Euglenozoa are a large group of flagellate Discoba. They include a variety of common free-living species, as well as a few important parasites, some of which infect humans. Euglenozoa are represented by four major groups, i.e., Kinetoplastea, Diplonemea, Euglenida, and Symbiontida. Euglenozoa are unicellular, mostly around 15–40 μm (0.00059–0.00157 in) in size, although some euglenids get up to 500 μm (0.020 in) long.
The Stramenopiles, also called Heterokonts, are a clade of organisms distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attached to other areas of the cellular surface, and in some they have been secondarily lost. Stramenopiles represent one of the three major clades in the SAR supergroup, along with Alveolata and Rhizaria.
The alveolates are a group of protists, considered a major clade and superphylum within Eukarya. They are currently grouped with the stramenopiles and Rhizaria among the protists with tubulocristate mitochondria into the SAR supergroup.
The metamonads are a large group of flagellate amitochondriate microscopic eukaryotes. Their composition is not entirely settled, but they include the retortamonads, diplomonads, and possibly the parabasalids and oxymonads as well. These four groups are all anaerobic, occurring mostly as symbiotes or parasites of animals, as is the case with Giardia lamblia which causes diarrhea in mammals.
Monadofilosa is a grouping of Cercozoa. These organisms are single-celled amoeboid protists.
Sagenista is a group of heterokonts containing the labyrinthulids and Eogyrea, a class of yet uncultured protists. Originally, it contained the Labyrinthulids and bicosoecids. The bicosoecids have been removed, and Eogyrea were added, in order to make the group monophyletic.
The ochrophytes is a group of mostly photosynthetic stramenopiles (heterokonts). Their plastid is of red algal origin.
Opalinata is a superclass of non-phagotrophic heterokonts that unites the classes Opalinea and Blastocystea, and is the sister group to Opalomonadea.
Phaeothamniophycidae is a subclass of heterokont algae. It contains two orders, Phaeothamniales and Pleurochloridellales, and consists of species separated from Chrysophyceae.
Bigyra is a phylum of microscopic eukaryotes that are found at the base of the Stramenopiles clade. It includes three well-known heterotrophic groups Bicosoecida, Opalinata and Labyrinthulomycetes, as well as several small clades initially discovered through environmental DNA samples: Nanomonadea, Placididea, Opalomonadea and Eogyrea. The classification of Bigyra has changed several times since its origin, and its monophyly remains unresolved.
Dictyochophyceae sensu lato is a photosynthetic lineage of heterokont algae.
The sarcomonads or class Sarcomonadea are a group of amoeboid biciliate protists in the phylum Cercozoa. They are characterized by a propensity to move through gliding on their posterior cilium or through filopodia, a lack of scales or external theca, a soft cell surface without obvious cortical filamentous or membranous skeleton, two cilia without scales or hairs, tubular mitochondrial cristae, near-spherical extrusomes, and a microbody attached to the nucleus.
The katablepharids, a group of heterotrophic flagellates, have been considered as part of the Cryptista since katablepharids were described in 1939. Although they differ from other cryptophytes and have even been proposed to be alveolates, early 21st century research suggests they are related to cryptophytes.
Platysulcus 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, of uncertain taxonomic position within the phylum Bigyra. It contains the only species P. tardus.
Placidozoa is a recently defined non-photosynthetic lineage of Stramenopiles.
Pirsonia is a non photosynthetic genus of heterokonts. It comprises the entirety of the family Pirsoniaceae, order Pirsoniida and class Pirsonea in the subphylum Bigyromonada, phylum Gyrista.
Corbihelia is a proposed phylum of eukaryotes.
Nanomonadea is a class of biciliate phagotrophic, non-photosynthetic free-living opalozoans, coontaining the sole order Uniciliatida. This monophyletic group previously known as clade MAST-3 is characterized by a single hairless posterior cilium and absence of an anterior cilium.
Ventrifilosa is a highly diverse group of phagotrophic protists that glide through their flagella and emit filose pseudopods from their ventral side for feeding. Because of their mixture of amoeba and flagellate characteristics, they are amoeboflagellates. Members of this group are the Imbricatea, Sarcomonadea and Thecofilosea.
Gyrista is a phylum of heterokont protists containing three diverse groups: the mostly photosynthetic Ochrophyta, the parasitic Pseudofungi, and the recently described group of nanoflagellates known as Bigyromonada. Members of this phylum are characterized by the presence of a helix or a double helix/ring system in the ciliary transition region.
