The apical anterior flagellum can be very thin or end in the cell membrane, while the posterior flagellum is long and is inserted ventrally or laterally. The cell membrane is supported by a thin single-layered theca and the mitochondrial crests are discoidal/flat.
Collodictyon is a genus of single-celled, omnivorous eukaryotes belonging to the collodictyonids, also known as diphylleids. Due to their mix of cellular components, Collodictyonids do not belong to any well-known kingdom-level grouping of that domain and this makes them distinctive from other families. Recent research places them in a new 'supergroup' together with rigifilids and Mantamonas, with the so-far informal name 'CRuMs'.
Obazoa is a proposed sister clade of Amoebozoa. The term Obazoa is based on the OBA acronym for Opisthokonta, Breviatea, and Apusomonadida, the group's three constituent clades.
Cutosea is a small group of marine amoeboid protists proposed in 2016. It is a monotypic class of Amoebozoa containing the order Squamocutida. Cutosean organisms are characterized by a cell coat of microscales separated from the cell membrane. Three genera, Armaparvus, Sapocribrum and Squamamoeba, belong to this group, distributed in two families.
Malawimonads are a small group of microorganisms with a basal position in the evolutionary tree of eukaryotes, containing only three recognized species. They're considered part of a paraphyletic group known as "Excavata".
Helkesida is a group of microscopic protists belonging to the supergroup Rhizaria, both discovered through molecular phylogenetic analyses. It contains amoeboid flagellates with two flagella. They are either free-living, mostly on fecal matter, or live inside the gut of animals. Among these amoebae, one lineage has independently evolved aggregative multicellularity similarly to slime moulds.
Yogsothoth is a genus of centrohelid protists, distinguished by the shape and arrangement of their external scales as well as their colonial life strategy. It was described in November 2018 by Shɨshkin and Zlatogursky, and is part of a newly described clade of centrohelids, determined as such by analysis of molecular data.
Evosea is a diverse clade of amoeboid protists discovered through molecular analyses. Along with Tubulinea and Discosea, Evosea is one of the three major groups within Amoebozoa, an important clade of eukaryotic organisms. It contains unicellular organisms that display a wide variety of life cycles and cell shapes, including amoebae, flagellates and different kinds of slime molds.
Corycidia is a clade of amoeboid protists within the eukaryotic supergroup Amoebozoa. It contains all amoebae of the families Microcoryciidae, which was previously regarded as Arcellinida, and Trichosphaeriidae, which contains the sole genus Trichosphaerium.
Colponemids are free-living alveolates, unicellular flagellates related to dinoflagellates, apicomplexans and ciliates. They are predators of other small eukaryotes, found in freshwater, marine and soil environments. They do not form a solid clade, but a sparse group of deep-branching alveolate lineages.
