''Acinetactis'' is a possible genus of
protist
A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the exc ...
first described in 1886 by A.C. Stokes, who also described the type species ''A. mirabilis''. In 1928, Valkanov reported the discovery of a second species, ''A. arnaudovii''. The most recently recorded specimen of ''A. mirabilis'' was reported in 1940, no ''Acinetactis'' specimens have been reported since.
The validity and classification of this genus is contested. In 1914,
Adolf Pascher cast doubt on ''Acinetactis'', suggesting that it was a
junior synonym
The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.
* In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...
of
''Dimorpha mutans''. Cavalier-Smith classified ''Acinetactis'' as a
heliomonad in 1993. Bass et al. suggested in 2009 that the genus was a
cercozoan
Cercozoa is a phylum of diverse single-celled eukaryotes. They lack shared morphological characteristics at the microscopic level, and are instead defined by molecular phylogenies of rRNA and actin or polyubiquitin. They were the first major euk ...
in the class
Granofilosea
Granofilosea is a class of cercozoans in the subphylum Filosa.
Three groups that were traditionally considered heliozoans belong here: the Heliomonadida, Desmothoracida and Gymnosphaerida, which were recently grouped into the new class of Gran ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q341450
Cercozoa