Cafeteria roenbergensis is a small bacterivorous marine flagellate. It was discovered by Danish marine ecologist Tom Fenchel and named by him and taxonomist David J. Patterson in 1988. It is in one of three genera of bicosoecids, and the first discovered of two known Cafeteria species. Bicosoecids belong to a broad group, the stramenopiles, also known as heterokonts (Heterokonta) that includes photosynthetic groups such as diatoms, brown, and golden algae, and non-photosynthetic groups such as opalinids, actinophryid "heliozoans", and oomycetes. The species is found primarily in coastal waters where there are high concentrations of bacteria on which it grazes. Its voracious appetite plays a significant role in regulating bacteria populations.
Malawimonadidae is a family of unicellular eukaryotes of outsize importance in understanding eukaryote phylogeny.
Carpediemonas is genus of Metamonada, and belongs to the group Excavata. This organism is a unicellular flagellated eukaryote that was first discovered in substrate samples from the Great Barrier Reef. Carpediemonas can be found in anaerobic intertidal sediment, where it feeds on bacteria. A feature of this species is the presence of a feeding groove, a characteristic of the excavates. Like most other metamonads, Carpediemonas does not rely on an aerobic mitochondrion to produce energy. Instead, it contains hydrogenosomes that are used to produce ATP. This organism has two flagella: a posterior one used for feeding on the substrate, and an anterior one that moves in a slower sweeping motion. Carpediemonas is assigned to the fornicates, where similar Carpediemonas-like organisms are used in researching the evolution within excavates. Although Carpediemonas is a member of the metamonads, it is unusual in the sense that it is free-living and has three basal bodies.
Malawimonas is genus of unicellular, heterotrophic flagellates with uncertain phylogenetic affinities. They have variably being assigned to Excavata and Loukozoa. Recent studies suggest they may be closely related to the Podiata.
Jakobids are an order of free-living, heterotrophic, flagellar eukaryotes in the supergroup Excavata. They are small, and can be found in aerobic and anaerobic environments. The order Jakobida, believed to be monophyletic, consists of only twenty species at present, and was classified as a group in 1993. There is ongoing research into the mitochondrial genomes of jakobids, which are unusually large and bacteria-like, evidence that jakobids may be important to the evolutionary history of eukaryotes.
Jakoba is a genus in the taxon Excavata, and currently has a single described species, Jakoba libera described by Patterson in 1990, and named in honour of Dutch botanist Jakoba Ruinen.
Monocercomonoides is a genus of flagellate Excavata belonging to the order Oxymonadida. It was established by Bernard V. Travis and was first described as those with "polymastiginid flagellates having three anterior flagella and a trailing one originating at a single basal granule located in front of the anteriorly positioned nucleus, and a more or less well-defined axostyle". It is the first eukaryotic genus to be found to completely lack mitochondria, and all hallmark proteins responsible for mitochondrial function. The genus also lacks any other mitochondria related organelles (MROs) such as hydrogenosomes or mitosomes. Data suggests that the absence of mitochondria is not an ancestral feature, but rather due to secondary loss. Monocercomonoides sp. was found to obtain energy through an enzymatic action of nutrients absorbed from the environment. The genus has replaced the iron-sulfur cluster assembly pathway with a cytosolic sulfur mobilization system, likely acquired by horizontal gene transfer from a eubacterium of a common ancestor of oxymonads. These organisms are significant because they undermine assumptions that eukaryotes must have mitochondria to properly function. The genome of Monocercomonoides exilis has approximately 82 million base pairs, with 18 152 predicted protein-coding genes.
Platysulcus tardus is an eukaryotic microorganism that was recently discovered to be the earliest diverging lineage of the Heterokont phylogenetic tree. It is the only member of the family Platysulcidae, order Platysulcida and class Platysulcea.
Mantamonads are a group of free-living heterotrophic flagellates that move primarily by gliding on surfaces. They are classified as one genus Mantamonas in the monotypic family Mantamonadidae, order Mantamonadida and class Glissodiscea. Previously, they were classified in Apusozoa as sister of the Apusmonadida on the basis of rRNA analyses. However, mantamonads are currently placed in CRuMs on the basis of phylogenomic analyses that identify their closest relatives as the Diphylleida and Rigifilida.
Colponema is a genus of single-celled flagellates that feed on eukaryotes in aquatic environments and soil. The genus contains 6 known species and has not been thoroughly studied. Colponema has two flagella which originate just below the anterior end of the cell. One extends forwards and the other runs through a deep groove in the surface and extends backwards. Colponema is a predator that feeds on smaller flagellates using its ventral groove. Like many other alveolates, they possess trichocysts, tubular mitochondrial cristae, and alveoli. It has been recently proposed that Colponema may be the sister group to all other alveolates. The genus could help us understand the origin of alveolates and shed light on features that are ancestral to all eukaryotes.
Stygiella /ˌstɪ.d͡ʒiˈɛ.lə/ is a genus of free-living marine flagellates belonging to the family Stygiellidae in the jakobids (excavata).
Minimassisteria is a marine bacterivorous genus of protists with only one species, M. diva, that presents three different lifestyle forms. It has a widespread geographic distribution. It is an amoeboflagellate most closely related to Massisteria, and together comprise the family Massisteriidae.
Gefionella is a genus of excavate protists belonging to the family Malawimonadidae, a basal group in the evolution of eukaryotes. It is a monotypic genus, with only the species Gefionella okellyi, described in 2018. The genus is named after the Norse goddess Gefjon, while the species is named after the scientist Charles J. O'Kelly, a pioneer in the ultrastructural and phylogenetic investigation of excavate flagellates.
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".
Syssomonas is a monotypic genus of unicellular flagellated protists containing the species Syssomonas multiformis. It is a member of Pluriformea inside the lineage of Holozoa, a clade containing animals and their closest protistan relatives. It lives in freshwater habitats. It has a complex life cycle that includes unicellular amoeboid and flagellated phases, as well as multicellular aggregates, depending on the growth medium and nutritional state.
Mantamonas plastica is a species of marine heterotrophic biflagellates described in 2011. It is the type species of the Mantamonadida, a basal eukaryotic lineage within a clade known as CRuMs.
Phycophthorum is a monotypic genus of protists that parasitize diatoms, containing the sole species Phycophthorum isakeiti. It was discovered in 2020 in the coastal waters of Norway, as parasites of diatoms belonging to the genus Pleurosigma.
Thecamonadinae is a subfamily of heterotrophic protists. It is a monophyletic group, or clade, of apusomonads, a group of protozoa with two flagella closely related to the eukaryotic supergroup Opisthokonta. The subfamily contains two genera Chelonemonas and Thecamonas, which are found in marine habitats.
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.
Paratrimastix pyriformis is a species of free-living anaerobic freshwater bacteriovorous flagellated protists formerly known as Trimastix pyriformis and Tetramitus pyriformis.
