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KINGDOM CERCOZOAE

The Cercozoans, the sole kingdom in the supergroup Rhizaria, comprise a group of taxa that emerged mainly through molecular analyses.  They are composed of taxa that may be biflagellate, but all seem to be able to make filopodia, some of which may be reticulate or with internal microtubular (sometimes mineralized) elements.  Other than that, the group has been delineated mainly by molecular means.  

Cavalier-Smith (2002) named the collection of taxa the Rhizaria within which he defines the sister clades: Retaria (Foraminifera + Radiolaria) and the Cercozoa (the cercomonads+haplosporids+plasmodiophorids).  Such a separation was supported by 18S-rRNA analyses (Cavalier-Smith and Chao 2003).  Nikolaev et al. (2004) in a supertree analysis of ssu-rRNA trees and actin trees do not support such a separation.  I do not retain them as subkingdom designations.     (The Domain Eukarya Page)

Concepts and Terms

A more complete taxonomy (to the ordinal level) of the Kingdom Cercozoae.

PHYLA OF THE CERCOZOAE CERCOMONADA CHLORARACHNIOPHYTA PHYTOMYXA GRANULORETICULOSA HAPLOSPORIDIA RADIOLARIA

A photomicrograph of a section through the cells of a plant infected with Plasmodiophora taken at 400X with a DIC microscope.

REFERENCES.

This page written and maintained by Jack R. Holt.  Last modified: 04/22/08